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Perennials Valued: A few figures will serve to emphasize the scope of the seed industry in the United States. The 1966 production of corn, for example, was 4,103,000,000 bushels, valued at $5,340,000,000. In the same year, 1,311,000,000 bushels of wheat and 2,428,000,000 pounds of peanuts, valued at $2,152,000,000 and $273,000,000 respectively, were produced. In regard to forage crops, 123,000,000 pounds of clean seeds of alfalfa,valued at $42,000,000, and 66,000,000 pounds of red clover seed, valued at $15,000,000, were produced in 1966. In 1965, out of a total production of over 4 million hundredweight of dry field peas, about 388,000 hundredweight were used for seed; total acreage planted was 241,000.
No garden would be complete without herbaceous plants, for they act as fillers around the framework trees and shrubs. In most gardens the two types of plant are intermingled in mixed borders, the best solution where year-round interest is required. They can also be planted on their own in island beds, used as ground cover or grown in containers; indeed, their diversity makes them suitable for every garden.
perennials valued are valued for both flowers and foliage. Not only are they a major source of color, but they also add shape and texture, sometimes even scent, to the garden.
Hardy perennials valued are very valuable in the garden and play a major role, as most of them are relatively cheap, grow quickly, and can readily be increased in several ways, including by seed, division, or cuttings. Most of them, like trees and shrubs, live for many years. In addition, most of them, unlike trees and < shrubs, are herbaceous as they have soft stems which die down in the fall and grow again the following spring. A number of them have evergreen leaves, and one or two grow in the winter and die down in the summer. Not all herbaceous perennials valued are in fact hardy, but here we are concerned only with those that are.
Herbaceous perennials valued may be used in a variety of ways in the backyard. |
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