^THE SELECTION OF BEDDING PLANTS 



E. F. COI.I.INS, TORONTO, ONT. 



^T^ HE selection of bedding plants for the 

 X bed or border is often a source of 

 worry to the experienced gardener, and 

 more so to the amateur and small cottage 

 gardener. The chief points to bear in 

 mind are to procure plants that will grow in 

 the position you wish to plant them, and also 

 to make a bright effect and have a sweet 

 fragrance from a very limited number of 

 plants. 



For a small bed on the lawn a few scarlet 

 geraniums in the centre, with a row of snap- 

 dragons next, and a row of sweet alyssum 

 on the outside, with about three tobacco 

 plants (Nicotiana Affinis) dotted in between 

 the geraniums, will give a fine effect and 

 also a sweet fragrance in the evenings. If 

 a lot of flowers are wanted for cutting, in 

 place of the above use zinnias, asters, stocks, 

 phlox, with dwarf nasturtiums on the out- 

 side, all of which can be bovight very cheaply 

 by the box, which usually contains about a 

 dozen plants each. 



AN attractive; arrangement. 



Another pretty bed is made by using a 

 few dark coleus in the centre, then a row 

 of pink geraniums (Madame Balney is the 

 brightest pink), and for the outside row use 

 silver leaf geraniums (Madame Saleroy), 

 sweet alyssums, or blue lobelia. An odd 

 corner in the back garden can be made very 



attractive with a very few plants by using a 

 couple of cannas with two or three tobacco 

 plants (Nocotiana Affinis) at the back of 

 the plot, then a plant or two of Salvia 

 Splendens, or as it is commonly called, 

 scarlet sage, next a few asters mixed with 

 stocks. Place these two together, as the 

 stocks will be over and can be pulled up by 

 the time the asters want more room. Next 

 to them put a few snapdragons and phlox 

 (Drummondii) in the front. This will 

 give a variety of flowers to cut from the 

 whole summer and until frost. 



Tuberous Begonias are also very effective 

 and do well when planted in a partially 

 shaded location and freely watered. They 

 are fairly cheap and easy to procure. Two 

 or three dozen hills will give a fine show if 

 matted together in a small bed. 



The well known Begonia Vernon, and the 

 more dwarf variety, Ergoldii, are also very 

 pretty, and they usually produce flowers of 

 all shades, from pure white to dark pink and 

 red. 



If you have a woodshed or board fence, 

 don't forget to plant a clump of rudbeckia 

 (Golden Glow), a couple of coboea scan- 

 dens, with a few plants of gaillardias, then 

 a few petunias in the front, and you will 

 transform an ugly view from your window 

 into a very pleasing one and at small cost. 



GOOD USE FOR THE FILTHY WEED 



WM. HUNT, ONT. AGRI. COLLEGE, GUELPH. 



IT is often difficult for plant growers to 

 secure tobacco suitable for making a 

 solution of tobacco water to be used as a 

 remedy for either the green or black aphis 

 that infests so many varieties of greenhouse 

 and window plants. The ordinary commer- 

 cial plug tobacco is of very little use. 



By sowing a few seeds at this season, of 

 some of the coarser growing tobacco or 

 Nicotiana, a supply of tobacco leaves can be 



secured that will last the whole season. The 

 seed should be sown on rather light soil, and 

 the plants set out as soon as large enough 

 into some good rich garden soil, about i8 

 inches or 2 feet apart. The soil around 

 the plants should be well surface stirred. 



In early autumn, before frost, the plants 

 should be cut off close to the ground and 

 the whole plant hung up in an open airy 

 shed, where it can stay all the winter if kept 



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