20 



ThcWcckly Florists^ Review. 



Mat 16, 1912. 



^ 



•SL 



THE RETAIL 



FLORIST... 



NATX7EAL DESIONINO. 



In Contrast with Conventional. 



Having inquired into the source of 

 conventional designing, it is in order to 

 make a few observations on what is the 

 basis of all artistic schemes — natural de- 

 signing. I have said observations, for 

 at best one can only skirt about and 

 touch a few places in so vast a subject. 

 Where to get pointers from natural de- 

 sign, what to select, how and where to 

 use them, is our present purpose. 



•Natural designing, in contrast with 

 conventional, is never repeated exactly, 

 though in general plan it is. Two oak 

 leaves or two roses on the same plant 

 never measure up just the same, and 

 the pose of the branch, the graceful bend 

 of the stem, the swing of the vine, the 

 free and easy spray of bloom, are ever 

 new. 



To these designs we owe, or ought to 

 owe, our suggestions for the decorations 

 of buildings where there is plenty of 

 room for something like the atmospheric 

 and light effects of outdoors, for . hand 

 bouquets, wedding bunches, corsages anq 

 table centerpieces, funeral sprays and 

 baskets. In these designs we have the 

 minimum of conventional form in ar- 

 rangements. 



Getting Hints from Nature. 



Then let us glance about for a place 

 for this idea, a plan for that design, 

 catching up suggestions by the roadside, 

 in the woods and on the water's edge; a 

 shape for a casket spray; a group of 

 branches for an armful bunch; a clump 

 of trees that shows you a plan for the 

 base of a standing piece; a bunch of 

 ferns growing around a stump that will 

 make a design for a plant basket; a few 

 boughs of a flowering shrub which draw 

 together and make a study for a basket 

 handle. Observe as well as see these 

 things as you go along. 



Adapt the grouping, the lines and the 

 color of these natural objects to the ma- 

 terials at hand in your shop. For ex- 

 ample, the tall shrub branches may mean 

 long-stemmed roses when it comes to 

 decorating the basket handle, and the 

 clump of trees may be changed to a 

 group of snapdragons and lilies by the 

 time you are ready to finish the base of 

 a standing piece. But you may use the 

 long group of lines just the same. 



How to Imitate Nature. 



A group of two or three wild plants, 

 consisting of a clump of grass and a 

 patch of dandelions, backed by a tall 

 thistle, furnishes a scheme of lines and 

 proportions capable of expansion for a 

 mantel decoration in which you might 

 employ a thick Pteris serrulata, a patch 

 of violet plants, with plenty of cut vio- 

 lets added, and a tall cineraria or spi- 

 raea, or two set together. 



A fence corner that has escaped the 

 mower is an ideal design for a show win- 



dow. A vine trailing over a tree trunk 

 invites you to consider the copying of 

 it for a graceful pillar decoration. The 

 fashion of the tree boughs, as they meet 

 over a trail through the woods, shows 

 /bur discriminating eye how to arrange 

 a bridal canopy. 



Combining the Exact and the Vague. 



Some designs (this is in the widest 

 sense of the word) owe their beauty to 

 their exactness and clearness of outline, 

 their perfection of mechanical finish; 

 others owe their beauty to their dreamy 

 and vague outlines. Ordinarily we find 

 the former in conventional designs, as, 

 for example, a ball, and the latter in 

 the wilder examples of natural design, 

 as the delicacy and mist of a spray of 

 Gypsophila paniculata. Yet, upon close 

 examination, both will be found to pos- 

 sess symmetry, balance and unity of de- 

 sign. 



A question that will occur to a thinker 

 and observer will be: To what extent, 

 if at all, are these two opposite elements 

 combined in natural design f And am 

 I to try the experiment of such combi- 

 nation in my designing; or, in other 

 words, can I bring into harmonious ef- 

 fect the ball and the gypsophilat Have 

 you ever seen a fallen tree trunk half 

 hidden by brier bushes and ferns, or a 

 heavy, dark wave breaking into a 

 shower of foamf That is an emphatic 

 "Yes." Hang the ball emerging from 

 a mist of gypsophila. On the same prin- 

 ciple, make a dainty casket cover of 

 valley and break into its filmy depths 

 with a solid pillow, sinking one corner 

 to the vanishing point in the soft cover 

 of valley. 



Like a Cloud and a Bit of Sky. 



Make the wreath part of a cascade 



wreath comparatively heavy, but as it 

 approaches the lower front edge begin 

 to scatter and loosen. In the lower 

 front edge of the frame plant as many 

 blooming lobelia vines as the space will 

 hold, and what will make a heavy shower 

 of blue falling over a base of Easter 

 lilies. Lighten the blue shower spar- 

 ingly with some long sprays of Gyp- 

 sophila paniculata, brought through the 

 blue shower from the back of the lower 

 frame, so that no stems appear and the 

 panicles seem to fioat in the air. You 

 will have a picture of cloud and a bit of 

 blue sky. 



Then, again, does a heavy, rich piece 

 always need a light touch? You have 

 seen a magnificent oak tree standing 

 apart, a king of his kind, untouched by 

 the lightest breath of bloom spray or 

 cloud — but, stretching in background 

 and foreground, a soft turf carpet. 



^ G. B. 



THE SOHILLEB CAB. 



Schiller the Florist, Chicago, is so 

 well pleased with the automobile for 

 delivery purposes that the purchase of 

 a second car is under consideration. 

 George Asmus, the manager of the 

 store, says that for speed the car is 

 invaluable, both for trips to the mar- 

 ket and for deliveries. Herman Schiller 

 is the man directly in ch^;rge of this 

 part of the business. He says that the 

 car easily does the work of two or pos- 

 sibly three teams. The secret of econ- 

 omy was at first thought to lie in 

 keeping the car always on the move, 

 but it was found that tire troubles 

 were the great drawback. As he says, 

 they were buying inner tubes and 

 casings "to beat the band" until their 

 attention was attracted to one of the 

 substitutes for air. Since then they 

 have had no trouble with tires and the 

 car has been run with economy. 



MOTHERS' DAY. 



There are no two ways about it — ^the 

 Mothers' day demand must be turnecT 

 to flowers. Not white carnations — ^just 

 flowers. 



In the few years of its observance 

 Mothers' day has jumped to be one of 

 the important flower days. Big last 

 year, the demand last week was far 



Delivery Gir Operated by Schiller the Florist, Chicago. 



