254 
FLOWERS AND BEDDING PLANTS, 
Fig. 50. 
be planted at the centre, where a vase is designated, and these beds 
could be formed around it for half a dozen years or more, or until 
the shade from its branches renders the location unsuitable for 
the growth of flowers. If a tree 
be not preferred, then the single 
vase, or a large basket-vase with a 
smaller vase rising out of it, would 
be the most appropriate centre¬ 
piece for such a group. The four 
principal beds are about twelve 
feet in length on their middle lines, 
and two and a half feet in greatest 
diameter. The dots show places 
for nine robust and compact plants, 
which may be from four to five 
feet in height in the centre, and 
diminish to one foot at each end. 
Where good plants can be ob¬ 
tained from a green house, we recommend for the centre of one 
bed the Canna coccinea vera , or the C. Lindleyana , which grow 
to five feet in height, to be flanked with pairs, divided one on 
each side, of the following varieties, viz.: the C. limbata major, 
four feet high ; the C. bicolor de Java, three feet; C. jlaccida, three 
feet; C. covipacta elegantissima, two feet; and C. augustifolia 
nana pallida , one foot. Many other varieties will do just as 
well as the ones named, provided they are of a size to diminish 
symmetrically from the centre to the ends of the bed. For the 
centre of another bed the Nicoteana atropurpurea grandiflora , a 
noble, large-leaved plant, that grows five feet in height, and 
bears panicles of dark-red blossoms; next to this on either side a 
plant of Canna gigantea splendidissima, three feet; then a pair of 
Acanthus mollis , three feet; next the Amaranthus bicolor, two 
feet; and for the ends, the Lady Pollock geranium, one to two 
feet. For the centre of a third bed the Wigandia caracasana may 
be used, being another of the splendid leaved plants recently intro¬ 
duced. It grows to the height of six feet. This may be flanked 
on either side with the Ricinus communis, four to five feet high; 
