142 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
ON PLANTING FLOWER GARDENS. 
=e TTE principal work demanding attention in the flower 
4" garden during the current month, is the hardening off 
and planting the summer bedders. A little timely ad- 
vice on the preparation of bedding plants was given in 
the number for April, and it is not needful to again 
refer to it. But it has been suggested to me that a few hints on 
the arrangement of the plants in the beds would be useful, and in 
compliance therewith I will make a few remarks on the subject that 
I trust will be found to possess as much practical utility as I am 
assured by correspondents my contribution to the April number 
possessed. 
Amateurs and others will do well to distinctly understand that 
at its best the season for bedding plants is exceedingly short, and 
that to ensure complete success, the utmost exertion must be made 
to fill the beds immediately it is safe to do so. We are not safe 
from frosts until quite the end of May, and serious risk will be 
incurred by exposing the tender things, such as the alternantheras 
and coleus, before the last week, for a frosty air is nearly sufficient 
to blacken the foliage; and, owing to the slowness of growth, they 
seldom recover from injury by frost until the end of the summer. 
The frost is however seldom sufficiently severe after the middle of 
May to injure geraniums, gazanias, heliotropiums, tropxolums, and 
others of the half-hardy bedders, and consequently they may be 
planted out after the fifteenth without much risk being incurred. 
Calceolarias, petunias, and verbenas are capable of withstanding the 
effects of a rather sharp frost, and after the first week in May, there 
will be norisk in planting them out. Reference is here made to plants 
that have been in cold pits and fully exposed to the weather, excepting 
at night, for three weeks or so before the period suggested as suitable 
for planting. Those not removed from structures in which a com- 
paratively high temperature is maintained, until May is well in, 
must not be put out until a fortnight or so after the respective 
times here mentioned. Exception must, however, be made to the 
alternantheras and coleus, for they should have the assistance of a 
genial temperature until quite the third week in May. The hardy 
kinds, such as the cerastiums, centaureas, and the golden feather, 
may be planted as early in the month as the beds can be made 
ready ; but as they are mostly employed for edging purposes, they 
cannot well be put out until the centre of the bed has been planted. 
Carpet bedding as carried out in the public parks and in large 
private gardens is not well suited for small gardens, because the 
surroundings are not suited for bringing out the arrangements to 
the best advantage, and the constant attention requisite for keeping 
the beds in order imposes too heavy a tax upon the available labour. 
Many of the dwarf-growing plants employed in the working out of 
designs in carpet or tapestry beds, are of the utmost value for edging 
purposes, and well merit all the attention usually bestowed upon 
them. 
