Bedding
Read about Bedding in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Bedding, or Bedding-Out. The temporary use out-of-doors of plants that are massed for snowy and striking effects. There are four main types: spring, summer, subtropical and carpet-bedding. Spring bedding. The most temporary of all forms of bedding is that designed only for spring effects. It is usually followed by summer bedding in the same area. It is the only kind that largely employs hardy plants, as crocuses, narcissi, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, and other Dutch bulbs. All four types of bedding are commonly seen in public parks, but spring bedding is the most appropriate for amateur and home use, as the bulbs flower at a dreary time of the year, when their brave colors are most cheering, and also because they are much more familiar than the subtropical and foliage plants of summer. Moreover, hardy bulbs are more easily cultivated than any other class of plants, and they "are cheap. The main principle is to plant them early enough to secure a strong root development. There- fore, they should be ordered early, and planted m v the latter part of October or first of November. The colors may I be massed or mixed according to taste, the terms massed and mixed bedding referring to unity or variety of effect, and being applicable in each of the four main types mentioned above. Opposed to this style of bedding is the naturalizing of bulbs in the lawn. Crocuses and squills are particularly charming when they appear singly, or in twos or threes, at unexpected places in the lawn. Daffodils are frequently naturalized in large masses in spots where the grass is not mowed. Pansies are the only other plants that are used extensively for spring bedding. English double daisies and catchflies are largely used for edgings. Pansies are set out between April 1 and 15. In large operations, pansy seed is sown in August of the preceding year, and the young plants are transplanted once and wintered in a coldframe. After flowering, the plants are thrown away. The other method is to sow the seed in a greenhouse in January. The August-sown pansies give larger and earlier blooms, but the January-sown pansies will last longer, and in partially shaded places will give scattering bloom all summer, especially if protected from drought. Summer bedding. Bedding for summer effects often follows spring bedding in the same space of ground, and employs chiefly geraniums, coleus, begonias, ageratum, salvia, vinca, alyssum, petunia, verbena, heliotrope, grasses, cacti, and aquatic plants, the culture and varieties of which may be sought elsewhere in this work. As to tenderness, these fall into two groups, the first of which may be set out about May 15 in New York, and the second about June 1. Geraniums are the most important of the first group, and coleus is an example of the tenderest material, which is set out simultaneously with subtropical plants when all danger of frost is past. As to fondness for sunlight, there are again two groups, but the only bedding plants of importance that prefer shade are tuberous begonias and fuchsias. The popularity lately achieved by tuberous begonias in Europe will probably never be duplicated in America. The secret of their culture is shade, shelter, and moisture at the roots. Therefore, a clay bottom is desirable for a bed of tuberous begonias, as being more retentive of moisture than a sandy or porous soil. They enjoy cool air and as much indirect light as possible, but not the direct rays of the sun. The north side of a building is better for them than a station under trees, as the trees usually give too dense a shade, and their roots interfere. On the other hand, coleus is more highly colored in full sunlight than in shade. The only fibrous-rooted begonias largely used for bedding are varieties of the semperflorens type, of which Vernon and Erfordii are popular varieties at present. In the manipulation of tender perennials, there are often two methods of propagation, either of which may be better, according to the ideal in view. As a matter of general tendency, propagation by cuttings gives bloom that is earlier but not so continuous or profuse as by seeds. Salvias and verbenas are pronounced examples. On the contrary, cuttings must be depended on, as a rule, to keep the choicest varieties true to type, as a function of seeds in nature seems to be to produce more variation than can be attained by non-sexual methods of propagation, as by bulbs or cuttings. Salvias are also an example of plants that are particularly effective when seen at a great distance, and also of plants that are generally massed for unity of effect, and not mixed with others. Verbenas are commonly grown by themselves, but this is because they demand much room by reason of their trailing habit. Subtropical bedding. Summer bedding for subtropical effects employs chiefly cannas, musas, castor-oil plants, crotons, palms, ferns of coarser habit, screw-pines, dracenas, araucarias, elephant-ear caladiums, and, to a lesser extent, abutilon, acalypha, achyranthes, anthericum, Carica Papaya, sanchezia, and others. Cannas are by far the most popular at the present time, especially for mass-work. Sometimes the tall, purple-leaved old-fashioned, small- flowered types are used in the center or at the back of the bed, and the dwarf, modern, large-flowered types around the edges or in front. Frequently, massing with a single variety of canna is practised. Next to cannas in popularity probably come the crotons or codieums,— the broad-leaved types, as Queen Victoria, being better for this purpose than the narrower-leaved or simply curious kinds, as Codiaeum interruptum and C. volutum, which belong to fanciers' collections. For carpeting the ground in a croton bed, two variegated trailers can be used with good effect, the wandering Jew or trades-cantia and Oplismenus Burmannii, which is familiar to gardeners as Panicum variegatum. The large leaves of bananas give a very rich tropical effect, especially if they can be so sheltered that the wind will not split them. One of the very best plants for encircling a public fountain is the huge- leaved elephant-ear caladium. For interesting points concerning its culture, see Colocasia. Among the first half- dozen favorities for sub-tropical bedding is the castor - oil plant, or ricinus. Its marvelous growth from seed in a single season makes it one of the very best of all plants for rapidly filling up large areas temporarily. Grasses furnish an exception to the general rule that bedding plants are tender. There are some kinds of bamboos that are more or less hardy in the northern states, and these are bound to increase in popularity. Figs. 487, 488. A favorite combination of grasses for bedding is Arundo Donax, the giant reed, surrounded by eulalias. Grasses and their kind are particularly effective in aquatic groups. No well-kept large establishment is complete without a pond or body of water in which aquatic plants are naturalized. For a more extended account of this attractive subject, see the article Aquatics. There is a large class of tender material—as palms, screw-pines, the coarser ferns, dracenas, araucarias—a class of foliage plants that really does better outdoors during summer in a shady and sheltered position than indoors all the year round. In the more formal styles of ornamental gardening, such plants often form the nucleus of a subtropical bed, the large tubs of the palms being hidden by lower-growing plants, as begonias, or whatever may be left over from the spring operations. In less formal gardening, the tubs may be hidden by plunging them half-way into the ground and grading the sod, which has been previously broken, in such a manner as to conceal the tubs entirely. The plants are arranged in a freer and more natural manner, and the outer fringe of begonias and the like may be dispensed with. The chief dangers to such plants are from the sun and wind. Palms once scorched or wind- whipped are ruined. Hence, a sheltered position on the north side of a building, or under the shade of trees, is usually the best spot for their summer vacation. Carpet-bedding. What is known as carpet- or design-bedding is the most formal and most expensive of all kinds of bedding, and employs plants that stand pinching and shearing, as coleus, achyranthes, alternanthera, lobelia, one of the dusty millers (Centaurea gymnocarpa,—C. candidissima will not bear the shears), and certain succulents of the hen-and- chickens type (as echeverias), and many others. The plants are started indoors, mostly by cuttings, and from very carefully selected stock. The terms "geometrical bedding" and fancy bedding" are somewhat synonymous. Here belong the imitations of buildings and animals, the portraits of men, the lettered greetings to conventions, the calendars, floral clocks, and similar ingenuities. The designs of carpet-beds are very numerous, but there are certain recognized standards. The diagrams (Figs. 489 to 494) give forms and planting material for a half-dozen unlike and regulated patterns, with harmonious color combinations. Forms of pattern-beds on the lawn are shown in Figs. 495, 496. A proper setting for pattern beds is indicated in Fig. 497. For designs and for extended cultural information, the reader is referred to the numerous German books on the subject, to Mottet's La Mosaiculture, and to a book published by Geo. A. Solly & Son, Springfield, Mass. This style of bedding requires the highest degree of technical skill, and is especially enjoyed by the Germans, whose gardeners excel in it. The position of a bed is far more important than the style of bedding or the kinds of plants that are used. The natural school of landscape gardening, as opposed to the various schools of ornamental gardening, makes no objection to beds in themselves, but dislikes their usual position. They are commonly given the most conspicuous places, where they must be seen, whether people like them or not. They should be in a place by themselves where they do not interfere with the quieter and larger pictures of the whole place. Sunken areas, as in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, are particularly commendable; a flower-bed should not be in the middle of a large lawn, because it distracts the attention from the larger picture, and because the lawn is the canvas upon which the landscape gardener makes his picture. The chief merit of beds is their attractiveness and brightness, which accounts for their presence in parks and public places. On the other hand, they are expensive, and they are at their best only two or three months in the year, while a mud-hole in a lawn for nine months of the year is an unsightly object. Formal beds, especially of foliage plants, with their gaudy colors and unchanging monotony, are considered by some the most unnatural and the least artistic style of gardening. Nevertheless, they require a high degree of technical skill, which deserves appreciation. General instructions. A few practical suggestions may be given for making any bed. The soil should be rich and full of vegetable matter. If a foot or 18 inches of the surface soil is so poor that it must be removed, it may be replaced by two parts of fibrous loam and one of well-rotted manure, with some upturned broken sods in the bottom for drainage. The fall is the proper time to apply manure, and if the bed be thoroughly spaded over and left rough during the winter, the alternate freezing and thawing will fine both the soil and the fiber of the manure. Beginners nearly always fail to supply perfect conditions for watering. A midsummer mulch of half-rotted manure enables the plants to take all the moisture they need during the drought and to keep it. The soil should be in ideal condition before the plants are set into it,— mellow, rich, full of fiber, and of firm and uniform texture. Begin in the middle and work toward the edges. When the bed is finished, give it one thorough soaking, to settle the soil at the roots.
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