6. Seasonal bedding Flashcards
Describe Bedding
- Temporary planting of fast-growing plants into flower beds borders, containers and hanging baskets
- Create colourful, temporary, seasonal displays
- Plants may be annuals, biennials, or perennials
- Usually changed twice a year
- Plant out in late spring, for summer colour
- Plant out early autumn, for winter/spring colour
Describe a Tropical bedding display
- Summer bedding display
- Plants with large leaves and coarse textured foliage are used to create a lush jungle feel
- These plants require an outside temperature of about 15C
• Musa, bananas
Describe Edging plants
- Positioned around the edge of the planting scheme
- Short plants 15 – 20cm in height
- Bring definition and a sense of structure to the design
- Often in a contrasting colour or texture
- Bellis perennis - Tasso
- Myosotis sylvatica
Describe Groundwork
- Infill plants that make up a large part of the planting scheme
- Usually between 30 – 40cm in height.
- Glechoma hederacea
- Bergenia purpurascens
Describe Dot plants
- Give height and scale and break up the groundwork by having different foliage textures or different colour flowers
- Taller than the groundwork 60-80cm
- Provide focal interest
- For winter and spring bedding a dot plant needs to have a strong architectural form and if not evergreen have winter interest such as coloured stems
- Buxus sempervirens
- Fuchsia ‘Mrs Popple’
Describe F1 hybrid plants
- Usually annual plants and vegetable cultivars
- Crossing selected plants with different but desirable characteristics
- Produced by crossing two stable seed lines (inbred lines)
- Helianthus ‘Harlequin’ F1 hybrid
- Carrot Flyaway F1 Hybrid
- Petunia ‘Frenzy Mixed’ F1 Hybrid
Describe Inbred lines
- Inbreeding is allowing plants with very similar characteristics to cross-pollinate and set seed. This seed is then sown, the plants cross- pollinate and again set seed
- After several generations, you will have a population of very similar plants
- Inbred lines lack vigour, perform poorly and are difficult/expensive to maintain
Describe Hybrid vigour
- When two inbred lines are crossed, the F1 hybrid is uniform in characteristic
- Shows hybrid vigour, such as large flowers or fruit
- Breeders of F1 hybrids aim to use parent lines whose progeny show particularly strong hybrid vigour
Describe The benefits of F1 hybrids
- F1 hybrids show hybrid vigour
- They have greater size and vigour of flowers or fruit
- More robust and better able to overcome adverse growing conditions
- Greater uniformity
- Hybrids cannot be grown by other seed companies who lack the parent lines
- Incentive for breeders to produce new and better cultivars, to the benefit of all growers
Describe The problems with F1 hybrids
- Seeds saved will not produce plants that are true to the parent type
- Seed is expensive as it can only be created by crossing the parent inbred lines
- Due to the cost of maintaining the inbred lines, quite a lot of seed must be sold for a hybrid to be commercially viable
- Hybrids are often only offered for a few years before coming off the market leaving gardeners to seek a replacement
Describe Annual boarder
- Usually hardy annuals
- May be sown in early autumn, September is best, as the soil is still warm
- May be sown in spring, late March or April, once the soil has warmed up to at least 7C
- Centaurea cyanus
- Argyranthemum ‘Jamaica Primrose’
Describe how to sow an annual border
- Plan - Select the plants you are going to grow, thinking about height, and colour of flowers or foliage. Draw a plan of the border showing the position of each cultivar (Informal, inter-locking shapes, like fish-scales, work best). Choose and prepare a seedbed in a sunny place
- Pest/disease -
- Water - If the soil is dry, water with a fine rose before sowing
- Setting out - Fork over the border, removing all weeds. Rake to a rough level. Tread the border to consolidate. Rake to a fine tilth
- Plant - Broadcast or drills. Using your plan, mark the area for each cultivar, using a cane, and sand
- Food - N/A
- Water – Thoroughly
Broadcast
• Divide each packet of seed into two batches and broadcast it evenly over each marked out area in two directions. This ensures an even application
• Rake the seed in lightly and label
• Water the area with a watering can fitted with a fine rose
Drills
• Within each area, mark out drills 25mm deep and an appropriate
distance apart, 8–20cm
• Make sure the drills in each area are in different directions as this gives a more informal effect
• Water the drills and allow to soak in
• Sow seeds thinly in each drill, and rake the soil back over the drills to cover them
Describe the advantage of using the Drill method over broadcast sewing
• Seeds sown in drills produce seedlings growing in straight rows at regular intervals, so they are readily distinguished from weed seedlings, which are randomly distributed
Describe Thinning of an Annual Border
- To prevent overcrowding, retain the sturdier seedlings and achieve an even spacing
- Do this when the soil is moist and the weather mild
- Gapping up is carried out if areas have failed
- Water the bed lightly, once thinning and gapping up is finished, to re-settle the soil around the roots of the seedlings
Describe Regular maintenance of an annual border
- Weed - Control weeds with light hoeing or hand weeding
- Water - Water lightly, using a fine rose, if the soil is dry and to re-settle disturbed plants after thinning, weeding or gapping-up. Once the plants are well established, water at 10-14 day, intervals, during dry spells
- Feed - N/A
- Support - If req
- Pest/disease - Powdery mildew, botrytis, vine weevil, slugs
- Prune – Deadhead to prolong flowering. Thin out self-sown seedlings
