скачать книгу бесплатно
Height and spread: 30cm × 60cm (1ft × 2ft)
Companion plants: Beautiful planted with contrasting tulips such as the scarlet ‘Apeldoorn’ or deep purple ‘Negrita’. Also interesting when teamed with aquilegias, which will extend the flowering season further into summer.
Bedding: summer flowering, full sun (#ulink_12171444-d7f4-53e0-b30c-89024da9ec17)
Petunia
Petunias Perennial (frost tender)
The most widely grown bedding plant, worldwide. A mat-forming herbaceous plant with oval leaves and a constant succession of vivid, saucer-shaped, fragrant flowers. Flowers can be ruined by damp weather, but blooming is copious. Wide colour range available, some with stripes, edging or darker veins. Series include ‘Mirage’, ‘Wave’, ‘Celebrity’ and trailing ‘Surfinia’.
Soil preference: Any, not wet
Aspect: Full sun
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: Various, to 30cm × 60cm (1ft × 2ft)
Companion plants: Traditionally bedded on their own or with contrasting colours of bedding salvias or tagetes, petunias are also useful for gap filling in mixed planting schemes and for containers.
Tagetes patula, T. tenuifolia
French/African/Afro-French Marigold, Tagetes Annual
Annuals with divided, sometimes filigree foliage and a succession of flowers in hot hues from yellow, through gold to orange, red or pale cream. African Marigolds such as ‘Antigua Gold’ grow tallest; French Marigolds such as ‘Little Hero’ (orange) or ‘Safari’ series are mid-height; and Tagetes such as ‘Starfire’ form sprays of yellow or orange flowers.
Soil preference: Free-draining, fertile
Aspect: Sun
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: Variable up to 60cm × 45cm (up to 2ft × 1ft 6in)
Companion plants: These hot colours are difficult to team in more naturalistic bedding schemes but their power and distinctive aroma make them great value for bulking up summer colour. Tagetes are superb with blue daisies such as Felicia amelloides.
Pelargonium hybrids
Geraniums Tender perennials
A huge group of highly popular perennials, originating almost exclusively from Africa but hybridized and grown all over the world. Sizes vary from miniature hybrids and dwarf species to the largest kinds such as P. papilionaceum which can exceed 2m (6ft) in height and width. The single or double blooms occur in sprays or small clusters. Colours include most shades excluding blue and yellow. Zonal types have darker or lighter banding on leaves.
Soil preference: Any free-draining
Aspect: Full sun
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: Variable
Companion plants: Traditionally bedded on their own with contrasting ‘dot plants’. Red zonals look good with pale blue Plumbago or purple Cordyline; pink or violet can be set off with standard fuchsias or Abutilon.
Verbena hybrid cultivars
Tender perennials
Plants have lobed leaves and flattened flower umbels which attract butterflies. Those with a spreading habit include the vigorous ‘Homestead Purple’ which may overwinter, the old cultivar ‘Sissinghurst’ with abundant pink blooms and the popular ‘Tapien’ and ‘Temari’ series which offer a wide colour range. ‘Quartz’ is an excellent upright bedder from seed.
Soil preference: Well-drained
Aspect: Sun
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: Up to 30cm (1ft), spreading
Companion plants: Spreading or trailing types work well as temporary summer groundcover spilling onto the patio or in containers. Try dotting with taller plants such as Lobelia ‘Compliment Series’. Upright bedding verbenas contrast nicely with petunias.
Dahlia hybrid bedding varieties
Perennial
Variable range of tender perennials developed from Central American species. These hybrids vary in height from dwarf, compact and bushy forms with smaller blooms suitable for containers and low bedding to tall upright types, often with spectacular flowers, that add colour and drama to the late summer border. Bedding dahlias are usually raised from seed and discarded at the end of the season. Lift dahlia tubers after first frosts.
Soil preference: Fertile, well-drained but not too dry
Aspect: Sun
Season of interest: Summer, autumn
Height and spread: From 30cm to 1.75m (1ft to 5ft)
Companion plants: Taller, large-flowered dahlias are excellent in a mixed border with late flowering perennials such as asters and crocosmias. Compact, tuberous or seed raised dahlias combine well with red bedding salvias and Solenostemon (Coleus).
Antirrhinum majus
Snapdragons Short-lived perennial
Herbaceous plants with simple leaves and spikes bearing lipped flowers which, when squeezed, open like jaws. Colours range from white and pale yellow through pinks and crimson to scarlet red or orange. Prone to rust disease. More resistant seed strains are available but to reduce rust problems remove surviving plants at the end of the season. Series include the dwarf ‘Chimes’ and taller ‘Liberty’.
Soil preference: Fertile, well-drained
Aspect: Sun or part shade
Season of interest: Summer, autumn
Height and spread: To 45cm–1m (1ft 6in–3ft 3in) for cutting varieties
Companion plants: Excellent as link plants between spring and summer bedding, since they can be planted out in very early spring before the frost risk has passed. Try them after tulips or polyanthus.
Bedding: summer flowering, dappled shade (#ulink_a133dbf9-9083-5db5-a40b-6c20c508eb54)
Salvia splendens
Scarlet Sage, Bedding Salvia Tender perennial
Shrubby perennial with angular stems and toothed, nettlelike leaves. The flowers are sheathed in colourful bracts and, in the wild species, are vivid red. Garden forms, which come in red, pink or purplish hues, include ‘Scarlet King’, ‘Empire Purple and ‘Vista Salmon’. The ‘Sizzler’ series are smaller, more compact plants in a similar colour range.
Soil preference: Rich, not too dry, but well-drained
Aspect: Part-shade or sun
Season of interest: Summer, early autumn
Height and spread: Up to 1.2m (4ft), but usually grown shorter
Companion plants: A good choice for part-shaded bedding schemes or for high rainfall areas. The strong colours work well with sombre heliotropes or with the rich foliage patterns of Plectranthus or with Solenostemon (Coleus).
Impatiens walleriana hybrids
Busy Lizzie, Balsam Tender perennial
Shrubby perennials with thick but brittle stems and smooth, glossy, slightly toothed leaves. The flowers are flattened, asymmetrical and come in a broad range of hues from red, through mauve, pink or salmon to white. F1 hybrid seed strains offer single colours. Some types are picotee edged, striped or have ‘eyed’ flowers, for example ‘Dazzler Merlot’.
Soil preference: Fertile, not too dry
Aspect: Part shade or sun but not too hot
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: 20–30cm × 20–50cm (8–12in × 8in—1ft 10in)
Companion plants: Best when encouraged to form dense mats of colour by planting in groups, but softened by foliage plants such as Senecio ‘Silver Dust’ or with taller dot plants such as Eucalyptus gunnii or Plumbago.
Limnanthes douglasii
Poached Egg Plant Hardy annual
Vivid emerald green, feathery leaves create a dense ground cover persisting through winter, where seed has germinated in autumn. In late spring, the bright foliage is all but blotted out by even brighter, disc-shaped or shallow cupped flowers, each about 3cm (1in) across, with brilliant yellow centres and white petal margins. An excellent plant for attracting wildlife, especially beneficial hoverflies. Self-sows copiously.
Soil preference: Any, not too dry
Aspect: Sun or part shade
Season of interest: Spring, summer
Height and spread: 15cm × 20cm (6in × 8in)
Companion plants: Perfect for creating green or coloured ground cover between shrubs, particularly along border edges. Best when allowed to spread naturally, by self-sowing.
Mimulus
Monkey Flower, Musk Short-lived perennials and half hardy annuals
Mat forming perennials with slightly toothed leaves and a summer-long run of trumpet-shaped flowers in bright colours, often with stippling at the throat. Cultivars include ‘Highland Park’ (tomato red), ‘Puck’ (yellow) and ‘Wisley Red’ (scarlet). Seed series offer speckled and dramatically blotched blooms in shades of pink and cream though orange, red, maroon and yellow. ‘Monkey Magic’ is white with red markings.
Soil preference: Moist, but well-drained and fertile
Aspect: Sun or shade
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: From dwarf to 30cm × 45cm (1ft × 1ft 6in)
Companion plants: Ideal plants for a moist, part-shaded bedding scheme where they can accompany some of the taller primulas, such as Primula viallii. Seed series are useful for shaded containers with dark blue lobelia.
Lobelia erinus
Bedding Lobelia Tender perennial, invariably grown as annuals
Compact or trailing herbs with thin stems, sometimes bronze-hued foliage and a constant succession of small flowers, with broad lower petals and a contrasting white eye. Colours include dark, mid- or pale blue, mauve, purple and white. Popular compact varieties include non-trailing ‘Palace Series’ and ‘Mrs Clibran’. Trailing kinds include the ‘Cascade Series’ and light blue ‘Periwinkle Blue’.
Soil preference: Moisture-retentive
Aspect: Sun or part shade
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: Variable to 20cm (8in), but trailing kinds have longer stems
Companion plants: The classic plant for edging borders, or for trailing from baskets. The blue is valuable for cooling colour schemes or for making strong contrasts with, for example, golden-flowered Bidens ferulifolia; looks attractive almost anywhere.
Tanacetum parthenium
Feverfew Perennial
Bright green or gold, lobed leaves which are acridly aromatic when bruised. The yellow-centred, white flowers begin to emerge in late spring and are produced all summer. Cultivars include ‘Snowball’ (button blooms) and ‘Santana’. Will flower naturally but also responds well to frequent trimming. A prolific self-seeder, sometimes becoming a nuisance, but also a handy gap filler. The leaves are reputed to cure headaches.
Soil preference: Any
Aspect: Sun, partial shade or shade
Season of interest: Spring, summer, autumn
Height and spread: Variable to 45cm (1ft 6in), usually smaller
Companion plants: Useful as part of a carpet bedding scheme, or when the gold-leaf form ‘Aureum’ is planted among such plants as Impatiens or petunias, to tone down the intensity of the flowers.
