Around 1850, England abolished its tax on glass. This allowed economical construction of large greenhouses in which the exotic, tender plants from the empire’s tropical colonies could be grown. These developments led to a landscape fad called “bedding out,” planting out young flowering plants from the greenhouse into flowerbeds.
Among the planting styles that English gardeners subsequently developed were “carpet beds” that resembled oriental rugs and “ribbon beds,” long narrow strips with coiling ends. This landscaping scheme reached our nation after the Civil War.
Typically, a bed in a geometric shape was dug out of the lawn. The area would be surrounded with a hardscape border and planted with a very formally planned arrangement of colorful flowering annuals. This bed could be seen from a window or some other prospect on the property. Plants were selected to be colorful all season and have a uniform growth habit. The goal was to have bright and sustained color all summer.
The English liked to use tulips and hyacinths in the beds for early spring interest. As soon as these faded, they were replaced with cool-season annuals such as pansies. As the weather warmed, these were replaced again with warm-season annuals. Needless to say, carpet bedding was labor intensive and costly! The Victorians used foliage plants as well as flowers. We are quite familiar with many of their favorites: coleus, dusty miller and variegated leaf geraniums.
As the 19th century was drawing to a close, dramatic subtropical plantings became quite the rage. Cannas, castor beans, even ornamental grasses formed the centerpiece. A large specimen plant would be surrounded by concentric rings of caladiums and coleus. The gardens at Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina, have wonderful examples of the flamboyant crescendo of the bedding-out craze.
In due time, bedding out was supplanted in the landscape world by a return to perennial borders which, while just as contrived, had a more informal, cozy look.
Over the years, I have occasionally done a bit of bedding out. If you’d like to, too, here are some pointers:
Always use graph paper to work out the design. This helps to determine the finished size and the number of plants needed. The mature height and width of the plants should be approximately the same. But take warning: Even when everything is growing according to plan, one plant will die or turn out to be a different color than the rest of the flat.
To keep the area as bright as possible throughout the season, use plants that can handle heat waves and do not need frequent deadheading. Petunias need a midsummer pinch back to end the season with a flourish. Salvia and celosia flowers are very long lasting, as is gomphrena. Heat-loving vinca never needs deadheading. Or, like gardeners in the late Victorian era, you can use plants with colorful foliage as well.
Gardening is a hobby. Planting a high-profile bed with a design of colorful annuals can be a novel way to recognize a special occasion or just to try something different. Today our garden centers provide far more bedding options than the Victorians could
imagine.
The bedding illustrations used here I got from The New Traditional Garden by Michael Weishan. Published in 1999, this wonderful book was in every garden gift shop for a few years. In it Weishan discusses principles of design from the perspective of different historical periods. I love the illustrations, which he got from various sources. The photograph is of a flower garden in Carcassonne, France.
Master gardener Ann Bartlett is the ornamental perennial border queen of America; if she chooses to bed out occasionally, who among us shall cast the first stone?
