Amateur Gardencraft, page 119 by Eben E. Rexford
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n 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 mass of foliage.
So many persons have asked for desig