272 



THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



encrusted section. 

 Scabiosa caucasica. 

 Sedum. A few of the taller varie- 



Eoses in variety. 

 Salvia in variety. 



Saxifraga in variety. Principally 



teri. 



Sph'Dea in variety. 

 Statice in variety. 

 Thalictrum in variety. 



Senecio pulcher. 



Sidalcea Candida ; malvseflora Lis- 



Tiarella cordifolia. 

 Tradescantia in variety. 

 Veratrum album ; nigrum. 

 Verbascum nigrum album. 

 Veronica in variety. 

 Viola in variety. 



ties. 



THE ARRANGEMENT OF CUT HARDY FLOWERS. 



A well-filled garden of hardy border flowers will for many months in the year 

 supply all the requirements of a household in the way of cut flowers ; but in order 

 that they may be used to the best advantage the aid of some of the many beautiful 

 grasses and sedges should be sought. Nor need the flowers used be all of 

 perennial habit, or of true herbaceous character. As the use of annuals, shrubs, 

 and bulbous plants was advocated in the arrangement of the borders, so many of them 

 may be employed in a cut state for room decoration. 



Very beautiful hand and table bouquets may be formed of hardy flowers, and for 

 decorative effect in large vases nothing can surpass some of the taller kinds, if cut with 

 long stems. In small glasses many are most beautiful, and the foliage of several plants 

 is so graceful that it lends itself to the most charming decorative effects. 



For winter decoration a considerable number of flowers will be found very useful, 

 such as the statices, eryngiums, echinops, Gypsophila paniculata, and some of the 

 thistles, when dried, coming in well with the ornamental grasses and reeds. The fruits 

 of such plants as Iris foetidissima, Physalis Alkekengi, and P. Franchetti may also be 

 mentioned as illustrative of the usefulness of the border plants for preserving for orna- 

 ment in winter. 



It is difficult to give instructions regarding the arrangements most desirable. These 

 must be left to individual taste, but in all there should be an absence of formality, and 

 an effort to show to the best advantage, consistent with the design, the character of the 

 flower. This is especially necessary with some of the taller and more effective kinds, 

 such as the echinops or Bocconia cordata, which lose their beauty when cut with short 

 stems and crowded together in bunches. 



Various contrivances have been devised for preventing the overcrowding of 

 flowers and foliage, also for producing a good effect with a limited number (see 

 Fig. 131). Smith's dome-shaped holders are good for the purpose, placed in plates, as 

 shown in Fig. 132. 



Among other flowers, it may be said, by way of suggestion, that a few single 



