558 



HORTICULTURE, 



April 25, 190S 



to have her goods shipped at a 

 certain date. "I wish to be pres- 

 ent at the planting. My gardener 

 is in the habit of scattering every- 

 thing singly over the whole garden 

 and I like to have the species and 

 varieties grouped together by them- 

 selves. They show to better advan- 

 tage and it saves me walking all 

 over the place when cutting flowers. 

 This incident is not a singular one. 

 Its frequency shows the lack of 

 understanding of effective arrange- 

 ment. One plant of delphinium is 

 handsome, but a clump of them, 

 their tall erect spikes standing out 

 in vivid contrast against a dark 

 evergreen background, is a revela- 

 tion of floral beauty to the eye. 

 Japanese irises when planted singly 

 among other lierbaceous plants are 

 very attractive indeed; still associated in a mass by 

 themselves their character of growth and their marvel- 

 ous richness in form and hue is more impressive ; their 

 flowering season becomes a special feature of the floral 

 display of a season. 



In response to a summons of a cottage owner located 

 on an island several miles off the coast the swift motor 

 boat carried your correspondent to the place of his call. 

 Climbing up the rock shore I crossed the front lawn 

 flanked by the beautiful white and black spruces which 

 ■abound in this region. Along those woods I noticed 

 some spacious perennial flower plantations, which, at a 

 fleeting glance, showed all the evidences of good care. 

 "Yes, flowers grow very well on this island," said the 

 amiable lady of the house, when later, in the course of 

 conversation I congratulated her on her cultural suc- 

 cess; "but just look at the colors and how they insult 

 each other." True enough, there was the orange red 

 of tiger lilies alongside a clump of purple aconitums; 

 the bright scarlet of phloxes lay in dispute with the blue 

 shades of larkspurs; the rose pink of incarvilleas was 

 fighting with the sulphur yellow of hemerocallis. 

 "Color dissonances of this nature are unbearable to my 

 eyes. Let us establish harmony where discord . now 

 rules. Will you please make a plan for rearrangement, 

 taking proper regard for colors and have this plan car- 

 ried out for me when planting time arrives"? 



This was one of those examples, demonstrating the 

 absolute necessity for the ornamental horticulturist and 

 the modern landscape gardener desiring to cater to the 

 needs of our refined classes to make himself acquainted 

 with the principles of color harmony and train his vision 

 as to agreeable contrasts and gradations of hues. 



When associating varieties together, we naturally ac- 

 centuate color and character of flowers of a given plant 

 species. The results are singularly stronger effects. In 

 the composition of herbaceous plantations of this nature 

 we therefore should be careful not to join clashing 

 shades, but should, to a certain degree, adhere to sim- 



Hyacinthus candicans 



ilar laws the floral designer as artist is guided by. Thus, 

 to the cultured eye the enjoyment of the beauty of flow- 

 ers is heightened, for a pleasing harmony in the total 

 effect intensifies it. 



ori'ORTUMTY FOR CULTURAL SKILL 



There is not a single branch of ornamental horticul- 

 ture offering more opportunities for an exhibition of 

 individual artistic taste and talent and cultural skill 

 chan the herbaceous flower garden does today. Still 

 how few of the vast number of gardeners realize this 

 fact. It is true not everyone can have a fifty thousand 

 dollar range of modern greenhouses at his disposal but 

 it is equally true that in our days even a perennial bor- 

 der of moderate size can be made a means by which to 

 show ambition and ability. 



The generally keen interest of our wealthy and refined 

 social classes in hardy herbaceous plants is nowhere 

 more plainly seen than in our northern summer resorts. 

 Here the high standard of plant material and the ever- 

 changing brilliancy of floral outdoor displays are a 

 source of generally unreserved admiration for them ; 

 an admiration, which is not seldom followed up by ex- 

 pressions of regret over the seeming impossibility to pro- 

 duce and enjoy the same rich displays on their distant 

 suburban homegrounds. I fear it is not at last the 

 perennial border as a labor saving scheme and the 

 herbaceous flower garden as a side issue of second or 

 third class order that deprives country home owners 

 yet of the color brilliancy they here so frankly admire. 



By all means the continuous study of hardy peren- 

 nials is for the present and will be more so in the future 

 an urgent necessity for every landscape gardener and 

 rare taker of home grounds. Their free use in all or- 

 namental gardening is to be encouraged by all those 

 desiring to lake part in the progressive development of 

 .■\raerican horticulture. 



-S^ixAojui.-^^<j'tAAy 



Wc are sorry to announce that Mr. Rehder has been 

 ill for the past two weeks. This explains the absence of 

 his interesting Arboretum notes from our columns. We 

 are in hopes that hv next week he may be able to resume. 



