4 
[April 4. 
THE COTTAGE 
THE ELOWER-GARDEN. 
Bedding Plants. —I said last week, that the Sweet 
Ahjssum was the best white edging plant; blit I forgot 
to say that the variegated form of it is the kind to winch 
I give the preference. The Variegated Sweet Alyssum 
is, indeed, the richest edging to a scarlet, or blue, or 
yellow bed, of all the plants we possess ; but some tastes 
might prefer Mangles variegated Geranium before it, but 
as I keep strictly to white colours at present, that gera¬ 
nium cannot be admitted, on account of its pinkish 
flowers. The only drawback to the variegated alyssum 
is that it is not everybody’s plant, like the original, as it 
must be preserved from year to year, by cuttings made 
in August, and secured from frost, like the verbenas. 
On the other hand, it is devoid of that powerful honeyed 
perfume for which the Sweet alyssum is discarded by 
those who dislike that kind of scent. Either of them 
is useful for second planting in July, after some other 
annual is done for the season; or, say a good successor 
to a bed of Navel-ioort, or of the Great Cape Marigold, 
Calendula hybrida, alias, C. pluvialis: but the latter is a 
! different plant, being the Small Cape Marigold. These 
two white flowering annuals are well worth growing, as 
they require only to be sown at once in the open bed ; 
and the alyssum, being of the same height—a foot to 18 
inches—would follow them, in an arrangement where 
' height and colour were to be maintained. We gardeners 
j do not encourage this style of planting, when we can 
put in a plant which will last through the whole season. 
! We prefer it to a double crop in the same bed, but that 
j is no reason why those who are fond of a variety should 
j follow our example here. The Calendula hybrida is a 
particularly showy white plant for a bed as long as it 
lasts, and is only a foot high in the richest soil. It is 
one, also, that will easily transplant; and five or seven 
good plants of it thinned out of a bed would make a 
handsome patch in a mixed border. White Clarkia 
makes a delightful bed, but can never be used in a proper 
arrangement of heights and colours, because, when it is 
over, there is not another white of the same height to take 
its place; at least, not without waiting some time. A 
White Petunia or Verbena might pass for it; but, after 
all, that would only be a poor make-shift. This Clarkia 
must, therefore, be used without reference to this style 
i of gardening, and when it is over a plant of some other 
: colour must take its place. I shall once more remind 
you of making one bed, at least, of mixed Clarkia : in¬ 
troducing equal quantities of white and purple. A good- 
sized bed of them, thus mixed, any one may have for six¬ 
penny-worth of seed ; and I engage to forfeit the good 
opinions of all our readers, if a single individual amongst 
them will not admire this bed. 
Petunias. —There are several good white petunias for 
bedding, but, with the exception of the old tall one 
called nyctag ini flora, I do not know one that could be 
got in the trade, as their names are so ephemeral. I 
must, therefore, pass them over, with one remark on 
that old one. It is the only one of them that can be 
relied on to come true from seeds; and the seedlings 
answer best on poor dry soils; but where the soil is rich 
and deep they grow too rank, and will not bloom so well 
as plants raised from spring-struck cuttings. A very 
dwarf white petunia is still a desideratum. 
Verbenas. —“I ivliolly dread” the verbenas, as we say 
in Suffolk, and so I left them out as long I could; but, 
fortunately for this week’s article, they are rich in white 
bedders. The Bride and White Perfection being the best 
two which I have yet seen, and I have tried a hundred 
too many of them. Miss Harcourt, Monarch, and Mont 
Blanc, are the next best. Princess Royal kept her 
ground for three or four years, but is now discarded as 
only a fourth or fifth-rate variety. Then, there is the 
old teucrioides for those who delight in sweet perfume; 
GARDENER. 
and there is another old one equally sweet but not so 
white : it is called fragrans, and teucrioides carnea, and 
I know not how many more names beside. Carnea 
is better than teucrioides for furnishing bouquets, as it is 
flat-headed, and comes in for a circular row in those huge 
bundles of flowers which are fashionable, but certainly j 
not tasteful bouquets. 
Where verbena beds are liable to mildew, the plants i 
ought to be dusted once a fortnight, from the turn of j 
Midsummer to the middle of August, with equal quan¬ 
tities of soot and flowers of sulphur. The sulphur is | 
the real agent to arrest the progress of the mildew, but 
it looks ill for a while ; whereas its own bulk of soot will 
give it somewhat of the same tint as the leaves of many 
kinds of plants. The way to apply the dusting is to 
make a little mop, with soft matting, about six inches 
round; tie it on the end of a stick 18 inches long; mix 
the soot and sulphur in a flower pot saucer, dip your new 
mop in the mixture, and press it down that it may get a 
good pinch ; then hold the mop in your left hand, and 
push it down among the plants until it is nearly touch¬ 
ing the soil of the bed; then, with your right hand, 
strike gently against the handle of the mop, and the 
dust will fly in all directions, and reach the underside of 
the leaves, where it will be safe for some time from the 
effects of dew or rain; but the work should only be done 
on dry days. If this dose is applied twice before any 
symptoms of the mildew are seen, the chances are that 
it will not appear for that season ; but the process is so 
simple, that to make sure of the remedy it would be 
better to continue applying it as late as August. 
The White Salvia patens closes my list of white 
bedders. 
Scarlet Colours. —I shall follow with this brilliant 
colour, because, of all the combinations of the colours 
of flowers, scarlet and white are, generally, the most 
pleasing. Here, again, if we begin with the lowest 
plants, we must recur to these puzzling verbenas; but 
they also are rich in scarlets, of many tints from orange 
to crimson-scarlet; and of all sizes, from Boul de Feu 
which is so dwarf as to require to be grown in the very | 
richest compost to get it to spread over the soil at all-—to 
Robinsons Defiance, which is strong enough lor field 
culture. 
Boul de Feu (The Fire-ball) is still the best of the very 
low scarlet verbenas for a narrow bed, but requires to be 
planted in the richest soil. The first nine inches of the 
bed should be one-half very rotten leaf-mould or old 
dung. The colour is an orange-scarlet. The next best 
is Inglefield scarlet, or fulgens, which is a brilliant dark 
scarlet or crimson. By planting these two together in . 
one bed, and alternately, the effect produced is much 
better than either of them alone; and this arrangement 
holds good with all the scarlet and pink verbenas, and 
with some of the purple ones. Indeed, three shades of 
these colours answer better; the only difficulty being to 
find plants exactly of the same height and strength ; ^ for 
unless they are so, the mixture cannot have a good effect. 
The whole bed should appear to a stranger to be made 
up with one plant only, and that one producing three 
shades of the given colour. The only other verbena 
that I could ever mix with Boul de feu and Inglefield ; 
scarlet is the old Melindres latifolia, which is more red 
than either of the other. These three may be mixed 
safely together; and, when the soil is rich and suitable 
for them, there is nothing in the whole range ol flowers 
which will at all come near to them in brilliancy of 
colour. 
Satellite and Emperor of Scarlets are two beautiful 
bedders, and both of them will associate in one bed, and 
produce a better scarlet bed than either ol them by 
itself; and, for a large bed, the Wonder of Scarlets would 
come in for the outside row, as it is not so strong a 
grower. Gladiator, Captivation, and Tweediana grandi- 
