PLANTS FOR CARPET BEDS. 



221 



of arms, birds and butterflies were made the chief feature. These with other " fantastic 

 tricks " eventually led to something like ridicule, not a few of the forced attempts at 

 novelty being laughed at instead of extolled. Carpet beds then decreased in number, 

 but never became obsolete, those in which refined taste was displayed finding many 

 admirers, and so it is to the present day. 



A few small carpet beds or one or two large ones, well planted and properly tended, 

 in appropriate positions, add to the attractiveness of a flower garden, without entailing a 

 serious amount of labour. A great point in favour of these beds is the fact that they are 

 showy from the first, and as brilliant in colouring after a long spell of wet weather as 

 they were at its commencement, Very complicated designs ought not to be attempted 

 and the panels and figures generally should be kept well apart, filling in the spaces 

 between with close-growing green or grey-foliaged plants, such as Sedum lydium and S. 

 glaucum, Hemiaria glabra, and Antennaria tomentosa, all of which, with several others 

 employed, are hardy. 



Elegant, fine-foliaged plants of the sub-tropical order (which see), including drachmas, 

 chamsepeuce, grevilleas, and small acacias, also the larger kinds of succulents used as 

 isolated, central plants, relieve the stiffness and formality that would otherwise prevail. 

 Succulents are freely used in these beds. The combination is well shown in Fig. 109. 

 This represents a beautiful bed as once arranged in Mr. Ealli's garden in Clapham Park, 

 S.W., by Mr. George Legg, Florist, Worple Road, Wimbledon. Plant all beds 

 devoted to carpeting purposes somewhat closely, both for immediate effect and also 

 because it is the only way in which perfectly regular surfaces can be formed. Trace out 

 the designs, marking them with thin lines of silver sand early and fill in with the 

 hardy kinds of plants as soon as the ground is in suitable condition in the spring. Late 

 planting of these, which usually have to be much divided, is inimical to free growth. 

 Tender kinds must not be planted until June. 



PLANTS EMPLOYED IN CARPET BEDS. 



Alternant hera. — These Brazilian plants are compact 

 in growth and highly coloured. They are admir- 

 ably adapted for carpeting and for margins of 

 beds. A. amabilis, loaves rose coloured ; A. 

 amoena, orange red ; A. a. tricolor, vivid rose, 

 green edge ; A. paronychoides magnifica, orange 

 red ; A. p. aurea, golden yellow ; and A. versi- 

 color, rosy pink and crimson, shaded with green, 

 are all variously used. Stock plants, whether 



lifted from the open ground or, better still, newly 

 raised from cuttings in heat, must be wintered on 

 shelves in a stove temperature, all perishing in an 

 ordinary greenhouse. Young shoots should be 

 plentiful in March and April, and every small 

 piece will quickly root in moist sandy soil in 

 brisk heat. The plants may be placed in small 

 pots or, if large quantities are wanted, prepared in 

 pans and shallow boxes, out of which they trans- 



