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BEDDING PLANTS

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 774 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BEDDING See also:

PLANTS .—ThiS See also:term is chiefly applied to those summer-flowering plants, such as See also:ivy-leaved and zonal pelargoniums, petunias, See also:dwarf lobelias, verbenas, &c., which are employed in masses for filling the beds of a geometrical See also:parterre. Of See also:late years, however, more See also:attention has been bestowed on arrangements of brilliant flowering plants with those of See also:fine foliage, and the massing also of See also:hardy See also:early-blooming plants in parterre See also:fashion has been very greatly extended. Bedding plants thrive best in a See also:light See also:loam, liberally manured with thoroughly rotten dung from an old hotbed or thoroughly decomposed cow droppings and See also:leaf-See also:mould. See also:Spring Bedding.—For this description of bedding, hardy plants only must be used; but even then the choice is tolerably extensive. For example, there are the Alyssums, of which A. saxatile and A. gemonense are in cultivation; Antennaria tomentosa; the See also:double See also:white .4rabis albida; Aubrietias, of which the best sorts are A. Campbelliae and A. grandiflora; the double Bellis perennis or See also:Daisy; the Wallflowers, including Cheiranthus Cheiri (the See also:Common See also:Wall-See also:flower), C. alpina and C. Marshallii; Hepaticas, the See also:principal of which are the varieties of H. triloba, and the See also:blue H. angulosa; Iberis or See also:Candytuft; Lithospermum fruticosum; Myosotis or Forget-me-not, including M. alpestris, M. dissitiflora, M. azorica and M. sylvestris; Phloxes, like P. subulata, with its varieties setacea, Nelsoni, nivalis; the single-flowered varieties of the See also:Primrose, Primula vulgaris; the Polyanthuses; See also:Pyrethrum Parthenium aureum, called See also:Golden See also:Feather; Sempervivum calcareum; the See also:pink-flowered Silene pendula; self-coloured varieties of the See also:Pansy, V. tricolor, and of V. lutea and V. cornuta, as well as some See also:recent hybrids. Besides these there are the various spring-flowering bulbs, such as the varieties of See also:Hyacinthus, Tulipa, See also:Narcissus, Fritillaria, Muscari or See also:Grape See also:Hyacinth, See also:Crocus, Scilla, Chionodoxa and Galanthus or See also:Snowdrop. Summer Bedding.—T here is See also:great variety amongst the plants which are used for bedding-out in the See also:garden during the summer months, but we can See also:note only some of the most important of them. Amongst them are the Ageratums, the old tall-growing sorts of which have been superseded by dwarfer blue and white flowered varieties; Alternantheras, the principal of which are A. amoena; amoena spectabilis, magnifica, paronychioides See also:major awrea and amabilis; Alyssum maritimum variegatum; some of the dwarf varieties of Antirrhinum majus; Arundo Donax variegata; Begonias; Calceolarias; Cannas; See also:Centaurea ragusina; Clematises, of which the hybrids of the Jackmanni type are best; See also:Dahlia variabilis, and the single-flowered forms of D. coccinea; Echeverias, of which E. secunda and E. metallica are much employed; Gazanias; Heliotropes; Iresines; Lantanas; Lobelias; Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum; Pelargoniums, of which the various classes of zonal or bedding varieties are unapproachable for effect and See also:general utility; Petunias; Phloxes; Polemonium coeruleum variegatum; Pyrethrum Parthenium aureum, the well-known Golden Feather, especially useful as an edging to define the outline of beds upon grass; Tropaeolums, especially some of the varieties of T. Lobbianum; and Verbenas, the offspring of Tweedieana, chamaedrifolia and others. Few bulbs come into the summer flower gardens, but amongst those which should always be well represented are the See also:Gladiolus, the Lilium, the Tigridia and the Montbretia.

Subtropical Bedding.—Foliage and the less common flowering plants may be used either in masses of one See also:

kind, or in See also:groups arranged for contrast, or as the centres of groups of less imposing or of dwarfer-flowering subjects; or they may be planted as single specimens in appropriate open spaces, in recesses, or as distant striking See also:objects terminating a vista. See also:Carpet Bedding consists in covering the See also:surface of a See also:bed, or a See also:series of beds forming a See also:design, with See also:close, See also:low-growing plants, in which certain figures are brought out by means of plants of a different See also:habit or having different coloured leaves. Sometimes, in addition to the carpet or ground See also:colour, individual plants of larger See also:size and handsome See also:appearance are dotted symmetrically over the beds, an arrangement which is very telling. Some of the best plants for carpeting the surface of the beds are: Antennaria tomentosa and Leucophytum Browni, white; See also:Sedum See also:acre, dasyphyllum, corsicum and glaucuin, See also:grey; and Sedum Lydium, Mentha Pulegium gibraltarica, Sagina subulata and Herniaria glabra, See also:green. The Alternantheras, Amaranthuses, Iresines and See also:Coleus Verschaffelti furnish high and warm See also:colours; while Pyrethrum Parthenium aureum yields greenish-yellow; Thymus citriodorus aureus, yellowish; Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum, creamy yellow; Centaureas and others, white; See also:Lobelia Erinus, blue; and the succulent Echeverias and Sempervivums, See also:glaucous rosettes, which last add much to the general effect. In connexion with the various designs such fine plants as See also:Agave americana, See also:Dracaena indivisa are often used as centre-pieces.

End of Article: BEDDING PLANTS

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