Guide to hardy plants

In the first of a series on hardy plants, we look at how to use hardy herbaceous perennials in the garden and begin a comprehensive ABC of suitable plants

HARDY plants, or to give them their full title, hardy herbaceous perennials, are plants that have predominantly soft, rather than woody, growth and are hardy enough to be grown outdoors winter and summer in most parts of the country. A few are evergreen, but most die down in winter.

Hardy plants are semi-permanent occupants of the garden, but the length of time they remain can differ. Many spread quite quickly, and in doing so tend to starve themselves out. To counteract this, they must be lifted, split and replanted every few years.

This periodic replanting gives the opportunity for rearrangement, but there are a few that resent disturbance and do not deteriorate with age to anything like the same degree. Provision should be made to place these so they need not be dug up when the herbaceous bed or border is largely remade.

Since they grow quickly, most hardy plants will make their maximum effect in the second year after planting and many will give a good account of themselves the first year.

Combined with shrubs

For this reason, and for economy of space in the small gardens that are common today, hardy plants are often combined with shrubs, the latter providing a more permanent background to the changing pattern of the herbaceous plants in front or between. Annuals and bedding plants may be introduced as well.

The traditional way of using herbaceous perennials is in a border confined to them and therefore called a 'herbaceous border'. In this the plants are grouped, several of a kind, to produce a bold patchwork of colour, irregular yet balanced.