192 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



June, 



Hints on Arranging Colors in 

 Flower Beds. 



BY "CriRNELL AMATEUR." 



Some very simple rules may be of help iu 

 the way of avoiding what is at once glaring- 

 ly unsightly in the matter of arranging 

 flowers about the garden. 



ISrierty, to contrast with either one of the 

 three primary colors— red, yellow or blue — 

 the color which would result from a mixture 

 of the two remaining ones is most suitable. 



ARRANGEMENT OF GEOMETRIC BED 



Thus along with blue should be used the | appearance 

 secondary color orange produced by admix- 

 ture of red and yellow. A bed of red 

 Geraniums {primary color) seated on the 

 green lawn (green being a secondary color 

 produced by yellow and blue,) affords an 

 effect pleasing to most eyes. One of the 

 handsomest beds we met last year was com- 

 posed of a ground work of Lobelia with 

 tri-color Geraniums dropped in amongst 

 them. 



Equal masses of bright color should be 

 avoided; one should predominate and the 

 other serve only to heighten it. 



A bed of scarlet Geraniums may be beau- 

 tifully modified, by using bright pink Ger- 

 aniums in the center and then grading 

 through rose and crimson do^vn to scarlet 

 at the edge. Were the vivid mass then 

 bordered with yellow Alternanthera or 

 Pyrethrum, a balance most pleasing would 

 be secured. 



A dash of white is always useful to break 

 up any masses of heavy color. In bedding 

 Coleus, "by using some of the darkest Coleus 

 at some point in the arrangement, along 

 with Verschaffelti, which continue to be a 

 favorite, the effect will be fine. 



It is a wise rule to make each mass of a 

 color or variety large enough to have a cer- 

 tain mark of character or dignity ; breadth 

 in some of the masses is especially desirable. 

 Thus if one has three colors of Geraniums, 

 or Verbenas, or Phloxes, it is better to bring 

 the plants of each color somewhat by them- 

 selves, allowing the masses to blend as they 

 meet, than to mix all indiscriminately. 



Purple and lilac group well together, but 

 should not be brought too close to red and 

 pink. They do well with the colder whites 

 and are seen at their best when placed near 

 to the grey-white foliage of C'entaureas, and 

 light Echeverias ; Pale yellow or white 

 make a suitable color to bring in between a 

 section devoted to purples, lilacs, etc., and 

 the group of warm colors such as scarlet, 

 crimson, pink, and orange. 



Too much white is an offence against the 

 best effects. It will be found that a single 

 mass of white is usually enough, for any 

 garden scene or arrangement, that may be 

 embraced by the eye from any certain point. 



Blue fiowers are the most beautiful when 

 completely set in an abundance of rich 

 green foliage, and next to this when 

 brought in contrast with pale yellows and 

 warm whites. 



A progression of colors is seltlom other- 

 wise than pleasing. Thus in setting Pansies 

 start with the whites at one end of the bed, 

 following with yellows, browns, mottled 

 and striped colors, light blues, indigoes, 

 and other dark colors down to black. For 

 mixed colors a good order to observe as 

 applying to the generality of garden flowers 



would be as follows: blues, light and dark, 

 passing to white, pale yellow, pink, rose, 

 crimson, scarlet leading to bright yellow 

 and orange. In Coleus, Alternantheras, 

 and other plants of similar widely varying 

 colors, the grading may be from darkest to 

 lightest. We do not in this pleasing work 

 favor reducing the separate shades or colors 

 to anything like definite lines, but blending 

 them in a manner that is as far as possible 

 devoid of stiffness of effect. 



For the formal 

 geometric bed it is 

 different; here the 

 beauty of the 

 effect depends 

 much upon hav- 

 ing each portion 

 clearly defined. 



The accompany- 

 ing design is of an 

 oblong geometric 

 bed of handsome 

 made on a lawn last year and 

 which was planted as follows: the parts in- 



dicated by 1, with Coleus A'erschattelti; 2, 

 with dark, almost black Coleus; .3, golden 

 Coleus; 4, scarlet Alternanthera; 5, Varie- 

 gated Dew plant; (5, light Echeveria. 



The Weather Plant. 



Among the plants quite commonly found 

 in the gardens of flower lovers is the 

 Mimosaor Sensitive plant (Jii/no.si piidicn), 

 which is found interesting especially on ac- 

 count of the strange behavior of its leaves 

 on being touched. A near relative, the 

 Acacia, also shows much .sensitiveness of 

 its leaves to outside influence, especially to 

 atmospheric conditions, and so in greater 

 or less degree, do other plants of the same 

 order. 



Another member of this order (Legumino- 

 sae) is now being extensively advertised as 



THE WEATHER PLANT UNDER OBSERVATION. 



the wonderful Weather plant. It has been 

 known in English gardens for 201) years 

 imder its botanic name Alirun prcattiiriaus, 

 but has now acquired a new name and new 

 fame as a prognosticator of weather 

 changes. In Henderson's Handbook of 

 Plants, latest edition, the following descrip- 

 tion is given of it: "A prccatorius, the 

 only species, is found in India, the West 



Indies, and the Mauritius. It is chiefly re- 

 markable for its small egg-shaped seeds, 

 which are of a brilliant scarlet color, with 

 a black mark indicating the place where 

 they were attached to the pod. 



The following is what Gardeners' Chro- 

 nicle has to say of the plant: It is the West 

 Indian wild Liquorice, so called on account 

 of the amount of saccharine juice in its 

 roots, which renders it available for all the 

 purposes for which the Liquorice grown in 

 European gardens is employed. It belongs 

 to the Phaseolus group of Legumes, and its 

 seeds are small Beans of a beautiful scarlet 

 color, adorned with a jet-black spot. In 

 the West Indies the beautiful seeds are 

 much used for rosaries, and there are red and 

 black-seeded varieties. Its special charac- 

 teristic is sensitiveness, in which it claims 

 alliance with Mimosa pudica, Desmodium 

 gyrans, and other plants that move their 

 leaves when irritated. It is not, however, 

 sensitive to touch in any special degree, but 

 to changes of temperature and to other at- 

 mospheric influences. We have noticed 

 that it changes color often, being at one 

 time of a full, lively, pure green, and again 

 of a dull yellowish green, and it appeared 

 to us that change of temperature was more 

 directly influential in causing these changes 

 than conditions of relative humidity. In a 

 temperature of 71 deg. F., the leaves incline 

 downward at an angle of about 4.5 degrees, 

 and the leaflets are nearly in a plane of the 

 rachis. But should the temperature fall, 

 say as much as ten degrees, the leaves and 

 leaflets would be so much depressed as to 

 give to the plant a quite peculiar appear- 

 ance. It is then in the same state as the 

 Clover and many more such plants that 

 drop their leaflets as night approaches— it 

 is in the condition that we call "sleep," a 

 condition brought about solely by a reduc- 

 tion of the temperature, so far as we at 

 present understand the matter. 



Our illustration which is reduced from 

 Gardeners' Magazine (London), shows a 

 plant under observation for indications of 

 weather changes in a plant house in the 

 garden of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 at Chiswick, where they are kept in a house 

 heated to about fi9 degrees Fahr, They are 

 all young plants, placed singly in glass jars 

 that are supplied with air from above. Mr. 

 Nowak, who conducts these experiments, 

 claims to be able, by means of the position 

 of the leaves, a thermometer, and other re- 

 quisites, to foretell the weather 48 hours in 

 advance; but such claims are entirely un- 

 supported. 



If the plant can do no more for us than 

 the barometer, says our English contempor- 

 ary, it will be a folly to keep it for weather 

 purposes, for a barometer takes care of it- 

 self in any safe place, but the plant needs a 

 glass house with the warmth of summer all 

 through the winter, and, in addition, a con- 

 stant attention the whole year round. So 

 far as we understand the case at present, it 

 does as many other plants do: it speaks by 

 its appearance of conditions then prevailing 

 whether of cold, heat,humidity, or drought, 

 and has absolutely no predictive power 

 whatever. 



Culture of the Dahlia. 



T. w. FISHER, WARREN CO., PA. 



The popularity of this old favorite is 

 largely accounted for by the ease with 

 which the tubers can be preserved in suc- 

 cession year after year. The best plants are 

 those having but a single plant from each 

 root. Roots started in the hot-bed or propa- 

 gating frame in March or April, by just 

 covering them with soil, should be excellent 

 strong plants by the end of Mayor .Tune 1st. 

 They should be hardened off somewhat by 

 giving them air freely before putting out. 



