Formal Flower-Beds 



a little later, of the coleus and other bright- 

 leaved exotic plants. But I think that this 

 view must be mistaken. I think it miust be 

 truer to turn the statement about and say- 

 that geraniums and coleus - plants became 

 popular because public taste had begun to 

 demand bright-colored and stiff material for 

 a special gardening purpose. 



This purpose was part of a generally in- 

 creasing desire to ornament home-grounds 

 as effectively as possible with the smallest 

 possible expenditure of thought and pains. 

 An immediate result and a showy result — 

 this was the end desired in our gardens ; 

 and no way of securing it seemed so seduc- 

 tive as to mass such plants as coleus and 

 geraniums in large bodies so that their viv- 

 idness of leaf and flower should be brought 

 into strong relief by an expanse of closely 

 cut turf. 



The desire thus expressed was not, in it- 

 self, very laudable ; and the device it seized 

 upon is less satisfactory, even from a purely 

 practical point of view, than it appears to 

 superficial thought. It would be easy to 

 show that the practice of ^^bedding-out" 



141 



