254 



FLOWERS AND BEDDING PLANTS, 



FIG. 50. 



be planted at the centre, where a vase is designated, and these beds 

 could be formed around it for half a dozen years or more, or until 

 the shade from its branches renders the location unsuitable for 

 the growth of flowers. If a tree 

 be not preferred, then the single 

 vase, or a large basket-vase with a 

 smaller vase rising out of it, would 

 be the most appropriate centre- 

 piece for such a group. The four 

 principal beds are about twelve 

 feet in length on their middle lines, 

 and two and a half feet in greatest 

 diameter. The dots show places 

 for nine robust and compact plants, 

 which may be from four to live 

 feet in height in the centre, and 

 diminish to one foot at each end. 

 Where good plants can be ob- 

 tained from a green-house, we recommend for the centre of one 

 bed the Canna coccinea vera, or the C. Lindleyana, which grow 

 to five feet in height, to be flanked with pairs, divided one on 

 each side, of the following varieties, viz. : the C. limbata major, 

 four feet high ; the C. bicolor de Java, three feet ; C.flaceida, three 

 feet; C. compacta elegantissima, two feet; and C. augustifolia 

 nana pallida, one foot. Many other varieties will do just as 

 well as the ones named, provided they are of a size to diminish 

 symmetrically from the centre to the ends of the bed. For the 

 centre of another bed the Nicoteana atro-purpurea grandiflora, a 

 noble, large-leaved plant, that grows five feet in height, and 

 bears panicles of dark-red blossoms ; next to this on either side a 

 plant of Canna gigantea splendidissima, three feet ; then a pair of 

 Acanthus mollis, three feet ; next the Amaranthus bicolor, two 

 feet ; and for the ends, the Lady Pollock geranium, one to two 

 feet. For the centre of a third bed the Wigandia caracasana may 

 be used, being another of the splendid leaved plants recently intro- 

 duced. It grows to the height of six feet. This may be flanked 

 on either side with the Ricinus communis, four to five feet high ; 



