rS95' 



' ' ' GARDENING. 



BEDDING IN WASHINGTON PARK. CHICAGO 



each pole a vine is planted. A strong 

 string is run along the top of the poles 

 parallel to the fence. From the base of 

 each plant, strings are carried to the one 

 above, spreading towards the top in a 

 fan-like manner. Each leading shoot is 

 trained to one upright string. The fence 

 helps support the poles. When wanted 

 cut the vine and string, and you have a 

 long perfect vine. W. C. Eg.\n. 



Vast numbers of bedding plants aie 

 used every year in Washington Park, and 

 they are chosen to the end of p-oducing a 

 display that shall be- continuously good 

 for a long season. Cannas arc (oremost 

 among those found useful. The green 

 leaved varieties used are: Mme. Crrzy, 

 scarlet edged with gold; Alphonse Bon 

 vier, rich crimson scarlet; Florence 

 Vaughan, yellow spotted with red; Nich- 

 olson, clear yellow; and Paul Marquant, 

 dark salmon. 



The dark foliaged varieties are Egan- 

 da'e, dark red and a splendid bloomer; J. 

 C. Vai4ghan, scarlet and with foliage 

 somewhat lighter in color than Egandale; 

 and J. D. Cabos, lightest in color, both ot 

 flowers and foliage, of the three. All are 

 free bloomers, and are confidently relied 

 on to be always in flower. Charles Hen- 

 derson is esteemed for its fine color and 

 good spikes, but it comes into flower later 

 and is consequently less satisfactory than 

 the others. Cannas are always massed in 

 Washington Park, heretofore almost in- 

 variably in round beds with one variety 

 to each bed, but this year they are al«o 

 massed io long groups of irregular width 



at the top of a long mound, on the sides 

 and at the base of which most of the flo- 

 ral display is shown each year. Here the 

 cancas are seen against a background of 

 tall annual sunflowers, and are effective 

 and dazzling. 



Geraniums are indispensable where an 

 all summer show in the same bed is a 

 n cessity. The single varieties that are 

 here con idered to best meet this require- 

 ment are Mrs. G. M. Garr, white; J. R. 

 Lowell, rosy scarlet; Gen. Grant, scarlet; 

 Beauty of Poitevine, salmon; Mrs. E. G. 

 Hill, salmon; Glory of Poitevine, scarlet; 

 Meteor, scarlet; Alf ed Tennyson, rosy 

 scarlet; and Ben Schioeder, pink. The 

 semi-double varieties used are S. A. Nutt, 

 dark red; Presidint Leon Simon, dark 

 red; Mme. Bruant, scarlet; Mme. Mes- 

 senger, pink; and Mme. de la Chevalier, 

 wh te. All of these are good, steady and 

 abundant bloomers, and in ever_y way 

 satisfactory. 



Begonias are this year given more 

 prominence as beddine plants than here- 

 tofore. Only two varieties are used, viz., 

 Vernon, red, and semperflorens, pink. 

 These in alternating scrolls form a large, 

 optnly branched design. The samevarie- 

 tifs are also used for the alternate sticks 

 in a big fan cf pansies that lies open on a 

 triangular grass plot near the conser\'a- 

 tory. The prettiest flower bed in the 

 park, to my eye, is a great ftstoon of rich 

 blue Lobelia Erinus thi;t is hung on the 

 sloping bank of the big gieen mound. It 

 had been a solid mass of flowers for 

 weeks. Sometimes this variety retains its 

 gcod appearance throughout the summer, 

 but as soon as it deteriorates it is replaced 

 by variegated thyme and alternant heras. 

 This is true also of pansies. 



Sweet alyssum Tom Thumb is used as a 

 bedding plant with excellent resulto. It is 

 seen to especially good advantage in the 

 flowerv' letters that set forth the nsme of 

 the park, and in a 16 inch band that under- 

 scores those letters. And the same pretty 

 little flower makes a simple but novel 

 flower bed in the shape of a spiral line 

 some eighteen inches in width that lieson 

 the grass in a coil not less than fifty feet in 

 diameter. This design was made by 

 standing a length of sewer tile in the cen- 

 ter of the space (firmly held in place by a 

 stake driven through it into the ground ) 

 and coiling around it a rope with ashaip 

 stick at the end. Then, as the rope was 

 carefully uncoiled, a line was marked in 

 the sward with the stick, making a ])er- 

 fectly spaced spiral. By repeating the 

 operatiori at the light distance from the 

 first position the second outline of the 

 narrow bed was cut. The sweet alyssum 

 used here for bedding are f oni cuttings 

 started in March. 



Other flowering plants used forbedding 

 are single petunias, cornflowers that are 

 later replaced by cockscomb. Pearl tube- 

 roses, snap dragon^, Cope's Pet ageratum, 

 and this year the white Swainsona gale 

 gi folia is being tested as a bedder. 



The principal foliage plants in use e re: 

 Iresine Lindeni, I. metallica, plain and 

 variegated thyme, Centaurea candidis- 

 sima, Santolina, Centaurea gymnocarpa, 

 Alternanthera versicolor, A. rosea, A. 

 paronychioides major, A. aurea and .-1. 

 aurea nana. 



The coleuses are: Firebrand, Her Maj- 

 esty, Serrata, .South Park Gem and South 

 Park Beauty, Verschafieltii, Velvet Man- 

 tle, Acme, Admiral and Marvel. Carpet 

 plants other than alternant eras and 



