860 FLOWERS AND BEDDING P L A. N T 8 , 



much longer, and look cleaner, if the wood is obtained when the 

 bark will peel readily, and made up with no bark upon it. The 

 first effect is certainly less rustic, but sufficiently so to harmonize ■ 

 with the surroundings of a suburban home ; and after a few years 

 the advantages of the barkless constructions are very evident. 



There is a frequent fault in the use of vases, whether rustic or clas- 

 sic, that mars all their beauty wherever they are placed. We refer to 

 the want of care in keeping their tops level, and their centres vertical. 

 A house " out of plum " is not more unsightly than a vase awry. 



The plants used with good effect in rustic vases are those which 

 have large and showy or curiously marked leaves, for the centres, 

 surrounded by delicate-leaved drooping or trailing plants. The gor- 

 geous crimson-leaved Colleus verschafelti is a deserved favorite for 

 vases of good size, being a rank grower and developing its greatest 

 beauty in exposures open on all sides to the sun. The following 

 are some of the plants recommended by Henderson, in his book of 

 Practical Floriculture, for the central portions of small baskets, and 

 will answer also for small vases : " The Centaurea Candida, a plant 

 of white, downy leaves, of compact growth ; Tom Thumb geranium, 

 scarlet, dwarf, and compact, blooming all summer ; Sedum sie- 

 boldii, a plant of light glaucus foliage and graceful habit ; " and 

 for large baskets the following : " Mrs. Pollock geranium, foliage 

 crimson, yellow and green, flowers bright scarlet ; Centaurea 

 gymnocarpa, foliage fern-like, whitish gray, of a peculiar graceful 

 habit; Sedum sieboldii variegatum, glaucus green, marbled with 

 golden yellow ; Achyranthes gilsonii, a beautiful shade of carmine 

 foliage and stem ; Alyssum dentatum variegatum, foliage green and 

 white, with fragrant flowers of pure white ; Altemanthera spalhula, 

 lanceolate leaves of pink and crimson ; pyrethrum or golden 

 feather, fern-like foliage, golden yellow." For plants to put around 

 the edge of a small basket or vase, and to fall pendant from its 

 sides, he recommends the following : " Lobelia erinus paxtoni, 

 an exquisite blue, drooping eighteen inches ; Tropceolum (ball 

 of fire), dazzling scarlet, drooping eighteen inches ; Lysimachia 

 numularia, flowers bright yellow, drooping eighteen inches ; Linaria 

 cymbalaria, inconspicuous flowers but graceful foliage." For the 

 edging or pendant plants of a large basket he recommends the 



