BEDDING PLANTS. 239 



metallica (fig. 474) is a noble plant, with large fleshy leaves, contrasting 

 well with other alpine plants. The EcJieveria secunda has finely coloured 

 light green leaves, and there are several other species of echeverias 

 and sempervivums which I grow, and which are greatly admired ; they 

 require the warmth of a greenhouse during the winter season. 



It is usual in the early part of the month of May to place all 

 bedding plants out of doors, and to cover them with a mat at night. 

 Upon an average, in the neighbourhood of London, the last week 

 in May is sufficiently early to plant them out ; for however warm the 

 first week in May may be, yet almost invariably during the second and 

 third weeks severe frosts occur, and sometimes even snow falls. 



FIG. 475. Gazania. 

 FIG. 474 Echeveria metallica. 



A wayside plant of Southern Africa, which has a large bright 

 orange-coloured flower, is a very handsome bedding plant. It is called 

 the Gazania (fig. 475). It is readily propagated by cuttings, and it 

 flowers freely all the summer. 



Extraordinary beds are sometimes made by arranging fancy 

 patterns, as ugly as those on Turkish smoking caps, of mixed gera- 

 niums, echeverias, sempervivums, verbenas, saxifrages, and numerous 

 other plants, but they are rather a source of wonder than of admiration 

 to the true lover of nature. Still more extraordinary imitations of 

 flower-beds are made of white stones and bits of coloured bricks, 

 formed into a pattern with box edging. The Horticultural Garden 

 at South Kensington has some such contrivances, and before Bethlehem 

 Hospital there are extensive ranges of such designs, but whether 



