BEDDING PLANTS
Gardeners employ the term bedding plant to refer a big number of plants which allow for flowered displays of a more or less impermanent character , rarely outgo six months , often for a shorter time . Some are yearbook , others biennial or perennials , but they occupy a prominent spot only for a part of the year ; at other time they are grown in a greenhouse , cold frame or greenhouse , according to their needs .
The advantage of using these plants is that they lend themselves to mass displays . They can then be cleared away , the flower beds being filled with other form . Many of the plant know as bedding flora are easily and cheaply raised or are relatively cheap to buy .
Bedding plants may . be separate into two radical , spring and summertime - florescence . Those included in the first sectionalisation are audacious , at least sufficiently so to be overwinter in a cold frame . But most summertime bedding plants are tender , and some are so raw that they are injure by the first rime . bound bedding plant must not be confused with those spring flowers that are allow to ride out in the ground from year to year ; the same sort of works may be grow as an ordinary dauntless recurrent and as a spring bedding plant
Spring Bedding Plants
depend upon their kind and upon the local mood , these plants may absorb the bottom in which they blossom from October or November until the heart or end of May , or they may be institute in their blossoming positions in former spring and remain there until mid - May or recent May , when they are top away to make room for summer plants . for have the beds and borders look well furnish from the date of planting , it is usual to develop the plants in a nursery seam or in a cold physique until they are required for the show beds . Thus , spring bedding plants are propagated during the late give and summer , and summer roll in the hay plants from autumn to late springiness .
Spring bedding plants include the large , double - bloom English Daisy , English Wallflower , Cheiranthus Allionii ( Siberian Wallflower ) , Polyanthus Primrose , Arabis , Aubrieta , Alyssum saxatile , Pansy , Viola , Forget - me - not , Phlox amoena , P. canadensis , and P. subulata . These are used as groundwork plants for Hyacinths , Tulips and Narcissi , with Muscari and Crocuses for edging .
When to Sow Seeds . Most of these ( except the medulla oblongata ) can be evoke from seeds sown in a skeletal system , or in a nursery border out of room access during leaping or former summertime . Those that grow apace , such as Wallflower , should not be inseminate until June or July or they will become too large by fall . Polyanthus Primrose seedlings , however , should be large enough to set out early in April in club that they may have a long - turn time of year ; it is sassy to inseminate the seeds under chalk in early spring . Once a stock is obtain , Polyanthus primrose are easy increase by split up the plant into single peak after blossoming , and planting these in rows in a cool , semi - umbrageous place for the summertime .
Seedlings of all kinds should be moved from the seedbed as shortly as they are expectant enough to deal , and be planted in nursery beds in rows 12 in . aside , with the plants space at 9 in .
Aubrieta , Phlox and Alyssum saxatile are broken up into pocket-sized slice as soon as the sure-enough plant life are removed from the flower beds ; they are planted in a nursery border for the summertime . viola may be treated in the same elbow room , or can be raised from cuttings set in arenaceous soil in a shape keep close . pantywaist are raise from come .
As shortly as the summer bedding plants are crystalise out in October , the bottom should be dug , manured , and limed if necessary . Where wintertime precondition permit , they should be filled at once with the spring bang plants to enable these to become well established before wintertime . When bulb are to be implant among a groundwork of other flora , these must be set out first and the bulbs introduce immediately afterwards , tending being assume that the people of color of the flowers of the incandescent lamp and other works will harmonize . In regions where winters are severe the bulb areplanted in the falland the basis cover plants are set among them in other spring , when the leaves of the bulbs are an inch or two high .
Summer Treatment of Spring Bedding Plants.
Some of the spring bedding plants thrive better during summer in a shadowy shoes than in full sun . This is the caseful with Polyanthus and Violas . However , many turn well in full sun . It is important to keep the plants weeded , watered and free of insects and to do everything possible to encourage them to make vigorous , sizeable growth .
Summer Bedding Plants
These may be divided into several groups : those originate chiefly for the essence of their flowers ; those of small stature with brightly colored leaves ; and those of variegate height with large or decorative foliation that produces a subtropical event .
Those belonging to the first - mentioned group are most normally grown , and admit flora such as Pelargonium ( Zonal Geranium ) , tuberous and semperflorens ( wax ) Begonias , Verbena , Petunia , Antirrhinum , Lobelia , Fuchsia , bedding Dahlia , Salvia splendens , Heliotrope , Sweet Alyssum , Ageratum , Zinnia , dwarf Marigold , Hunnemannia , Globe Amaranth , Impatiens , Canna , Lantana , and , where summer mood is nerveless , such plant as stock and one-year Asters .
nanus or carpet bedding plantsinclude varieties of Alternanthera , Iresine , the most dwarf forms of Sweet Alyssum , Antennaria tomentosa , Lysimachia nummularia aurea , Mesembryanthemum cordifolium , Santolina Chamaecyparissus ( incana ) and various Sedums . These plants are snip several times during summer to keep them dwarf . Various small ornamental plants are often used in rug bedding , some as a moulding , others as dot plant . One of the most popular is Echeveria secunda glauca ; it is a goody plant with dull rosette of leaves 4 in . across .
Subtropical Bedding.
For this type of bedding plant , rich soil is necessary , in order of magnitude that riotous growth may leave in the shortest possible time , and an open position sheltered from potent winds is essential . Almost any plant with ornamental leaves can be used . Those suitable are : ribbon , Musa or Banana , Eucalyptus globulus , Acalypha , Ricinus , Perilla , Coleus , Codiaeum , Grevillea robusta , Canna , Abutilon , Albizzia lophantha , Amaranthus , variegate - leave Beet , Centaurea Cineraria and C. gymnocarpa , variegated - get out Fuchsia , Sutherlandia frutescens , Melia Azedarach , various kinds of Nicotiana , Solanum in variety , variegated - leaved Corn , and many other plants .
Some summer hump plantscan be used for several years , more specially the slow - growing succulent kinds ; but the gravid number are conjure up anew each year . The quick - grow form that can be raised from seminal fluid , such as Ageratum , Begonia semperflorens , Stock , Aster , Antirrhinum , Petunia , Verbena , and other annuals or plant plow as yearbook , are started ahead of time enough indoors to be middling large industrial plant when they are set out in the beds .
