BEDDING GERANIUMS. 



BY W. H, HUNT, SUPT. GREENHOUSES, O. A. C. , GUELP». 



IT is oftentimes a most difficult task to 

 select the best varieties of these most 

 ^ useful and popular bedding- plants, and 

 those most adapted for bedding- out pur- 

 poses, from amongst the numerous variettes 

 now offered by florists and nurserymen. 

 Despite the fact that many of the most 

 prominent landscape architects and gard- 

 eners consider that a bed of scarlet or 

 of any decidedly prominent color of geran- 

 ium is somewhat out of keeping and shows 

 bad taste if planted on a front lawn, the 

 geranium is still the one universally pop- 

 ular bedding plant amongst the great ma- 

 jority of flower-lovers. The increased de- 

 mand for these plants every season of recent 

 years have brought to the front many beauti- 

 ful varieties and types that have proved most 

 useful as decorative plants, whether for the 

 greenhouse or window in winter, or for the 

 lawn and flower-garden in summer. Those 

 of us who remember the varieties of bedding 

 geraniums grown upwards of a quarter of a 

 century ago, such as Scarlet Stella, which 

 though beautiful in color would with its nar- 

 row petaled flowers and its loosely formed 

 truss, bear no comparison (especially in 



form) with such varieties as J. P. Cleary or 

 even of the better known Alphonse Riccard, 

 Gen. Grant and others having good records 

 as bedding varieties at the present time. 

 The old pink Christine and the Dwarf Scarlet 

 Gen. Tom Thumb grown so extensively 

 about the time that Scarlet Stella was such 

 a favorite, have all been superseded by 

 many varieties of greater merit, not only as 

 decorative plants for the garden but also for 

 cut flower purposes for use in the home. 

 Although the old fashioned varieties that I 

 have mentioned had of necessity to be 

 dropped from our list they will be remem- 

 bered by old time plant lovers as having 

 been most useful in their day and as being 

 the progenitors of the beautiful varieties and 

 types now in existence. 



A New Era. — With the introduction of the 

 really double flowering varieties Glorie de 

 Nanc^ (scarlet) and Madame (pink) about the 

 year 1866, came a new era in geranium life. 

 These were the heralds of the beautiful semi- 

 double varieties that are so popular at the 

 present day. Both of the varieties mentioned 

 caused quite a sensation at the time of their 

 introduction, but like many other new types of 



