74 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



the design of the bed and the arrangement of its 

 occupants. 



(2) For formal bedding place the taller plants, such as 



standard fuchsias, campanula pyramidalis, or foliage 

 plants, like eucalyptus, yuccas or aralias in the centre, 

 and allow the other occupants of the bed to slope gradu- 

 ally downwards towards the edge, keeping dwarf plants 

 such as alyssum, lobelia, or echeverias for the edging. 



(3) Avoid overcrowding. Remember that the plants when 



they are " bedded out " in early June are only a fraction 

 of their ultimate size. Give room for expansion. For 

 example, godetias should be planted at least one foot 

 apart, and violas not nearer to each other than nine inches. 



(4) Watch the arrangements of colours carefully so that garish 



and inharmonious effects may be avoided. Keep in mind 

 that scarlet and blue (say a bed of salvias, splendens and 

 patens) harmonise well together ; that a blending of 

 mauves and purples is always attractive ; and that white 

 is an exceptionally forceful " colour," and should be 

 carefully employed, either in conjunction with scarlet, 

 blue, or purple. The following combinations are good : 

 shades of pink, rose, salmon and scarlet ; purple, lilac 

 and yellow ; crimson, blue and white, and yellow and 

 orange ; whereas combinations such as the following are 

 bad, and should be strictly avoided : red and yellow, 

 blue and yellow, violet and red, scarlet and yellow, 

 orange and magenta, and crimson and orange. 



(5) Make it a rule to place small plants in small beds and 



large plants in large beds. 



The treatment of bedding-out plants immediately before their 

 committal to the open ground requires a little care. It is assumed, 

 of course, that if they have been protected in frames during early 

 spring they have, when planting-out time arrives at the end of 

 May or the beginning of June, been thoroughly hardened off 

 against a south wall or fence. On the evening before the day on 

 which it is intended to plant them out the pots should be well 



