;i. ^"T^'^pr^^ry^Ti v>* j^i'-^vi ''■'/■•"■^r*' w;».*" .'." 



May I«, 1012. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



23 



Three Graves Similarly Planted With Girpet Bedclisg at Rosehill Cemetery, Chicavo. 



troubles the alternantheras but cold 

 weather," says one well known au- 

 thority. Hence, if any carpet bedding 

 is done at Eosehill during May, it is 

 done at the customer's risk, while the 

 planting done in June is guaranteed. 



Of course florists are well aware that 

 carpet bedding, as a means of deco- 

 rating graves, is too expensive to suit 

 customers of extremely scanty means. 

 This style of grave planting cannot be 

 used extensively except in cemeteries 

 which draw their patronage largely 

 from a prosperous class of people. It 

 is also true, however, that if carpet bed- 

 ding Wjb're easily within the reach of the 

 poorest of men, it might not be so 

 popular among some of the wealthier 

 men. If less costly, it might also be 

 less fashionable. Therefore, in this in- 

 ^ stance as in some others, what is loss to 

 the florists of one community may be 

 gain to those of another community. 

 Besides, as intimated in this connec- 

 tion two weeks ago, foliage plants in 

 cemetery bedding have special advan- 

 tages that may often more than compen- 

 sate for their expensiveness. 



A Few Points About the Plants. 



For the convenience of the reader 

 who may care to glance at any of the 

 following paragraphs, descriptive 'of 

 some of th^ Rosehill grave planting, it 

 may be well to repeat here part of 

 what was said two weeks ago with re- 

 gard to the varieties of plants that are 

 used. The red alternantheras that are 

 frequently spoken of, as occupying a 

 prominent place in most of the Rose- 

 hill carpet bedding, may be understood 

 us referring to any good, standard red 

 sort, though the favorite reds at Rose- 

 hill have usually been Alternanthera 

 brilliantissima and A. paronychioides 

 major. 



The yellow alternantheras, also re-^' 

 peatfedly mentioned in the descriptions, 

 are A. aurea nana. "Aurea — golden! 

 Surely the fellow who named it was 

 either color-blind or crazy, for it is as 

 green as anything that ever grew." 

 So thinks the amateur when he first 

 sees this variety in the spring. As the 

 summer advances, however, the coloi" 

 does change to a fine golden yellow, 

 especially if the plants are fully ex- 

 posed to the sunlight. 



Unless otherwise specified, the eche- 

 verias mentioned are the common bed- 

 ding sort, E. secunda glauca. 



It is also important to note that the 

 plants used by Mr. Fruetz are good- 

 sized ones, perhaps a little larger than 

 the average; so the number of plants 

 allotted by him to certain spaces may 

 not in all cases be sufficient for good 

 work. ^ Heart Bed. 



The bed shown in the first of the 

 three pictures is what Mr. Fruetz des- 

 ignates as a solid heart bed. It was 

 about four feet high and three and one- 

 half feet across. Mr. Fruetz insists 

 that those are the right proportions of 

 the bed, though the perspective of the 

 picture might convey a different im- 

 pression. The echeveria border, ex- 

 tending all around, contained sixty-five 

 plants. The figure occupying the cen- 

 tral part of the bed is what is termed a 

 wine-glass design. The space under the 

 base of the wine-glass was covered by 

 fifteen red alternantheras. The base 

 itself consisted of twenty-five echeve- 

 rias. The stem of the wine-glass and 

 the lower part of the bowl were made 

 of twenty-five yellow alternantheras; 

 the upper part was made of thirty-five 

 red alternantheras. The wine-glass was 

 edged on each side, from base to top, 

 with a row of echeverias, forty plants 



in all. Ouyije of this row of eche- 

 verias wasMi row of yellow alternan- 

 theras, ext^ding up over the edge of 

 the bowl and containing about fifty 

 plants, twenty-five on each side; then 

 another row of echeverias, about forty 

 of them. The spaces on each side of 

 the bed, between the triple edging of 

 the wine-glass and the outer border of 

 the heart, were filled with red alter- 

 nantheras, about eighty in all. 



Three Combination Graves. 



In another of the illustrations are 

 seen three graves which are treated just 

 alike and thus constitute what Mr. 

 Fruetz calls "three combination 

 graves." The beds, exclusive of the 

 outer edging of sod, were each about 

 1^2x5 feet. Limiting the description 

 now to one of the beds, the echeveria 

 border, enclosing the whole bed, con- 

 tained fifty plants. Running lengthwise 

 through the bed was i^'hat is termed a 

 two-bow design, with the arches or 

 curves of the two bows facing in oppo- 

 site directions, and with a large eche- 

 veria— an E. metallica— separating the 

 bows. The bows were made of twenty- 

 six santolinas, thirteen in each. The 

 space inside the arch of each bow was 

 filled with eighteen yellow alternan- 

 theras, or thirty-six of the yellow sort 

 in all. The rest of the bed was filled 

 with fifty red alternantheras. 



Solid Bed, with Heart in Center. 



Another of the illustrations shows a 

 bed of simple and unpretentious, but 

 tasteful design, with a heart formed in 

 the center of it. The bed measured 

 about 5x6 feet and covered two graves. 

 The echeveria border contftined sixty 

 plants. The four large echeverias, in 

 the corners, were E.- metallica. In each 

 of the two upper curves or lobes of the 



