Only for people who have a greenhouse, since these plants cannot be Kept over A bed for people who have no greenhouse. (Caladium bulbs, however, must be 

 winter in a cellar. Rubber plants, fancy caladiums and anthericum Kent in a warm place.) Tall can nas and elephant's ears (Caladium esculentum) 



The Making of a Flower Bed-By J. T. Scott, i™ 



A FAIR STATEMENT OF THE RELATIVE MERITS AND LIMITATIONS OF BEDDING PLANTS AS OPPOSED TO HARDY 

 PERENNIALS— WHERE EXOTICS FIT AND WHERE THEY DO NOT— MINUTE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CRAFTSMAN 



[Editor's Note. We offer $5 each for the best twelve photographs made as a result oj reading this article. Each one is to show an important, typical place on private grounds where 

 bedding plants really fit. The designs must be simple — not complicated. As color will not show in photographs, we hope that originality and imagination will be exercised upon foliage 

 ejects and upon new ways of harmonizing plants with architecture or providing a transition from Art to Nature. Give names and numbers of plants used, colors, and cost of bed.] 



HPHE relative merits and limitations of 

 -*- bedding plants and hardy perennials 

 have never been fairly stated. Bedding 

 plants have two advantages over hardy 

 perennials. They produce a good effect the 

 moment they are planted, whereas a newly 

 planted border does not. They require less 

 skilled care after planting, because a bed 

 contains one kind of plant, or few kinds and 

 these change little, whereas a border contains 

 many kinds which change greatly and there- 



fore require more varied knowledge for their 

 care. 



On the other hand, bedding plants, though 

 cheaper and easier the first year, cost more 

 than perennials in the long run, because they 

 must be stored over winter in greenhouse or 

 cellar. Also, the labor item is greater, 

 because bedding plants have to be planted 

 in a precise, formal manner. 



Again, the individual bedding plant 

 remains attractive all summer, while the indi- 



A strong artistic effect. 



Note the position of large, medium and small leaves, and the highly distinct forms 



290 



vidual hardy flower has a relatively short period 

 of bloom and may be shabby or unattractive 

 when out of bloom. The hardy border 

 stands for variety and its danger is dissipa- 

 tion, weakness, restlessness. The flower- 

 bed stands for unity and its dangers are 

 gaudiness and monotony. 



Perennials are more natural, because they 

 show the progress of the seasons, while 

 bedding plants are more artificial, since they 

 are ofter sheared and set in geometrical 

 lines, and being of a tropical nature can never 

 harmonize in a Northern landscape. 



The law of fitness indicates a perfectly 

 sensible rule which both parties can unite 

 upon without this everlasting squabbling. 

 Never put bedding plants where Nature is 

 dominant; put artificial objects only in an 

 environment where art is dominant. 



Don't put a flower bed in the middle of a 

 lawn, because it interferes with the landscape 

 by introducing a tropical note into a temper- 

 ate climate, and because it makes your lawn 

 and yard look smaller than it really is. 



WHERE FLOWER BEDS REALLY FIT 



Put bedding plants near the house, because 

 in that position they will make a transition 

 between art and Nature. Piazza lines are 

 often straight for necessary structural reasons, 

 and the lines around the dwelling are often 

 straight and therefore severe, but a flower 

 bed can be cut out and planted in such a 

 manner as to remove entirely any stiff effect. 



For example, in most cases the levels 

 surrounding the dwelling are undulating 

 and the piazza appears more prominent in 

 one place than in another. When this is 

 conspicuously the case, a flower bed will 

 serve to harmonize and tone this down. 

 Select the taller plants to be placed where 





