1. The wrong place for flowers or color is the middle of the lawn, because it is 

 distracting and isolated 



2. The right place for flowers is at the sides, where hardy flowers will blend 

 with shrubbery and trees 



A Symposium on Flower Beds and Bedding Plants 



GOOD AND BAD TASTE — THE LAWS OF COLOR HARMONY — LESSONS 

 FROM AN INSTITUTION WHICH IS FIFTY YEARS AHEAD OF THE TIMES 



I. — Good and Bad Taste in 

 Bedding 



By Wilhelm Miller 



I DO not set myself up as an authority 

 on matters of taste. I am simply a 

 student. And even if I were an authority, 

 I should never wish any one to do anything 

 because I said so. My ideal in conduct is 

 reason — not authority. Now the com- 

 mon opinion about bedding plants, and 

 flowers, and even landscape design, is 

 that such things are matters of taste and 

 authority. On the contrary, I believe 

 that 90 per cent, of all such questions 

 are matters of law and reason. Therefore, 

 to start a discussion, I shall try to state 

 these laws and I shall try to set forth the 



best and worst ideals. If I am mistaken, 

 I wish you would correct me. These 

 columns are open for a discussion. 



THE LAW OF SIMPLICITY 



Simplicity is better than great elabo- 

 ration. — The reason for this is that every 

 school of art has passed through three 

 periods — simplicity, elaboration, decay. 

 It will always be so, because it is human 

 nature to pursue a good idea to the end. 

 Excessive elaboration invariably brings 

 on decadence, provokes a reaction, and 

 a new school is born. Therefore, beds 

 of simple shape are in better taste than 

 beds of complicated shapes. Therefore, 

 beds of few colors are in better taste than 

 beds of many colors. 



THE LAW OF SELF-RESTRAINT 



Self-restraint is better than self-indul- 

 gence. — The reason for this is that grati- 

 fication of unreasonable desire invariably 

 brings disgust. The rich man can have 

 everything he wants, except immunity 

 from this law. He can put a line of 

 scarlet sage 300 feet long in his front 

 lawn, and near his house a mass of hy- 

 drangea forty feet across. But people 

 will say he is vulgar, and some day he 

 will know it. It is wrong to indulge the 

 spirit of show; it is right to indicate 

 self-mastery as the ideal in home life 

 and gardening. Therefore, showy bed- 

 ding plants should not be exposed to 

 the public gaze, but put inside a high- 

 walled garden. 



Z. The worst color is that of tender foliage plants, especially coleus and others 

 with abnormal hues 



4. The best color is that which comes from hardy flowers, set off by green 



foliage 



232 



