By bedding plants we mean those plants that are raised in great quantities under glass, and are put out into our gardens in May. To be sure, you hear of ‘spring’ and ‘summer’ bedding, because in the autumn, when you take up your summer plants, you can fill your bed with bulbs and spring flowers, such as Stocks, Wallflowers, Primroses, and Forget-me-nots. The principal of ‘bedding’ is, you see, to plant your piece of ground, so as to have a good display twice a year. Every autumn you throw away your summer plants, and every summer you throw away your spring ones. This, at any rate, is what thousands of people with small town gardens do, and it is the form of gardening beloved of the jobbing gardener and the local florist. We recommend it to people who have money, but take no interest in their gardens, and to small children who will find it the easiest form of gardening, and even to children who live in or near great cities where some plants will lead a merry life, but where none will lead a long one. But it is not a high form of gardening, and cannot teach you much as long as you buy every six months and throw away. Of course, when you raise and increase your bedders, either spring or summer ones, you are gardening in the true sense of the word. But most of the flowers you see in town gardens from May till October are raised in heat from seeds and cuttings, and we think the appliances and the skill required would be beyond you.

However, even from the throw-away-twice-a-year plan you can learn the gardening virtues of order and method, and you can get great pleasure from the flowers. Besides, you may be able to adopt it partly, and have some plants that go on from year to year, some annuals, and some you cherish for a season and then cast out. We will assume that in October someone gave you enough bulbs to make a fine show all through March and April, but that now in May their flowers are gone and their leaves looking shabby. If you are going to have bedders you must harden your heart, dig up all the bulbs, and throw them away. Then you must prepare the soil by turning it well over and raking it fine. If someone will fork in a little well-rotted stable manure, so much the better; if that is not possible, you can add a small quantity of Clay’s Fertilizer.

Before you buy your bedders you must consider the aspect of your garden and the state and nature of your soil. Geraniums and Marguerite Daisies will stand rather poor soil, but Calceolarias, Begonias, and Heliotrope want good treatment if they are to flourish. If you have a wall at the back of your garden that is only partly covered, you should put nails a foot apart on either side and stretch string or wire across. Wire is more lasting than string, but more difficult to manage. The next thing to decide will be what colour effects you want, and for how many plants you have room. Geraniums need about a foot square each, Marguerites eighteen inches, Dwarf Marigolds nine inches. If you possibly can, buy your Geraniums, Calceolarias, Heliotropes, and Marguerites in little pots, and not in boxes, or, worse still, in dried-up, rootless cuttings sent by post. It is an elementary piece of gardening knowledge that, provided you keep off slugs and give a little shade and water at first, you can put anything out of a pot at any time. But if you are going to have many bedders, you will save yourself a great deal of trouble by putting them out in showery weather towards the end of May.

Some of the best bedders for a small garden are:

• Dark red and salmon-pink Geraniums;
• Scented oak-leaved Geraniums;
• White and yellow Marguerite Daisies;
• Heliotropes;
• Calceolarias.

All these can be bought in pots for 3s. a dozen. Dark red French Marigolds, Pansies, Violas, Petunias, Musk, and Lobelias can be bought in boxes holding from eighteen to twenty-four for 1s. or 1s. 6d.

Begonias, which may be had in all colours and look charming in front of a border, can be had for 2s. 6d. to 3s. a dozen.

In buying your plants always choose short, sturdy ones, with plenty of leaves, and not the tall, weak ones that have been drawn up under glass. If you have a wall, buy three or four ivy-leaved pink Geraniums and a penny packet of blue Convolvulus Major seed. The Geranium will climb four feet in a season and the Convolvulus from four to six feet, and they will look well together. Do not be tempted to put in your Convolvulus seed till the May frosts are over, as you only lose by being in a hurry with this delicate annual.

Never take a plant out of a pot by pulling at it right side up. Always turn the pot upside down, with your hand covering the earth, but not the plant; then tap the bottom of the pot sharply with your trowel, and usually the plant will come out. Sometimes it is necessary to give the edge of the pot (still holding it upside down) a sharp knock on the top of a wall, or some other hard surface. You must, of course, be most careful not to knock the plant as you do this. If even then it will not come out, you must break the pot. When you have to do this you usually find that the plant has been pot-bound, and is a mass of fibrous roots. Before you put the plant in your border remove the little pieces of broken pot at its roots, sink it slightly deeper than its own earth, and make the soil gently firm about it. If the weather is not showery, you must give your bedding plants a good soak when you have put them in. Soft water (rain-water is always soft) is much better for plants than hard water from a tap; but if you cannot get this try to keep some hard water in a tub, so that it is exposed to the sun and air before you use it. The general rule is never to water plants when the sun is on them, but if we saw a plant flagging badly in the sun we should not wait till evening, but give it water at its roots, and, if possible, shade it. We should be careful not to let any water touch its leaves. When once your plants are well established do not water at all, except in a long drought. Then, if you begin, you must go on every evening till the rain comes. Geraniums and Marguerites do not like much water. Musk is very thirsty, and so are Petunias and Tobacco plants.

Be careful not to mix your colours in the ugly way often seen in London and suburban gardens. You might have a row of white Tobacco plants at the back of your border, then one of yellow Marguerites, then Heliotrope, then Calceolarias and dark French Marigolds, then mauve Violas, and in front yellow Musk. Or if you want red and white, or red, white, and blue, you could try dark red Geraniums, then oak-leaved Geraniums, then white Marguerites, then dark red Begonias, and in front either blue Lobelias or the scarlet Alonsoa Warscewiczii, grown from seeds. Alonsoas are half-hardy, and should be sown in May. We think they might not do well in town gardens.

We must warn you that some people will be very angry with us for advising you to grow anything in lines. Lines are out of fashion, and they certainly have been made to give hideous effects by the ignorant gardener. But we make bold to think that a child who wants a blaze of colour all the summer in its small patch will get what he wants if he grows his garden as contrary Mary did, ‘all in a row.’ We will tell you now about a charming little garden belonging to two children in a London suburb. It is twelve feet square, and has a gravel path up the centre, with a tiled edge. At the back there is a seven-wall, with a yellow Jasmine on one side and a white one on the other. Both kinds do well in town air, and the Yellow Jasmine comes early in the spring, when flowers are scarce and most welcome. The garden is shared by a brother and sister, and the boy, who is eleven, has made a seat against the wall of a four-foot plank, supported by two logs, each eighteen inches high. All through the summer the winter Jasmine is covered by a perennial pink Bellbine, that dies in autumn and comes up each spring. A pink ivy-leaved Geranium and the blue Giant Convolvulus climb up the wall too, and mix with the summer (white) Jasmine, which flowers in masses. At the side of each plot farthest from the path the children grow white and pink Foxgloves from seed, and the dwarf Sunflower Stella. In front of these they have a pink monthly Rose, with a Lavender bush on either side, and a bush of Lad’s Love (Southernwood) on either side of the Lavender. In May they put in a row of white Marguerite Daisies; in front of these, clumps of dark red Carnations (flowers that thrive in town air), pink Geraniums, and pink Begonias, planted in clumps of three. In the foreground they have an edging of blue Lobelia. All through the spring this little garden is gay with Narcissi and Daffodils, on which the children spend about ten shillings. The bedding plants cost about eight shillings, and make the garden bright throughout the summer.