ADVANTAGEOUS COLORS 



The display of bloom was such as to make the heart 

 glad. In Algiers, also, the Arab's ideal of a diamond 

 set in an emerald frame, a city hugged by the sea, white 

 villa after white villa is noticed to be covered with the 

 marvelous bourgainvillia, robing them in beauty. 



In America, however, where the atmosphere is 

 sharp, the sun very fierce, and the sea less blue than 

 the Mediterranean, many would shudder before a 

 white house covered with a magenta flower. Yet, as 

 already mentioned, magenta is the color reputed to 

 belong to this particular zone. Perhaps the dislike 

 of magenta, which is now a recognized fact in garden 

 building, is after all only an idea or a mistaken feeling. 



It is, nevertheless, the flowers of scarlet, red, 

 carmine, and magenta that are most apt to cast the 

 apple of discord into a garden. The blues, the yellows, 

 and the whites seldom cause inharmony. Last summer 

 a sweet william of carmine magenta opened beside the 

 late blooming Celestine iris. The effect of the two 

 flowers together was hideous. Still, there was no 

 thought at the time that the iris was at fault; while 

 the wish to banish the sweet william at any cost was 

 rampant. 



The annual larkspurs, which by sowing in succession 

 can be had for a long period of bloom, provided the 

 withered flower stems are cut off, occur in many ex- 

 quisite and translucent colors, blending like the tones 

 of an opal. The flesh-colored and lilac varieties fairly 

 rival the beauty of some orchids. As the flower stalks 

 lift themselves above their distinctively cut leaves, 

 there is something dolphin-like in the shape and bearing 



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