230 BEDDING PLANTS. 



with each other. The collection of the variegated and 

 mixed colors may be attractively arranged in an irregular 

 manner, but such kinds will rarely make that flashing, 

 jewel-like effect that is exhibited by the solid self-colors of 

 silver, red, and gold. 



The most perfect type of the silvery or white effect is 

 that of Centaurea candidissima. It is almost pure white, 

 and forms in combination a clearly marked contrast with 

 the red and yellow of the other plants. The two objections 

 to it are : firstly, that it is not bushy enough, does not grow 

 thickly on the ground ; and secondly, that it is hardly tall 

 enough to use as a shrub form of bedding-plant and too 

 large for the alternanthera or grass type. Where the com- 

 bination will admit it ceutaureas should always be arranged 

 as an irregular border outside of the geraniums or coleuses. 

 They may be streaked through the coleuses, but if set in 

 large patches within the mass the coleuses are apt to obscure 

 them. 



The combination, side by side, of centaureas and gera- 

 niums is difficult to manage well. The pyrethrums look 

 better with geraniums, but geraniums, as a rule, look well 

 grown in large masses together, with a few points of the 

 mass accentuated with acalyphas and amarantus. These 

 groups of geraniums can be greatly varied by using the 

 many distinct varieties that are now grown. 



The main types of geraniums, however, that are specially 

 useful in this kind of color- or foliage-bedding are the large 

 yellowish green-leaved sorts with showy flowers, of which 

 the General Grant variety is a well-known and popular 

 instance. The second is the horseshoe geranium, with its 



