BEDDING 



modem, large-flowered types around the edges or in 

 front. Frequently, massing with a single variety of 

 canna is practiced. Next to cannas in popularity prob- 

 ably come the crotons or oodiiBums,-the broad-leaved 

 types, as Queen Victoria, being better for this purpose 



BEDDING 



139 



197, The Chickasaw Lima., or Jack Bean - 



Canavalia ensiformis (X^). 



(See Bean, p. 135.) 



than the narrower - leaved or simply cu- 

 rious kinds, as Godicewm interruptum 

 and 0. volutum, which belong to fan- 

 ciers' collections. For carpeting the 

 ground in a croton bed, two variegated 

 trailers can be used with good effect, the 

 wandering ."jew or tradescantia and Op 

 lismenus Sitrmanni, which is famil 

 iar to gardeners as Panifuvi variega 

 turn. The large leaves of bananas give 

 a very rich tropical effect, especially if 

 they can be so sheltered that the wind 

 will not split them. One of the very 

 best plants for encircling a public 

 fountain is the huge-leaved elephant 

 (XX)- (Seep.136.) ear caladium. For interesting points 

 concerning its culture, see Oolocasia 

 Among the first half -dozen favorites for subtropical bed 

 ding is the castor-oil plant, or ricinus. Its marvellous 

 growth from seed in a single season makes it one of the 

 very best of all plants for rapidly filling up large areas 

 temporarily. Grasses furnish an exception to the general 

 rule that bedding plants are tender. There are many 

 kinds of bamboos that are perfectly hardy in the north 

 ern states, and these are bound to increase in popularity 

 A favorite combination of grasses for bedding is 

 Arundo Donax, the giant reed, surrounded by eulalias 

 Grasses and their kind are particularly effective in 

 aquatic groups. No well kept establishment is complete 

 without a pond or body of water in which aquatic plants 

 are naturalized. For a more extended account of this 

 attractive subject, see the article Aquatics. There is a 



large class of tender material— as palms, screw-pines, 

 the coarser ferns, dracsenas, araucarias— a class of foli- 

 age plants which really does better outdoors during 

 summer in a shady and sheltered position than indoors 

 all the year round. In the more formal styles of orna- 

 mental gardening, such planes often form the nucleus of 

 a subtropical bed, the large tubs of the palms being hid- 

 den by lower-growing plants, as begonias, or whatever 

 may be left over from the spring operations. In less 

 formal gardening, the tubs may be hidden by plunging 

 them half-way into the ground and grading the sod, which 

 has been previously broken, in such a manner as to 

 conceal the tubs entirely. The plants are arranged in a 

 freer and more natural manner, and the outer fringe of 

 begonias and the like maybe dispensed with. The chief 

 dangers to such plants are from the sun and wind. 

 Palms once scoi-ched or wind-whipped are ruined. 

 Hence, a sheltered position on the north side of a build- 

 ing, or under the shade of trees, is usually the best spot 

 for their summer vacation. 



Cakpet Bedding is the most formal and most expen- 

 sive of all kinds of bedding, and employs plants that 

 stand pinching and shearing, as coleus, achyranthes, 

 alternanthera, lobelia, one of the dusty millers (Cen- 

 taurea gymnoearpa, — C. candidissinia will not bear the 

 shears), certain succulents of the hen-and-chickens 

 type (as echeverias), and many others, which list may 

 be found in a classified and convenient form at p. 245 of 

 Bailey's Garden-Making. The terms "geometrical bed- 

 ding" and " fancy bedding" are somewhat synonymous. 

 Here belong the imitations of buildings and animals, 

 the portraits of men, the lettered greetings to conven- 

 tions, the calendars, floral clocks, and similar ingenui- 

 ties. A single example is pictured in Fig. 199. A ground 

 plan for a fancy carpet bed is shown in Fig. 200. For 

 designs and for extended cultural information, the 

 reader is referred to the numerous German books on the 

 subject, to Mottet's La Mosaiculture, and to a book pub- 

 lished by Geo. A. Solly & Son, Springfield, Mass. This 

 style of bedding requires the highest degree of tech- 

 nical skill, and is especially enjoyed by the Germans, 

 whose gardeners excel in it. 



The position of a bed is far more important than the 

 style of bedding or the kinds of plants that are used. 

 The natural school of landscape gardening, as opposed 

 to the various schools of ornamental gardening, makes 

 no objection to beds in themselves, but dislikes their 

 usual position. They are commonly given the most con- 

 spicuous places, where they must be seen, whether peo- 

 ple like them or not. They should be in a place by 

 themselves where they do not interfere with the quieter 

 and larger pictures of the whole place. Sunken areas. 





198. 



Typical Snap, or 

 String Beans 



»"?,«, 



199. Example of fancy bedding. 



Msaiisia, 



as in Fairmount Park, PhUadelphia, are particularly 

 commendable. A flower-bed should not be in the mid- 

 dle of a large lawn, because it distracts the attention 



