Planting for Color Harmony in the Flower Garden 



SOME ACTUAL SUCCESSES THAT HAVE BEEN TRIED OUT UNDER FAIRLY TYPICAL AMER- 

 ICAN CONDITIONS, AND WHICH WILL HELP YOU TO GET REAL HARMONIES THIS YEAR 



[After the garden is made, complete according to the design, comes the supreme test of planting, and the hardest to solve, the most elusive 

 problem in the making of gardens lies in the perfection of color effects. It would seem, indeed, that a majority of people are practically 

 insensitive to color, or that a few are abnormally sensitive. Yet amateurs everywhere grow plants for the colors of the flowers, rather than for 

 any other one attribute. Should they not, therefore, exercise skill in producing perfect harmony, rather than merely trusting to the power of 

 the all-unifying greens and whites which in the worst cases avoid offense by toning down, by diluting, and not by any positive relation. 

 The final art of flower gardening in any country must be peculiar to that country, an evolution in fact. The American amateur has hardly 

 yet had time to evolve a number of best "combinations," because he has so rich a mass of materials to use. We feel glad, therefore, in pre- 

 senting to the readers of The Garden Magazine some positive facts in the case, from the pens and gardens of those who have achieved 

 success. In succeeding numbers we shall publish several communications from readers. — The Editors.] 



Some Weil-Tried Effects from 

 March to August 



By Mrs. Francis King, Michigan 



THE past-mistress of the charming art 

 of color combination in gardening 

 is, without doubt, Miss Jekyll, the well- 

 known English writer; and to the practised 

 amateur, I commend her "Colour in the 

 Flower Garden" as the last word in truly 

 artistic planting, and full of valuable sugges- 

 tion for one who has worked with flowers 

 long enough to have mastered the com- 

 plications of his soil and climate. 



Miss Jekyll's remarks on the varying con- 

 ceptions of color I must here repeat, in order 

 to make the descriptions below as well 

 understood as possible. "I notice," she 

 writes, on page 227 of " Wood and Garden," 

 "in plant lists, the most reckless and indis- 

 criminate use of the words purple, violet, 

 mauve, lilac and lavender; and, as they are 

 all related, I think they should be used with 

 greater caution. I should say that mauve 

 and lilac cover the same ground. The word 

 mauve came into use within my recollection. 

 It is French for mallow, and the flower of the 

 wild plant may stand as the type of what the 

 word means. Lavender stands for a colder 

 or bluer range of pale purples, with an inclina- 

 tion to gray; it is a useful word, because the 

 whole color of the flower spike varies so little. 

 Violet stands for the dark garden violet, and 

 I always think of the grand color of Iris 

 reticulata as an example of a rich violet- 



purple. But purple equally stands for this, 

 and for many shades redder." 



In an earlier paragraph the same writer 

 refers to the common color nomenclature of 

 the average seed or bulb list as "slip-slop," 

 and indeed the name is none too hard for 

 the descriptive mistakes in most of our own 

 catalogues. Mrs. Sedgwick in "The Gar- 

 den Month by Month," provides a valuable 

 color chart; so far as I know she is the 

 pioneer in this direction in this country. 

 Why should not books for beginners in gar- 

 denings afford suggestions for color-har- 

 mony in planting, a juxtaposition of plants 

 slightly out of the ordinary routine, orange 

 near blue, sulphur yellow near blue, and so 

 on. A well-known book for beginners in 

 gardening, is Miss Shelton's "The Seasons 

 in a Flower Garden." This little volume 

 shows charming taste in advice concerning 

 flower groupings for color. I look forward 

 to the day when a serious color-standard 

 for flowers shall be established by the 

 appearance in America of such a publication 

 as the "Repertoire De Couleurs" sent out 

 by the Societe Francaise Des Chrysanthe- 

 mistes. To this the makers of catalogues 

 might turn as infallible; and on this those 

 who plant for artistic combination of color 

 might rely. 



In the groupings for color effect given below 

 there has been no absolute copying of any 

 one's suggestions. To work out these 

 plantings my plan has always been first, to 

 make notes on the same day of each week 



of flowers in full bloom. Then, by cutting 

 certain blooms and holding them against 

 others, a happy contrast or harmony of color 

 is readily seen and noted for trial in the 

 following year. 



BLUE AND CREAM-WHITE - 



MARCH 



The earliest blooming color combination 

 of which I can speak from experience is that 

 illustrated in Fig. 1. Here, backed by 

 Mahonia, and blooming in one season as 

 early as late March, thrives a most lovely 

 group of blue and cream-white spring flowers. 

 Tulipa Kaufmanniana opening full always 

 in the sun, spreads its deep creamy petals, 

 while below these tulips a few hundred 

 Scilla Sibirica show brilliantly blue. To 

 the right blood-root is white with blossoms 

 at the same moment, while behind this the 

 creamy pointed buds of Narcissus Orange 

 Phoenix carry along the tone of the cream- 

 white tulip. Narcissus Orange Phcenix is 

 a great favorite of mine; leader of all the 

 double daffodils, I think it, with the excep- 

 tion of Narcissus poelicus, var. plenus, the 

 gardenia narcissus, with its true gardenia 

 scent and full ivory-white blooms; with 

 me, however, this narcissus so seldom pro- 

 duces a flower that I have given up growing 

 it. Where this does well the most delicious 

 color combinations should be possible. 



As for Tidipa Kaufmanniana, earliest 

 of all tulips to bloom, it is such a treasure to 

 the lover of spring flowers that the sharp 

 advance in its price made within the last 



Fig. 1. A spring effect in blue and cream-white from scillas and tulips 



Fig. 2. Pink, lavender and white from tulips, lilacs and bleeding heart 



156 



