A rainbow of summer bedding
Bedding plants
At this early growing time of the year it’s great to plant
the summer bedding. We can grow plants all year for a touch of colour of
course, we have pulmonaria, cyclamen, polyanthus, primulas and a whole host of
bulbs to choose from. Moving into winter we get wallflowers, primulas and
violas. But the largest selection of
border and bedding plants are available at this time of year for summer colour.
And the choice can be a little bit overwhelming – in a good way.
I’m reminded of the time I was at horticultural college. In
early spring all the students were given the task of designing a floral summer
display for the huge kidney shaped flower bed outside the main entrance that
greeted visitors. The bed was about 30
metres long and ten metres wide and was there to give us practice for designing
beds for public parks and gardens. Our task was to decide which plants to use,
taking colour, height, flowering time, maintenance and soil needs into
consideration. We then had to do mathematical calculations to decide how many
of each type of plants we needed then draw out the design plan. From there we were expected to grow our
chosen plants from seeds to maturity under protection ready to plant out. There
were twenty of us in the group but only one would get the accolade of having
their plan come to reality. Which wasn’t me.
Although I was a bit disappointed that my self-portrait made from
cineraria, begonias, petunias and busy lizzies wasn’t chosen, in hindsight I was pleased that I
could take a back seat.
The design that was chosen came from a lad who eventually
ended up working for the college as the parks gardener so they must have liked
his design and work ethic. He chose contrasting reds, purples, whites and
formed them in a very clever way to keep the kidney shape flowing. The central focal points were tall tropicanna
(black canna) plants which glowed purple in the sun with vivid red flowers, all of them
grown from seed throughout spring, potted on from plugs into 7cm pots and
eventually planted out in one day into freshly prepared and loosened soil by
the rest of the group.
Today I work on a smaller scale. I don’t tend to grow my own
bedding as I only have a few planters to pot up so tend to buy summer bedding
when they are reduced to sell in the garden centres. Buying this way limits the choice somewhat but
as I generally just go for petunias and geramiums I generally don’t feel hard
done by.
Designing with
bedding plants
Some of the larger community bedding areas can be planted up
two or three times a year to keep the colour interest. This is called
successive planting.
Successional
planting: Generally replanting in
late spring (for summer) and early autumn (for winter/spring). However, the
highest-maintenance displays require late spring, mid- to late summer and
autumn plantings. This this can be done easily in small gardens too.
For replanting twice
a year: try the summer combination of begonia, the flowering seedheads of
ornamental grassesand late-flowering salvia and verbena. For winter, plant
perennials such as bergenia, cyclamen, hellebores and viola to give interesting
foliage as well as flower colour during mild spells.
If you are replanting
three times a year: plant with tulips and polyanthus for spring; replacing
them with nemesia and alyssum for early summer, then cannas and dahlia for
late-summer colour. This generally requires well-developed (larger) plants as
they have less time to grow and develop in the ground; but can give a fuller
display.
Formal bedding: Like
the type we were doing at college is used for bold displays in public gardens
and sometimes used in smaller ornamental gardens. Formal beds usually consist
of neat, symmetrical patterns. Formal planting used for entire beds, in closely
planted blocks of colour (often in association with orderly edging plants such
as lobelia or even clipped box).
Informal bedding:
Bedding plants can be used less formally in the garden, perhaps to brighten up
the front of a border or fill bare soil under roses. Straight lines and symmetrical
patterns are not compulsory here – it’s more a case of having fun with colour
and textures. Cottage garden plants would look well here.
Carpet bedding:
Carpet bedding is the most intensive form of bedding and uses plants that are
so compact and tightly knitted that the appearance is akin to a woven carpet.
Designs are often technically complex and can include highly intricate displays
such as floral clocks, lettering or coats-of-arms. For the home gardener,
designs can be much less elaborate and on a smaller scale. I’d plant it out
first though for the best results.
