BEDS FOR FLOWERS. 



26 



BEGONIA. 



Bead Tree. — See IMelia. 



Beaufortia. — Myrtacem. — Splen- 

 did New Holland shrubs with scarlet 

 and red flowers, free -growers and 

 abundant-flowerers, and well adapted 

 either for planting out in a conserva- 

 tory, or growing in pots. The best 

 soil is sandy loam and peat, well 

 drained ; and cuttings, taken off with 

 a small portion of half-ripened wood, 

 root freely in sand under a bell-glass. 

 B. decussata, which produces its 

 scarlet flowers from May to July, is 

 one of the handsomest species. 



Beaumontia, Wal. — Apocynece. 

 — Climbing shrubs from the East 

 Indies, of elegant foliage and large 

 white flowers, of easy culture in the 

 stove, and propagated by cuttings 

 either of the stem or roots. The best 

 soil is sandy loam, mixed with rotten 

 dung or leaf mould. By proper ma- 

 nagement they may be made to flower 

 in the open air. See Allamanda. 



Beds for Flowers commonly form 

 part of an assemblage of beds, which 

 constitute what is called a flower- 

 garden, and sometimes, though impro- 

 perly, a Parterre. (See Flower 

 Garden.) Flowers are planted or 

 sown in beds, either with a view of 

 covering the bed with one entire mass 

 of foliage and flowers, or of distribut- 

 ing single plants, or small tufts of 

 plants and flowers, over it at regular 

 distances, with naked spaces show- 

 ing the soil between. The plants 

 most suitable for completely covering 

 the bed are trailers and creepers ; and 

 those for standing singly at regular 

 distances are erect plants, which have 

 their flowers in terminal spikes, co- 

 rymbs, or umbels, or compact-growing 

 plants, which make neat little bushes. 

 All other herbaceous flowers, such as 

 the tall-growing Salvias, Sunflowers, 

 Persicarias, Dahlias, Hollyhocks, &c. 

 are better grown in the borders, in 

 rows, or in small groups in a border, 

 or on a lawn. When a bed is to be 



entirely covered with flowers, the 

 stems often require to be pegged down 

 with hooked sticks, so as to cover 

 every part of the bed equally ; and in 

 wet seasons, when the plants are apt 

 to run too much to leaves, the lower 

 extremities of the shoots ought to be 

 slightly bruised, so as to check their 

 growth by lessening the rapidity of 

 the return of the sap. The larger 

 roots may also be cut for the same 

 purpose, and in some cases the effect 

 of a check will be given by watering 

 once or twice with salt and water. 

 In situations where the bottom is na- 

 turally moist, the whole flower-gar- 

 den ought to be effectually drained, 

 and those beds which are intended to 

 be wholly covered with trailing plants, 

 ought to have a comparatively thin 

 stratum of soil. On the other hand, 

 those beds which are intended for tall, 

 vigorous growing plants, ought to have 

 a deep substantial soil. It may be 

 laid down as a general principle, that 

 the manager of a flower-garden may 

 add greatly to its beauty in a dry 

 season by the judicious supply of 

 water, which ought to be given in the 

 evenings ; and in a wet season by 

 withholding water, thinning out the 

 leaves and branches, and checking 

 over luxuriant growth by bruising the 

 branches at their junction with the 

 stem, or bruising the roots in the case 

 of trailing plants and creepers, and 

 cutting through some of the principal 

 roots, six oreight inches under ground, 

 in the case of the more vigorous-grow- 

 ing plants. 



Begonia. — Begoniacece. — Tropi- 

 cal under-shrubs or herbaceous plants, 

 some of which require the stove and 

 others the greenhouse. The flowers 

 are showy, mostly pink and white, 

 and the leaves are succulent, mostly 

 oblique at the base, and red under- 

 neath. On the whole, the plants are 

 highly ornamental, and they are of 

 the easiest culture and propagation in 



