75 



BEDDERS FOR THE MILLION. 



The cost of a grand bedding display 

 is often a subject of surprise to per- 

 sons unaccustomed to garden expen- 

 ditures. The proprietor of a garden 

 lias it laid out, perhaps, by a talented 

 landscape gardener, and at his own 

 wish is provided with pincushion-beds 

 beside the walks, groups of beds on 

 the turf, a geometric design in box on 

 the gravel, and perhaps, farther away, 

 a very pretty panel garden. When 

 the landscape gardener takes the 

 amount of his bill, and hands over 

 the place to the gentleman's gardener, 

 there are, perhaps, not fifty bedding 

 plants in the place ; the houses are 

 all new, the gardener and his extra 

 hands have enough to do in rolling 

 new turf, tallying and staking newly 

 planted trees, and the thousand other 

 pressing jobs that belong to a new 

 place ; and to get up a stock of bed- 

 ders the first season is a sheer impos- 

 sibility. Bat as the demand for 

 bedders is immense, and as there is a 

 limit both to the patience and the 

 purses of persons so situated, a few 

 hints as to the cheapest ways of 

 accomplishing distinct and satisfactory 

 effects may be useful not only to those 

 who are precisely so situated, but to 

 others who, at this time of year, are 

 filled with anxieties to make a grand 

 display, without of necessity having 

 to waste their substance in riotous 

 gardening. We are to suppose now 

 that there is no intention to experi- 

 mentalize ; whatever is done must be 

 according to the safest rules, and from 

 beginning to end all the subjects 

 selected are to be of the cheapest pos- 

 sible. As price is to be considered at 

 every step, we must advise the pos- 

 sessor of the garden in this first start 

 not to employ any of the Centaureas, 

 which are the grandest of all silver- 

 leaved bedders. He must also eschew 

 Petunias, because of the risk attend- 

 ing their use, for they may happen to 

 bloom very unsatisfactorily; and as 

 plants with grey, creamy and yellow- 

 ish leaves abound, there need not be 

 much outlay incurred for variegated- 

 leaved geraniums. 



Let us, bearing these points in 

 mind, consider the case of the beds 

 on the terrace, which must be aa 

 grand as possible. The varieties of 

 Tropaeolum Lobbianum are remark- 

 ably effective, and always to be de- 

 pended on, and as cheap as any bed- 

 ders in the list, because a sixpenny 

 plant will cover more ground than 

 any other bedder at the same price 

 and quality. Here, then, is one of 

 the finest promenade bedders ; make 

 it the principal element for colour. 

 If the beds admit of planting in lozen- 

 ges, put Christine geranium in the 

 centres, surround them with broad 

 bands of Tropteolurn Crystal Palace 

 scarlet, and fill in from the outsides of 

 the lozenges to the margin with varie- 

 gated Arabia, and edge the beds with 

 blue Lobelia. Suppose four compart- 

 ments in a set of eight beds so planted, 

 the other four alternating with them, 

 may be all in Purple King verbena 

 for centre, surrounded with Imperial 

 Crimson or Lord Palmerston Nose- 

 gay geranium, filled in to the lozenges 

 with variegated mint, and edged with 

 lobelia. For the centre Gem calceo- 

 laria surrounded with Love lies 

 Bleeding, and edged with the new 

 golden balm, which is cheap and 

 effective, or with Cerastium Bieber- 

 steini, or Cineraria maritima. If a 

 simpler style with greater variety is 

 desired, then let us pair off the beds, 

 and we must have four groups of 

 colours besides the centre. For the 

 centre Foxhunter or Lord Baglan 

 verbena, and variegated mint mixed, 

 and edging of Coleus Verschaffelti, 

 which is now cheap, and must not be 

 planted till June. If any difficulty 

 as to buying or raising the coleus, 

 use Pcrilia instead. In any case we 

 must have a dark edging. The sur- 

 rounding beds must be planted so 

 that every bed has an exact counter- 

 part opposite ; that is, if I find a bed 

 of yellow on the right hand, I must 

 see a bed of yellow on the left, and 

 so on all round ; so that if the plan 

 were drawn and coloured on paper, it 

 might be cut in half through the 



