Gardening for Amateurs 



391 



A splendid plant of the Paris Daisy, or Marguerite, in a garden in Somerset. 

 a great favourite for summer bedding. 



This is 



Summer Bedding 



IX spite of the increased popularity of 

 informal flower gardening, summer bed- 

 ding continues to be practised as largely 

 and with as much success as at any period 

 of English gardening. The reason for this 

 i< not far to seek formal flower grouping is 

 still indispensable in the majority of gardens. 

 This i.s especially so in public parks, where 

 brilliant and lasting displays seem essential 

 to the enjoyment of the ever-changing 

 stream of visitors. The amateur, also, has 

 A warm comer in his heart for formal bed- 

 ding, and as gardening is more largely sup- 

 ported by him now than at any previous 

 time, summer bedding will continue to 

 have its devotees. 



Beds that are used for a summer display 

 of flowers are usually of more or less formal 

 design; they may have been filled uitli 



spring flowers, or left vacant since the 

 previous autumn, but in either case it is 

 necessary to manure them and cultivate the 

 ground thoroughly to get really good results. 

 The majority of the plants used for summer 

 bedding are tender or only half hardy, and 

 have to be projwgated under glass, conse- 

 quently a greenhouse is a necessity if the 

 plants are to be home-grown. The time at 

 which tender bedding plants can IK? put out 

 in their summer quarters depends largely 

 upon the locality. In gardens in the south 

 and other favoured districts it is safe to 

 l>ed out at the end of May, but in the Mid- 

 lands and the North the first week in June 

 is soon enough. Any numt>er of designs 

 for flower beds may IM- conceived and car- 

 ried out, and the beds made part of an 

 elaborate scheme, but those of simplest 



