COLOUR IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 193 



Silvery-leaved plants are valuable as edgings and carpets to 



purple flowers, and bear the same kind of relation to them as the 



warm-coloured foliage of some plants does to their 



Silvery-leaved strong red flowers, as in the case of the Cardinal 



plants. Flower and double crimson Sweet-William. The 



bright clear blue of Forget-me-not goes best with 



fresh pale green, and pink flowers are beautiful with pale foliage striped 



with creamy white, such as the variegated forms of Jacob's-ladder or 



Iris pseudacorus. A useful carpeting plant, Acaena pulchella, assumes 



in spring a rich bronze between brown and green which is valuable 



with Wallflowers of the brown and orange colours. These few 



examples, out of many that will come under the notice of any careful 



observer, are enough to indicate what should be looked for in the way 



of accompanying foliage such foliage, if well chosen and well placed, 



may have the same value to the flowering plant that a worthy and 



appropriate setting has to a jewel. 



In sunny places warm colours should preponderate ; the yellow 

 colour of sunlight brings them together and adds to their glowing effect. 

 A shady border, on the other hand, seems best suited for 

 the cooler and more delicate colours. A beautiful scheme of cool 

 colouring might be arranged for a retired spot, out 

 A shady border, of sight of other brightly coloured flowers, such 

 as a border near the shady side of any shrubbery 

 or wood that would afford a good background of dark foliage. Here 

 would be the best opportunity for using blue, cool white, palest 

 yellow, and fresh green. A few typical plants are the great 

 Larkspurs, Monkshoods, and Columbines, Anemones (such as 

 japonica, sylvestris, apennina, Hepatica, and the single and double 

 forms of nemorosa), white Lilies, Trilliums, Pyrolas, Habenarias, 

 Primroses, white and yellow, double and single, Daffodils, white 

 Cyclamen, Ferns, and mossy Saxifrages, Lily-of-the-Valley, and 

 Woodruff. The most appropriate background to such flowers would 

 be shrubs and trees, giving an effect of rich sombre masses of dusky 

 shadow rather than a positive green colour, such as Bay Phillyrea, 

 Box, Yew, and Evergreen Oak. Such a harmony of cool colouring, 

 in a quiet shady place, would present a delightful piece of gardening. 

 The greater effects being secured, some carefully arranged 

 contrasts may be used to strike the eye when passing ; for opposite 

 colours in close companionship are not telling at a 

 Contrasts in distance, and are still less so if interspersed, their 

 colour. tendency then being to neutralise each other. 



Here and there a charming effect may be produced 

 by a bold contrast, such as a mass of orange Lilies against Delphi- 

 niums or Gentians against alpine Wallflowers ; but these violent 



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