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TWIN-LARCHES NURSERY, WEST CHESTER, PA. 



A Classification of Color-Terms 



Probably the worst delect in the modern catalog is the hit-or-miss way in which color-terms are used 

 in describing; the various (lowers. Writers are continually reminding us what a handicap this is on any sort 

 of progress in artistic gardening, yet very little effort has been made to remedy this unfortunate state of 

 affairs, except by a firm here and there which has adopted the color-chart system of color nomenclature. 

 No doubt this would be the ideal way, providing such a chart were cheap and readily available, or else 

 that the names indicating the different gradations of color conveyed some definite meaning in themselves. 

 As it happens, however, the chart is far from cheap, and as for the color-terms, "light amparo purple, class 

 9" or "Boryta yellow, class 4" mean less than nothing to the average reader. Therefore, in the hope that 

 it may be of some little assistance in clearing up matters, I give the following classification of colors, which 

 has been drawn up with the idea of being a key to the terms used in the catalog, since it seems to me that 

 what a large part of the public needs is not only accurate descriptions, but a drilling in just what these 

 accurate descriptions should connote, in terms oT well-known flowers. Even though my efforts should prove 

 to be only a makeshift, I think they will be an improvement on the present system, — or lack of it, — which 

 classifies violet and purple as blue, dignifies a frankly malignant magenta with the title of "beautiful rosy 

 crimson," and uses or misuses the terms mauve, lilac, lavender, and purple in the most indiscriminate 

 and innocent manner. I have seen the term carmine applied to anything from a pure scarlet to a raw ama- 

 ranth, and as for crimson, it is a still more indefinite term. 



Taking the three primary colors, blue, red, and yellow (green being of course, left out), I shall begin 

 with blue. True Blue is a pure, intense color, entirely Tree from any tinge of either green or red. It is well 

 exemplified in the flowers of the cornflower or bachelor's button (Cenlaurea cyanus), of the forget-me-not and 

 of the Delphinium formosum. Passing from blue to red, we come first to Violet-blue, which is persistently 

 confused with true blue. Violet-blue can be seen in Veronica longifolia subsessilis, and in the Siberian 

 iris (Orientalis). Violet itself is simply the color of greenhouse violets. One step from violet brings us 

 midway between blue and red, and right here should be placed the shades called purple, — a word that 

 has been used with the most incredible looseness. 



Pure Purple is a very rich shade, and is seen at its best in the llowers of the purple clematis (C. 

 Jackmanii), and those of the Aster Novx-Angliw. 



The group of shades from purple to red are the most confused and confusing of all. Purples of a reddish 

 lone merge into Claret or wine-color (example — Phlox', Von Hocbberg), and from thence to Amaranth 

 (Phlox, Rosenberg, and many zinnias), which in its lighter tones gives the many offensive Magenta shades 

 that are the betes noirs of all flower-gardeners. From amaranth we pass to deep Rose-red and Cerise, the 

 reds with the least amount of blue in them (examples — Salvia Gregii and Phlox, Sigrid Arnoldson), and 

 so to Pure Red or Crimson, which is a very rare shade, seen in a few roses, like Madley, and in the newly 

 opened buds of the old-fashioned Peony (Pieonia officinalis). 



Far more common is Scarlet, the most brilliant and intense of the red shades, and which marks the 

 first step in the progression toward yellow. A good example is the familiar scarlet sage. Approaching 

 still nearer yellow, we get Vermilion, Brick-red, Orange -scarlet and coppery shades and finally true orange. 

 Brick-red and orange-scarlet are common in the oriental poppy. Pure Orange is a rare color of great depth 

 and richness, and can be seen in the Asiatic trollius, and the new African daisy. Orange-yellow is a familiar 

 color in many nasturtiums, marigolds, and sunflowers, while Pure Yellow is shown by the Coreopsis lanceo- 

 lala and by the Rudbeckia, Golden Glow. 



Passing from yellow to green, we have, first, Lemon-yellow, a very useful shade, and Sulphur-yellow, 

 of a more distinct greenish tinge. Lemon lilies ( Hemerocallis flava) and Aquilegia chrysantha are lemon- 

 yellow. Sulphur-yellow is seldom seen, except in the centers of certain peonies, and the trumpets of some 

 narcissi. The term "golden" is, of course, largely figurative, but has apparently come to mean a yellow of 

 deep, brilliant tone. 



It should be distinctly kept in mind that the depth, that is, the relative darkness or lightness of a 

 shade, has nothing to do with its place in the Spectrum scale. Thus a very deep purple and a very pale 

 lavender may stand in the same relation to blue and red. And so with the pinks, which are simply lighter 

 tones of red that have been honored with distinct names. 



These softer tones may be grouped together roughly to form a supplementary series, beginning with 

 the paler shades of blue, which are mostly nameless, and passing to the Lavender-blues (light violet- 

 blues), to the Lavenders (light purples and violets) and so, imperceptibly, to the Lilacs which include the 

 paler purples of reddish tone. Lavender can be seen in the flower of that name and in most hardy asters; 

 Lavender-blue in the Aquilegia aurulea and the periwinkle (vinca); while Lilac can be typified by that 

 la milia r flowering shrub. "Lilac and mauve," says Miss Jekyll, "cover the same ground,"— hence the 

 absurdity of such expressions as "lilac-mauve." Lilac passes to Lilac-pink (or mauve-pink) and finally to 

 Rose-pink. These shades are more desirable in their paler tones (example Anemone, Queen Charlotte, and 

 Phlox, Mme. Paul Dulrie) than in their deeper ones, which often present many raw aniline shades such 

 as one sometimes sees in peonies, and in annual asters. From these cooler pink's we gradually merge into 

 Pure Pink, which, of course, is derived from pure red, and has no hint of either yellow or blue. 



Few flowers are of an altogether pure pink; newly opened Dorothy Perkins roses are fairly good 

 examples. Warm Pinks, like Phlox, FJ'v/.abelh Campbell, begin to show the influence of the approaching 

 yellow, which grows more pronounced in the Salmon-pinks like the poppy, Mrs. Perry, and sweet william, 

 Newport Pink, and still more so in brilliant Orange-pinks such as the familiar gladiolus, Mrs. Frances King. 

 Finally we come to the lighter shades of pure orange and yellow that have not been given separate names. 



Some other terms not used above may perhaps require cxolanation. "Old-rose" is a deep lilac-pink, 

 of soft, dull tone,— a tapestry pink. Maroon is a very deep red of slightly purplish tone, with perhaps 

 also a slight admixture of brown. Bronze is, I think, self-cxolanatorv. In referring to the color of the 

 foliage, glaucous means a green that is of a bluish and often, at the same time, of a grayish tone. Shell 

 and Flesh serve to indicate the palest tones of pure and warm pink respectively; 



