COLOUR IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 191 



in flowers without much thought of arranging for colour. But as the 

 roots of the shrubs rob the flowers, the best way is to put near 

 and around shrubberies free-running plants that do not want much 

 cultivation, like Solomon's Seal and Woodruff, and other plants that 

 grow naturally in woods and copses, while with flowers like Pansies, 

 Carnations, Roses, that depend for their beauty on good soil, the best 

 way is to keep them in the open garden, away from hungry tree-roots. 



We relieve the flowers and enjoy their beauty of colour and the 



forms of the plants when we do without " pattern " of any kind. 



Instead of "dotting" the plants, it is better to 



Large simple beds, group them naturally, letting the groups run into 



each other, and varying them here and there with 



taller plants. A flower garden of any size could be planted in this 



way, without the geometry of the ordinary flower garden, and the 



poor effect of the " botanical " " dotty " mixed border. The following 



notes on colour, by a flower gardener who has given much thought 



to the subject, will be useful : 



One of the most important points in the arrangement of a 

 garden is placing of the flowers with regard to their colour-effect. 

 Too often a garden is an assemblage of plants placed together hap- 

 hazard, or if any intention be perceptible, as is commonly the case in 

 the bedding system, it is to obtain as great a number as possible of 

 the most violent contrasts ; and the result is a hard, garish vulgarity. 

 Then, in mixed borders, one usually sees lines or evenly distributed 

 spots of colour, wearying and annoying to the eye, and proving how 

 poor an effect can be got by the misuse of the best materials. Should 

 it not be remembered that in setting a garden we are painting a 

 picture, a picture of hundreds of feet or yards instead of so many 

 inches, painted with living flowers and seen by open daylight so that 

 to paint it rightly is a debt we owe to the beauty of the flowers and 

 to the light of the sun ; that the colours should be placed with 

 careful forethought and deliberation, as a painter employs them on 

 his picture, and not dropped down in lifeless dabs. 



Splendid harmonies of rich and brilliant colour, and proper 



sequences of such harmonies, should be the rule ; there should be 



large effects, each well studied and well placed, 



Harmony rather varying in different portions of the garden 



than contrast, scheme. One very common fault is a want of 

 simplicity of intention ; another, an absence of 

 any definite plan of colouring. Many people have not given any 

 attention to colour-harmony, or have not by nature the gift of 

 perceiving it. Let them learn it by observing some natural examples 

 of happily related colouring, taking separate families of plants whose 

 members are variously coloured. Some of the best to study would 



