138 



BEDDING 



BEDDING 



BEDDING, or BEDDING-OUT. The temporary use 

 out-of-doors of plants that are massed for showy and 

 striking effects. There are four main types : spring, 

 summer, subtropical, arid carpet bedding. 



SPRING BEDDING is the most temporary of all, and is 

 usually followed by summer bedding in the same area. 



196. Phaseolus multiflorus. Natural size. (See Bean, p. 135.) 



It is the only kind that largely employs hardy plants, as 

 crocuses, narcissi, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, and other 

 Dutch bulbs. All four types of bedding are commonly 

 seen in public parks, but spring bedding is the most 

 appropriate for amateur and home use, as the bulbs 

 flower at a dreary time of the year, when their brave 

 colors are most cheering, and also because they are 

 much more familiar than the subtropical and foliage 



plants of summer. Then, too, hardy bul^s are more 

 easily cultivated than any other class of plants, and they 

 are cheap. The main principle is to plant them early 

 enough to secure a strong root development. Hence 

 they should be ordered early, and planted in the latter 

 part of October or flrsc of November. The colors may be 

 massed or mixed according to taste, the terms massed and 

 mixed bedding referring to unity or variety of effect, 

 and being applicable in each of the four main types men- 

 tioned above. Opposed to this style of bedding is the 

 naturalizing of bulbs in the lawn. Crocuses and squills 

 are particularly charming when they appear singly, or in 

 twos or threes, at unexpected places in the lawn. Daffo- 

 dils are usually naturalized in large masses in spots 

 where the grass is not mowed. Pansies are the only 

 other plants that are used extensively for spring bed- 

 ding. English double daisies and catchflies are largely 

 used for edgings. Pansies are set out between April 1 

 and 15. In large operations, pansy seed is sown in August 

 of the preceding year, and the young plants are trans- 

 planted once and wintered in a coldframe. After flower- 

 ing, the plants are thrown away. The other method is to 

 sow the seed in a greenhouse in January. The August- 

 sown pansies give larger and earlier blooms, but the Jan- 

 uary-sown pansies will last longer, and in partially 

 shaded places will give scattering bloom all summer, 

 especially if protected from drought. 



SUMMER BEDDING often follows spring bedding in the 

 same space of ground, and employs chiefly geraniums, 

 coleus, begonias, ageratum, salvia, vinca, alyssum, 

 petunia, verbena, heliotrope, grasses, cacti, and aquatic 

 plants, the culture and varieties of which may be sought 

 elsewhere in this work. As to tenderness, these fall into 

 two groups, the first of which may be set out about 

 May 15 in New York, and the second about June 1. 

 Geraniums are the most important of the first group, 

 and coleus is an example of the tenderest material, 

 which is set out simultaneously with subtropical plants 

 when all danger of frost is past. As to fondness for 

 sunlight, there are again two groups, but the only bed- 

 ding plants ol importance that prefer shade are tuberous 

 begonias and fuchsias. The wonderful popularity lately 

 achieved by the former in Europe will probably never 

 be duplicated in America. The secret of their culture is 

 shade, shelter, and moisture at the roots. Hence a clay 

 bottom is desirable for a bed of tuberous begonias, as 

 being more retentive of moisture than a sandy or porous 

 soil. They enjoy cool air and as much indirect light as 

 possible, but not the direct rays of the sun. Hence the 

 north side of a building is better for them than a station 

 under trees, as the trees usually give too dense a shade, 

 and their roots interfere. On the other hand, coleus is 

 more highly colored in full sunlight than in shade. 

 The only fibrous-rooted begonias largely used for bed- 

 ding are varieties of the semperflorens type, of which 

 Vernon and Erfordii are extremely popular at present. 

 In the manipulation of tender perennials, there are often 

 two methods of propagation, either of which may be 

 better, according to the ideal in view. As a matter of 

 general tendency, propagation by cuttings gives bloom 

 that is earlier but not as continuous or profuse as by 

 seeds. Salvias and verbenas are pronounced examples. 

 On the contrary, cuttings must be depended on, as a 

 rule, to keep the choicest varieties true to type, as the 

 mission of seeds in nature seems to be to produce more 

 variation than can be attained by non-sexual methods of 

 propagation, as by bulbs or cuttings. Salvias are also an 

 example of plants that are particularly effective when 

 seen at a great distance, and also of plants that are 

 generally massed for unity of effect, and not mixed with 

 others. Verbenas are commonly grown by themselves, 

 but this is because they demand much room by reason 

 of their trailing habit. 



SUBTROPICAL. BEDDING is a department of summer 

 bedding which employs chiefly cannas, musas, castor-oil 

 plants, crotons, palms, ferns of coarser habit, screw- 

 pines, drac8enas,araucarias, elephant-ear caladiums, and 

 to a lesser extent, abutilon, acalyphas, achyranthes, 

 anthericum, Carica Papaya, sanchezia, and others. 

 Cannas are by far the most popular at the present time, 

 especially for mass-work. Sometimes the tall, purple- 

 leaved, old-fashioned, small-flowered types are used iq 

 the center or at the back of the bed, and the dwarf, 



