A PLEA FOR THE RED GERANIUM 



inevitably remain and daily distress us with their un- 

 attractiveness. 



Yet, though they must remain, why should not their 

 unattractiveness be hidden ? 



Are we to stand on ceremony, and not hide their 

 nakedness with glowing colour merely because the Mrs. 

 Grundy of gardens looks askance at the employment of 

 bedding plants ? Bedding plants, forsooth ! Are there 

 none others than Geranium and Calceolaria and Lobelia ? 

 Rather would I ask, are not these the least attractive 

 amongst them ? Is not Lantana, of musky leaf and 

 orange-red blossom, a bedding plant ? Yet what more 

 delightful to put out in early June among the fading 

 Lupins and withering Poppies ? And why not hide with 

 the giant bronze-green leaves of the Castor Oil plant 

 (Ricinus) the shrivelling leaves and withering stems of 

 the once exquisite blue spires of Larkspur ? Should we 

 not prefer to remember these as they were in the height 

 of their unparalleled charm, and forget them in admira- 

 tion of the finely chiselled Ricinus ? And the tuberous 

 Begonia and semperflorens Begonia, Abutilon and 

 ornamental-leaved Geranium, Ageratum, and Fuchsia 

 shall we not use them all to the same advantage and for 

 a double purpose, that they may not only fill inevitable 

 blanks in the borders, but enable us to retain delightful 

 memories of gorgeous flowers in their gorgeous prime ? 

 Then may we welcome them again in the new year with 

 nothing but pleasant memories of their inimitable loveli- 



53 



