Amateur Gardencraft Part 12

Let me say, just here, that the person who attempts what, for want of a better name, might be called pictorial gardening, is wise if he selects a rather simple pattern, especially at the outset of his career in this phase of garden-work. Intricate and elaborate designs call for more skill in their successful working out than the amateur is likely to be master of, and they demand a larger amount of time and labor than the average amateur florist will be likely to expend upon them. And the fact should never be lost sight of that failure to give all the care needed brings about most discouraging results. This being the case, select a design in which the effect aimed at can be secured by broad ma.s.ses of color, depending almost wholly on color-contrast for pleasing results. Bear in mind that this "school" of pictorial art belongs to the "impressionistic" rather than the "pre-Raphaelite," about which we hear so much nowadays, and leave the fine work to the professional gardener, or wait until you feel quite sure of your ability to attempt it with a reasonably good show of success.

Some persons are under the impression that flowering plants can be used to good effect in carpet-bedding. This is not the case, however. In order to bring out a pattern or design fully and clearly, it is absolutely necessary that we make use of plants which are capable of giving a solid color-effect. This we obtain from foliage, but very few flowering plants are prolific enough of bloom to give the desired result. The effect will be thin and spotty, so never depend on them.

Quite often they can be used in combination with plants having ornamental foliage in such a manner as to secure pleasing results, but they always play a secondary part in this phase of gardening.

The best plants to use in carpet-bedding are the following:

Coleus, in various shades of red, maroon, and scarlet, light and dark yellow, green and white, and varieties in which colors and shades of color are picturesquely blended.

Achyranthes, low-growing plants in mixtures of red, pink, yellow and green.

Alternatheras, similar to Achyranthes in habit, but with red as a predominating color. Both are excellent for working out the finer details of a design.

Pyrethrum--"Golden Feather"--with feathery foliage of a tawny yellow.

Centaurea _gymnocarpa_,--"Dusty Miller,"--with finely-cut foliage of a cool gray.

Geranium Madame Salleroi--with pale green and white foliage. This is a most excellent plant for use in carpet-bedding because of its close, compact habit of growth, and its very symmetrical shape which is retained throughout the entire season without shearing or pruning.

It must be borne in mind by the amateur florist that success in carpet-bedding depends nearly as much on the care given as on the material used. In order to bring out a design sharply, it is necessary to go over the bed at least twice a week and cut away all branches that show a tendency to straggle across the boundary line of the various colors. Run your pruning shears along this line and ruthlessly cut away everything that is not where it belongs. If this is not done, your "pattern" will soon become blurred and indistinct. If any intermingling of colors "from across the line" is allowed, all sharpness of outline will be destroyed.

The plants must be clipped frequently to keep them dwarf and compact.

Make it a point to keep the larger-growing kinds, such as Coleus, Pyrethrum and Centaurea, under six inches in height rather than over it.

Alternatheras and Achyranthes will need very little shearing, as to top, because of their habit of low growth.

In setting these plants in the bed, be governed by the habit of each plant. Achyranthes and Alternatheras, being the smallest, should be put about four inches apart. Give the Coleus about six inches of lee-way, also the Centaurea. Allow eight inches for Madame Salleroi Geranium and Pyrethrum. These will soon meet in the row and form a solid line or ma.s.s of foliage.

So many persons have asked for designs for carpet-bedding, that I will accompany this chapter with several original with myself which have proved very satisfactory. Some of them may seem rather complicated, but when one gets down to the business of laying them out, the seeming complications will vanish.

In laying out all but the star-shaped and circular beds, it is well to depend upon a square as the basis to work from. Decide on the size of bed you propose to have, and then stake out a square as shown by the dotted lines in design No. 1, and work inside this square in filling in the details. If this is done, the work will not be a difficult one.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 1.]

Design No. 1 will be found easy to make and admits of many pleasing combinations and modifications. Each gardener who sees fit to adopt any of these designs should study out a color-scheme of his own. Knowing the colors of the material he has to work with it will not be difficult to arrange these colors to suit individual taste. I think this will be more satisfactory than to give any arbitrary arrangement of colors, for half the pleasure of gardening consists in originating things of this kind, rather than copying what some one else has originated, or of following instructions given by others. This does not apply so much to designs for beds as it does to the colors we make use of in them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 2.]

In the designs accompanying this chapter it will be seen that simple plans are made capable of producing more elaborate effects by making use of the dotted lines. Indeed, one can make these designs quite intricate by dividing the different s.p.a.ces as outlined in No. 2. A plain centre with a plain point, as shown in _a_, shows the bed in its very simplest form. In _g_, _c_, and _d_, we see these points with three different arrangements suggested, and the dotted line in the central portion indicates a change that can be made there that will add considerably to the effectiveness of the design. A little study of other designs will, I think, make them so plain that they can be worked out with but little trouble.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 3.]

I would suggest that before deciding on any color-combinations, a rough diagram be made of whatever bed you select and that this be colored to correspond with the material you have to work with. Seeing these colors side by side on paper will give you a better idea of the general effect that will result from any of your proposed combinations than you can get in any other way, and to test them in this manner may prevent you from making some serious mistakes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 4.]

It will be necessary to go over the beds every day or two and remove all dead or dying leaves. Neatness is an item of the greatest importance in this phase of gardening, or any other, for that matter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No.5.]

Large plants can be used in the centre of any of these designs, if one cares to do so, with very good effect. For this purpose we have few plants that will give greater satisfaction than the Dahlia. Scarlet Salvia would be very effective if yellow Coleus were used about it, but it would not please if surrounded with red Coleus, as the red of the plant and the red of the flower would not harmonize. A Canna of rich, dark green would make a fine centre plant for a bed in which red Coleus served as a background. One of the dark copper-colored varieties would show to fine effect if surrounded with either yellow Pyrethrum or gray Centaurea.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 6.]

Ageratum, with its delicate lavender-blue flowers, can be made extremely attractive in combination with yellow Coleus. A pink Geranium surrounded with gray Centaurea would be delightful in the harmony that would result from a combination of these colors.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 7.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 8.]

Nos. 7 and 8 ill.u.s.trate the simplest possible form of bed. No. 7 is designed for plants to be set in rows. In a bed of this kind flowering plants can be used more effectively than in any of the others. Pink, white, and pale yellow Phlox would be very pretty in such a combination.

No. 8 would be quite effective if each of the five sections were of a different color of Coleus. Or the whole star might be of a solid color, with a border of contrasting color. Red Coleus with Madame Salleroi Geranium as a border would look well. So would yellow Coleus edged with Centaurea.

FLOWERING AND FOLIAGE PLANTS FOR EDGING BEDS AND WALKS

We do not lay as much stress on edging beds and walks with flowering plants as formerly, but the practice is a most pleasing one, and ought not to be neglected. It is one of the phases of gardening that has been allowed to fall into disuse, to a considerable extent, but there are already signs that show it is coming back to its old popularity, along with the old-fas.h.i.+oned flowers that are now more in favor than ever before. This is as it should be.

A bed without a pretty border or edging always seems incomplete to me.

It is as if the owner of it ran short of material before it was finished. The bit of lace or ribbon that is to add the last touch of grace and beauty to the gown is lacking.

Especially is a border of flowering plants satisfactory if kinds are selected which bloom throughout the greater part of the season. The plants we make use of in the centre of the bed are not always attractive before they come into bloom, neither are they that after they have pa.s.sed their prime, but a pretty edging of flowers draws attention from their shortcomings, and always pleases.

One of our best flowering plants for edging purposes is Candytuft. It comes into bloom early in the season, and blooms in great profusion until the coming of frost. Keep it from developing seed and it will literally cover itself with bloom. I would advise going over it twice a week and clipping off every cl.u.s.ter of faded blossoms. This answers two purposes--that of preventing the formation of seed, and of removing what would be a disfigurement to the plant if it were allowed to remain.

There are two varieties of Candytuft in cultivation--one white, the other a dull red. The white variety is the one most persons will select, as it harmonizes with all other plants. But the red sort is very pleasing when used with harmonious colors. I last year saw a bed of Nasturtium bordered with it, and the effect was delightful. Its dull color blended well with the richer, stronger tones of the Nasturtium flowers, and gave them an emphasis that was suggestive of the effect of dull, rich colors used in old rugs in heightening and bringing out, by contrast, the brighter colors.

In using Candytuft for edging, set the plants about a foot apart. I would advise two rows of them, placing the plants in such a manner that they alternate in the rows. Do not attempt to train them. Let them do that for themselves. One of their most attractive features is their lack of formality when allowed to grow to suit themselves. Very pleasing results are secured by using the white and red varieties together, the colors alternating. If the centre of the bed is filled with "Golden Feather" Pyrethrum and these two Candytufts are used as an edging, the effect will be very fine as the dull red admirably supplements the greenish-yellow color of the Pyrethrum, while the white relieves what, without it, would be too sombre a color-scheme.

Sweet Alyssum is excellent for edging purposes. Its general effect is quite similar to that of the white Candytuft, but it has greater delicacy of both bloom and foliage, and the additional merit of a delightful fragrance.

Ageratum is lovely for edging beds of pink Geraniums, its soft lavender tones being in perfect harmony with their color. It is equally satisfactory when used with pale rose Phlox Drummondi, or the soft yellow shades of that flower. Combine the three colors in a bed and you will have something unusually dainty and delightful. One of the prettiest beds I saw last summer was filled with Sweet Alyssum, and edged with Ageratum. If there was any unfavorable criticism to be made, it was that a touch of some brighter, stronger color was needed to relieve its white and lavender. A free-flowering rose-colored Geranium in its centre, or a pink Verbena, would have added much to the general effect, I fancy. As it was, it was suggestive of old blue-and-white Delft, and the collector of that ware would have gone into raptures over it.

For a permanent edging, for beds, paths, and the border, Bellis _perennis_, whose popular name is English Daisy, is one of the best of all plants. It is entirely hardy. It blooms early in the season. It is wonderfully generous in its production of flowers. These are small, and very double, some pink, some almost white, produced on short stems which keep them close to the ground and prevent them from straggling. Its thick, bright green foliage furnishes a charming background against which the blossoms display themselves effectively. It is a plant that does well everywhere, and is always on good terms with everything else in the garden, as will be seen by the ill.u.s.tration that shows it in full bloom, along with Pansies and Hyacinths. Because of its compact, non-straggling habit it is especially useful for bordering paths and the border, permitting the use of the lawn-mower or the rake with perfect freedom. Plants should be set about eight inches apart. If you have but few plants of it and desire more, pull the old plants apart in spring and make a new one out of each bit that comes away with a piece of root attached. By fall the young plants will have grown together and formed a solid ma.s.s of foliage, with a great many "crowns" from which flowers will be produced the following season. Florists can generally furnish seedling plants in spring, from which immediate effects can be secured by close planting.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A BORDER OF CREEPING PHLOX]

One of the best--if not _the_ best--plants for all-around use in edging is Madame Salleroi Geranium. It is quite unlike any other Geranium of which I have any knowledge, in general habit. It forms a bushy, compact plant, and bears a solid ma.s.s of foliage. No attention whatever is required in the way of pruning. The plant trains itself. The ordinary flowering Geranium must be pinched back, and pruned constantly to prevent it from becoming "leggy," but there is no trouble of this kind with Madame Salleroi. Its branches, of which there will often be fifty or more from a plant, are all sent up from the crown of the plant, and seldom grow to be more than five or six inches in length. Each branch may have a score of leaves, borne on stems about four inches long. These leaves are smaller than those of any other Geranium. Their ground color is a pale green, and every leaf is bordered with creamy white. This combination of color makes the plant as attractive as a flowering one. It is a favorite plant for house-culture in winter, and those who have a specimen that has been carried over can pull it apart in May and plant each bit of cutting in the ground where it is to grow during summer, feeling sure that not one slip out of twenty will fail to grow if its base is inserted about an inch deep in soil which should be pinched firmly about it to hold it in place while roots are forming. Set the cuttings about ten inches apart. By midsummer the young plants will touch each other, and from that time on to the coming of frost your border will be a thing of beauty, and one of the delightful things about it will be--it will require no attention whatever from you. Never a branch will have to be shortened to keep it within bounds. No support will be needed. The plants will take care of themselves. I have never had a plant that is easier to grow. It harmonizes with everything. Seen against the green of the lawn it is charming. All things considered, it is an ideal plant for edging. In combination with scarlet and yellow Coleus it is exceedingly effective, because of its strong color-contrast.

Most amateur gardeners are familiar with the various merits of Coleus, Alternatheras, Achyranthes, "Golden Feather" Pyrethrum, and Centaurea _maritima_, better known as "Dusty Miller" because of its gray foliage.

These are all good, when properly cared for, when used for edging beds and borders. Especially so when used with Cannas, Caladiums, and other plants of striking foliage, where their rich colors take the place of flowers.

Phlox _decussata_, commonly known as "Moss Pink" because of its fine foliage and bright pink flowers, is a most excellent plant for the hardy border, because it stands our winters quite as well as the hardiest perennials. Early in spring it will cover itself with charming blossoms that are as cheerful to look at as the song of the robin or the blue bird is to hear. It is a lovable little thing, and has but one rival among early-flowering plants for edging, and that rival is the English Daisy.