40 SWEET PEAS 



loosely in the hand, blooms downwards, then turning them up 

 quickly and placing them in the vase. A slight readjustment of some 

 blooms was all that was found necessary. I do not go so far as to 

 say that this is the best way of setting up Sweet Peas, or even 

 Carnations, in a vase, but I mention it just to show that the simpler 

 the arrangement the more likely is it to be satisfactory. The art 

 of arranging flowers naturally is one that comes only after much 

 practice, and there is not much that one can teach by writing on the 

 subject, beyond the fact that above all things the flowers must not be 

 crowded in the vase, and that the more rearrangement there is the less 

 likely is the result to be pleasing. In this matter, at all events, 

 it is the first work that is invariably the best. Directly you begin 

 to take out a stem here and put it in there you make the arrange- 

 ment worse than it was, unless you are quite expert. The art of 

 setting up flowers has been much simplified by various appliances 

 whose object is to keep the blooms exactly where they are placed. 



Floral Aids. Perhaps the most popular is the metal stand 

 that is put in a bowl, or the piece of zinc with holes in it that 

 fits in the neck of a vase. It is a comparatively simple matter to 

 produce a pleasing arrangement with the help of these appliances 

 Perhaps the danger to be feared is that of disposing the flowers too 

 stiffly. It needs a fine skill to produce an attractive vaseful of Sweet 

 Peas when one has simply the open neck of the vase in which to fix 

 the stems. Even then, by carefully disposing the blooms so that 

 one stalk is supported by another, after a little practice progress 

 is made quickly. There is no doubt that when one is able 

 to arrange flowers skilfully, more natural effects are obtained than 

 when recourse is had to the use of artificial aids. Still, the latter 

 are most useful, and to those who are not expert in the art of flower 

 arranging I can confidently recommend them. The chief thing to 

 remember is that the more lightly and, in reason, loosely disposed 

 the Sweet Peas are the more delightful will they appear. 



Flowers and Foliage. Then there is the question of what 

 to arrange with Sweet Peas or whether to use the flowers alone. 

 It is an axiom of flower arrangement that no foliage is so well suited 

 as that of the plant itself, but I think so far as the Sweet Pea is 

 concerned, one may venture to modify this slightly. Only so far 

 as to say that if Sweet Pea foliage is used it must be on the same 

 growth as that carrying the blossoms, or, in other words, the tops 

 of the shoots flowers, buds and leaves together, must be cut off 

 (see illustration, page 38). If pieces of the haulm, or growth, are 



