124 The Landscape Gardening Book 



secondary to blues when blues prevail, to yellows when they lead, 

 to scarlet, to pink, to any dominant hue. 



Of course this means that clumps, varying in size, of the lead- 

 ing varieties chosen, should be planted more than once and possi- 

 bly several times in the length of a border. These, blooming 

 simultaneously, carry the color throughout the whole; then, 

 when they have finished blossoming, they furnish the necessary 

 intervals of green, while their neighbors, who have been their 

 green reinforcement, go on with the procession under the color 

 which they have to offer. White-flowered plants of one kind 

 and another will supply blossoms to keep each delegation com- 

 pany, while odds and ends, planted, one kind in a group here, 

 another kind there, may fill in the " chinks" and give sufficient 

 variation to stimulate interest. 



In other words a multitude of colors may and should be pres- 

 ent at all times, but in this multitude one should always be more 

 in evidence than the others. It is practically the same as a color 

 scheme in anything else: a gown, a room, a jeweled bauble, a 

 picture — each one has its color motif. Other colors appear, com- 

 plementing sometimes, contrasting or harmonizing, as the case 

 may be, but always secondary to the leading color. If this is not 

 so, what a disastrous failure any one of the things mentioned is 



sure to be ! 



Certain tones dominate when used in much less quantity than 

 others. Yellow for example comes right out and shouts wherever 

 it appears, and for this reason less plants producing yellow flowers 

 are needed, than of any other hue. Blue, on the contrary, con- 

 tinually retires, consequently it must be used in profusion ; this 

 is true of purple also, only in less degree. Red stands about 

 midway between the yellow and blue, growing less obtrusive as 

 it grows darker. Remember, too, that blue is the color to use 



