DISPOSITION OF FLOWERS IN PARKS 



separated and relieved by white. Even when colours which jar are 

 not actually within sight of one another, the retina of the eye or sub- 

 conscious sense retains the previous impression for a moment or two, 

 like the last chord of a harmony, and expects a proper sequence of 

 colour as of key. Most to be tabooed are bedding plants which com- 

 bine many and vivid colours in the same actual flower, as the case of 

 the Parrot Tulip, which, for other reasons as well, fortunately is losing 

 favour with park planters. 



If a combination of colours is desired, it is best to obtain it by 

 assembling different varieties of plants, such as white hyacinths bor- 

 dered with purple pansies, rather than by an assortment of different 

 colours of the same plant. In floral combination, Berlin again offers 

 the best examples to be found in park work. Few colours are used 

 and always in plain washes, as the artist would say; that is, in broad 

 expanses of slightly contrasting tones, and never mixed together in 

 small dashes of violently contracting colours as in impressionistic 

 painting. Also, in Berlin, the colours are approximately all obtained 

 by flower bloom, without recourse to bright-leaved j^lants, such as 

 used in America, to coloured stones and gravel, as found in the French 

 parterres, or to the dry and artificial looking cactus enii^loyed in the 

 Italian patterns. That most difficult colour for summer bedding, 

 yellow, is obtained with matricaria and lantana hybrids. 



ONE-COLOUR EFFECTS 



The simplest colour displays are usually the most pleasing. That 

 the public has a liking for single and separated colours has been proven 

 in Washington by the enthusiastic comment on the recently-introduced . 



one-colour effects in the tulip and pansy beds after a Joseph-coat regime j| 



of many years. The growing fondness in America for Cannas is a r 



healthy sign, for though lacking fineness of detail in leaf and flower, 

 the plants are good in colour and rarely discordant with park scenery. 



292 



