COLOUR IN MY GARDEN 



and bring his bit of earth to what seems to him its finest 

 and fittest expression. 



In the following pages my desire is simply to be sugges- 

 tive, and perhaps to show that even in little gardens, by this 

 simple method of picture making, beauty may be enjoyed 

 continuously throughout the season. From the time when 

 a sheaf of golden Willow stems, thrust through crowding 

 Snowdrops, portrays for us the first sweet consciousness of 

 the awakening world, to the last days of the garden's life 

 when, from a sunny crevice in the garden wall, a flashing 

 Snapdragon defies the silver sword and stirs us by its pas- 

 sionate protest there need be no dirth of colour. 



A garden writer has recently advanced the theory "that 

 nearly all colours go well together in a garden if only they 

 are thoroughly mixed up." This, of course, is true in that 

 we are conscious of no particularly resounding discords, but 

 I think* we desire, and may easily have, more than this neg- 

 ative satisfaction, more than the mere absence of inharmony. 



My own feeling in the matter of flower colours is that none 

 is bad if given a happy association, and that few associations 

 are unpleasing if the elements are used in happy proportion. 

 A single scarlet Poppy will kindle into life a whole sea of 

 dim blue Campanulas, whereas an equal mass of scarlet 

 would so outshine the fainter hue as to make it appear poor 

 and dull. Again, white used in broad masses has dignity 

 and a serene beauty, but spotted all about the garden is 

 simply a stirrer-up of factions, setting the flowers against 

 one another instead of drawing them into happy relation- 

 ships. The strong red, blue, and yellow of the spectrum are 

 the colours most difficult to manage in the garden. These 



