CHAPTER XL

BEDDING PLANTS AND PLANTS FOR TROPICAL EFFECT

Where striking and peculiar effects are desired it has become customary to make use of what florists term bedding plants in summer gardening. The term is used to designate such kinds of greenhouse plants as bloom well when planted out in beds, or have foliage whose colors take the place of flowers.

The Geranium stands at the head of the list. A garden without at least one bed of Geraniums is seldom seen nowadays. No other "bedder" gives such a brilliant show of color, or keeps up such constant bloom throughout the season. All you have to do to keep a Geranium blooming from June to frost, is to remove the flowers as they fade and prevent the formation of seed. The double kinds are most popular for bedding, as the flowers last longer and give a more solid color effect. The colors are so varied that you might have a dozen beds, each wholly unlike the other in that respect.

Tuberous Begonias are becoming very popular for bedding purposes. They are rich in color, and produce a fine effect.

The Bouvardia is good for use in the garden, and will be found especially desirable for cutting from. So will the Carnation.

The Calceolaria is much used in "ribbon" gardening, and in working out patterns in flowers.

Heliotrope is an excellent bedder, flowering very freely in a rich soil. This, like the Bouvardia, will be found very useful to cut from.

The Lantana is a profuse and constant bloomer, and is very popular.

The Verbena is one of the best of all bedders, being a very free and constant bloomer, and having intensely rich and beautiful colors.

Tea Roses deserve a place in every garden, and will be spoken of, at greater length, in another chapter. Among foliage plants, the most popular is the Coleus. Very striking results can be brought about by its use. By planting it close together and keeping the plants cut in closely, solid effects of color can be obtained. The colors being so varied, and so distinct, it is much used in carpet bedding in which a set pattern is worked out.

The Achyranthes and Alternanthera are brilliant little plants which bear cutting in and trimming well, and therefore are extensively used in producing "pattern" effects.

The Centaurea has a soft gray leaf, which contrasts well with the Coleus, and is used in connection with it.

Golden Feverfew is also used extensively for bedding purposes.

All the plants named, except Achyranthes and Alternanthera, should be set one foot apart. These should be six inches apart.

Rapid growers must be trimmed frequently to keep them from getting the start of such kinds as are of slower growth, in order to produce satisfactory results in carpet bedding. You want a smooth, even surface, in which all the colors have a chance to equally display themselves.

In choosing "designs" do not make the mistake of selecting intricate or elaborate ones. Leave them to the professional gardener. Simple effects, depending largely on broad contrasts of color rather than on complexity of "pattern" for effectiveness, are much better adapted to the amateur's use.

One of the best plants for producing a tropical effect on the lawn, or in the garden, is the Ricinus, or Castor oil plant (Fig 56). It can be grown from seed. It has immense palmate foliage, of a rich green, shaded with red, with a metallic luster when looked at in the sun. It grows to be eight or nine feet high, branching freely. It is excellent for the center of a circular bed.

Another plant with large and striking foliage is Caladium esculentum. It often has leaves two feet or more across and four in length when grown in very rich soil, each leaf being produced on a stalk sent up from the tuber. Fine for grouping about the Ricinus.

The Canna is a noble plant, with large rich foliage ranging through various shades of green and bronzyred. Some varieties are tall growers, while others are quite dwarf. In addition to its fine foliage it bears very brilliant flowers in autumn, somewhat resembling the Gladiolus in shape and color.

The Musa Enşete, or Banana Plant, has very large leaves and is excellent for the center of a circular bed.

If one has a greenhouse, there will be many plants such as Palms, Pandanus or Screw Pine, Ficus and others of a similar habit, which can be put out of doors in summer with advantage to the plants. These can be used in helping to produce tropical effects.

The Striped Maize-a variegated variety of Corn -can be used with excellent results if several stalks are allowed to grow together. Its foliage is very much like the old "Ribbon Grass," though of course on a much larger scale. It should be planted in "hills," like the common Corn, one stalk not being sufficient to bring out the desired effect. As a plant to be used in the center of a group it is very desirable.

Fine effects are secured by the use of the Ribbon Grass mentioned in the preceding paragraph, in connection with Cannas and Coleus. Planted about a