232 BEDDING PLANTS. 



and green. For the best designs of bedding, however, I am 

 satisfied that the most valuable coleuses are those exhibiting 

 nearly solid self-colors of red or yellow. The best exam- 

 ples of these are probably Verschaffeltii and golden bedder, 

 red and yellow kinds. The first is, I am tempted to say, 

 the best single kind of coleus we have for color-bedding, 

 if not the best among all plants. There is no plant, I be- 

 lieve, that presents a more brilliant jewel-like effect in a 

 bedding combination of colors than Coleus Verschaffeltii. 



There is no coleus that I know of which has solidly green 

 leaves, but Kirlcpatrick does duty fairly well in a green 

 effect, its foliage being only slightly mottled with yellow. 

 Coleuses are not as generally successful as geraniums, espe- 

 cially in dry weather, and in early autumn disease is often 

 liable to attack them. 



An excellent plant for a small tree effect in bedding is 

 the A.marantns scdicifolius. It is weeping and graceful in 

 habit, and glowing with red tints. Its height at maturity 

 is about three to four feet. 



A far better plant, however, of the same type is the 

 Acalypha. This plant is apparently little used in this 

 country, but its large, rich-looking, variegated red and green 

 leaves and its weeping habit combine to give it a splendid 

 effect in a foliage bed. I hardly know a bedding-plant 

 except Coleus Verscliaffeltii that presents such a glowing 

 red as the acalypha, and the acalypha has the advantage 

 of being a much larger and more graceful plant than the 

 coleus. The place for the acalypha in a bed is next to the 

 cannas where cannas are used. It cannot be associated 

 effectively adjoining either geraniums or coleuses, being 



