October 21, 1905 



HORTICULTURE 



A Few Remarks About Bedding Plants 



All reports made l)y the local vico-presideuls of our 

 national society for the last fe\v. years seem to agree 

 that the demand for bedding plants is steadily on the 

 increase, and the question propounded at the Washing- 

 ton convention as to what bedding plants are worthy of 

 special attention from the commercial grower is deserv- 

 ing of serious and intelligent consideration. 



With the increasing demand for quantity comes nat- 

 urally also a call for increased variety, and while our 

 commercial florists, generally speaking, have done their 

 best to meet the former they have been and are still 

 rather slow in satisfying the latter, and this to their 

 own disadvantage. There is no excuse for it for the 

 numberless introduction of merit seen at every flower 

 show and exhibition speak for themselves, and an earn- 

 est attempt to put them on the market would prove that 

 many of those plants are grown as easily as geraniums, 

 coleus and ageratums; would be bought as readily and 

 give as much or more satisfaction. 



Treating the subject in a broad way, I will refer to 

 some bedding shown in our Hartford parks during the 

 past season, not because I mean to say that those beds 

 were better than were seen anywhere else, but because 

 they contained a larger variety of plants in their make- 

 up than is found as a rule elsewhere and because the 

 large number of plants and varieties were the output of 

 a comparatively very small greenhouse plant, and were 

 grown at as low a cost as any bedding plants can be 

 grown. In other words, with a few exceptions, such as 

 crotons for instance, all yarieties hereinafter mentioned 

 shows a bed 40 feet in diameter; the perennial grasses 



can be grown as cheap and cheaper than geraniums or 

 coleuses. 



Generally speaking. I believe that we do not make 

 enough use today of ornamental grasses. They are not 

 only useful as backgrounds against buildings, shrub- 

 bery or the bordering of ponds, but also in good-sized 

 flower beds. The accompanying illustration (No. 1) 

 having been two years in position, receiving a heavy 

 mulching for winter protection. We have in the center 



Aruniio douax piaiicu and between them Ricinus Zanzi- 

 bariensis and R. Gibsoni, and just outside of it Canna 

 musafolia. Around them are Erianthus Ravennae, Eula- 

 lia zcbrina, E. gracillima and E. Japonica variegata. 

 Next to the eulalias comes a row of Pcnnisetum macro- 

 phylum alternated witli Canna gloriosa. then a solid row 

 of Pennisetum Rui)pelianum and i)ut^;i<lo of same Pcn- 



nisetum longif^tyliiin. Around the whole lied is a bor- 

 der of Iresine Lin<leni. put there for the sole purpose 

 of holding up P. longistylum, whicli is easily laid low 

 by its own weight or wind. Tlie whole bed is very effec- 

 tive and graceful, and its cost of planting smaller than 

 almost any bed of its size. The plants in this bed 

 which I would point out as especially deserving of more 

 attention by the grower are the different pennisetums. 



Illustration No. 2 shows a similar good effect of 

 grasses with an additional mi.xture of the following 

 plants; Musa ensete, cannas, Cleome pungens, Nico- 

 tiana colossea, N. Sanderiana, Caladium 'esculentum, 

 Alocasia odorata. Salvia splendeus, Pitterii, patens and 

 farinacea, Tritoma uvaria and Pfitzeri, irises, funkias, 

 Celosia plumosa, Artemesia stelleriana, Verliena venosa 

 and Amaranthus tricolor. The whole combination is 

 very pleasing and attractive, and Cleome pungens. Sal- 

 via patens and farinacea and Verbena venosa are among 

 those plants that deserve more general usage. 



After all, as glorious and attractive massing of dis- 

 tinct colors may be on large or smaller scales, an artless 

 inconspicuous mixture of foliage and all colors of flow- 

 ers will in the end win out as the combination of ever- 

 lasting beauty. Were the Crimson Rambler rose to 

 bloom the season through we would get as tired of it as 

 we get of the glorious but brutal display of the rod 

 masses of the salvia lieds, so conspicuously displayed 

 all over the country. Yet take the very same salvia and 

 let its flower spikes project through the graceful foliage 

 and plumes of a pennisetum or be mingled with the 

 leaves and flowers of a Iieliotrope and its glaring color 

 will at once tone down to an agreeable combination. In 

 place of planting sueli glaring colors so much in 



