ORNAMENTAL BEDS 39 
white, gold, salmon, and crimson, nothing can look better than a 
plant that is chiefly silver foliage ; for this purpose I recommend a 
sowing of a little known annual of great beauty, Cream Cups, or 
Platystemon Californicus. This is easy to grow, but needs sun- 
shine; the cream blossoms are shaped like wood Anemones, and the 
grey leaves are elegant in shape. 
Carpet bedding is frequently denounced as vulgar, or at best a stiff, 
unsuitable way of using bedding plants. Now the more I study the 
subject the more convinced I become that our summer flowers are 
D 
B 
Cc Cc 
' A D 
Cc C 
D D 
B 
FIG. 3—BANDS OF COLOUR ARE A FEATURE. 
shown off to perfection when they are kept within the limits of 
simple designs. When grown in mixed masses ina bed or border, 
both hardy and half hardy annuals have a tendency to spoil the 
effect of one another, whereas in pattern beds their associates are 
carefully chosen. Nor is there any reason why an irregularly shaped 
stretch of ground covered by Verbenas, Asters, or Stocks should be 
more artistic than a prettily shaped one. In good bedding arrange- 
ments there is no more attempt to hinder the natural habit of growth 
of a plant than there is to stunt its height. Take a bed shaped like 
Fig. 3, for example; the gay colours of the larger portions are 
beautifully divided by bands, 
