164 JOTTINGS OF A GENTLEMAN GARDENER 



big bunch crowded into a small vase means that the stems 

 are very close together. They cannot each get their 

 proper amount of water, and some of them will get no 

 water at all. It is thus not surprising that they soon 

 die. For my own part I do not care to see a vase " full " 

 of flowers, and what I call full is what some consider only 

 " half full." I think plenty of vases and a few flowers 

 in each look infinitely more beautiful than a crowd of 

 blooms jostling each other. If only a few are used the 

 individual charm of each bloom or spike of bloom is shown 

 off to the best advantage. 



And now just a word or two about clashing colours. 

 The reader is recommended to educate himself in the 

 manner described in Chapter VIII. He should never 

 arrange his flowers without seeing that the colours do not 

 clash. For instance, he should never put Golden Yellow 

 and Violet in a vase with Red, for although the first two 

 harmonise with each other, they both clash with the 

 third. 



A Word about Poppies : I must say a word about 

 Poppies, which are so much prized for cutting. Usually 

 they will not last a day unless treated in some way. Shirley 

 Poppies look extremely graceful in water, but the other 

 kinds, annual and perennial, may be used. A way of 

 increasing their life is to cut them when just out, and to 

 put the stems into a burning gas jet until the ends are 

 sealed up before putting them in water. But even then 

 they hardly last longer than a day. Other methods were 

 discussed in a leading gardening paper during the summer 

 of 1915, but I have not space to quote them here. 



Flowers for Cutting : I now give two lists, the first of 

 annuals, and the second of perennials, which are good 

 and useful for cutting. They do not all respond to the 

 " cut and come again " practice referred to earlier in this 

 chapter, but a good many of them do. It is well to say 

 that most of the biennials described in Chapter V can be 

 used for cutting, but as there are so few of these, it is 

 hardly worth while to make a separate list. The reader 



