94 
Slower (Brower 
June, 1920 
Color Harmony in Flowers. 
BY WILLIAM H. PHIPPS. 
I Written expressly for The Flower Grower.] 
As a preface to the following article 
the writer wishes to say that what fol- 
lows is written from the standpoint of 
flower colors alone and he has therefore 
only touched the subject, his purpose 
being to aid the flower grower, if he can, 
by a short talk on color harmony in a 
primary way and not from an intricate 
scientific standpoint. 
We must again consider the color 
spectrum : 
f Blue 
Primary , Red 
( Yellow 
Colors of 
the 
Spectrum. 
Secondary 
\ Orange ] fellow 
Green 
( Blue 
I Yellow 
\ 
Violet 
j Blue 
/ Red 
Equal parts of any two primary colors 
mixed together yield secondary colors. 
From this you will see that the three 
secondary colors are binary colors or 
are compounds of two primary colors. 
Broken colors are defined by Chevereul 
to be colors in which all three primaries 
exist; luminous colors — yellow, orange, 
red, light green and the light tones of 
sombre colors; sombre colors,— -blue, 
violet and the broken tones of the lu- 
minous colors. 
Tones — The series of gradations of a color 
from the greatest intensity, weakened by the 
addition of white, or deepened by the addi- 
tion of black. 
Hue— T he change produced in a color by 
combining with another color or colors in 
which the original color must predominate. 
Tints— C hange in the original color by 
adding white to the normal color. 
Shades — Will not be discussed since the 
term means the tone of color produced by 
adding black to the normal colors. 
The following is the composition of 
Green and Orange in a yellowish gray : 
Orange Red 1 part. 
You will see from this that yellow 
predominates, hence the yellow tone 
prevails— Why is this? Refer to our 
color charts and you will see that: 
Blue and yellow mixed produce green. 
Red and yellow mixed produce orange. 
Yellow appears in green and orange, 
blue in green and red in orange, hence 
the composition is as above stated. 
Harmony of colors may be divided 
into two general classes : 1st Harmonies 
of Analogous Colors, and 2d Harmonies 
of Contrast. 
1st. Harmonies of Analogous Colors: 
A. Harmony of scale of color. 
B. Harmony of hues belonging to scales 
more or less approximating. 
C. Harmony of a dominant colored light, 
proceeding from the simultaneousness 
of tones of nearly the same height 
belonging to approximating scales. 
2nd. Harmony of Contrast: 
A. Harmony of contrast of scale arising 
from two distinct tones of the same 
scale. 
B. Harmony of contrast of hues arising 
from different heights, belonging to 
contiguous scales. 
C. Harmony of contrast of colors be- 
longing to widely different scales. 
In the harmony of contrast, the com- 
plimentary assortment is superior to 
every other ; the tones must, however, 
be of about the same intensity. The 
primaries grouped in pairs assort better 
as a harmony of contrast than an ar- 
rangement formed of one of the pri- 
maries and a binary of which that pri- 
mary is an element, for instance : 
Blue and yellow harmonize better 
than red and orange because orange 
contains red as one of its elementary 
colors. 
Red and blue harmonize better than 
yellow and violet because violet con- 
tains red as one of its elementary colors. 
Yellow and red harmonize better than 
yellow and orange because orange con- 
tains yellow as one of its elements or 
elementary colors. 
Red and violet harmonize better than 
blue and violet, yellow and orange har- 
monize better than red and orange, yel- 
low and green harmonize better than 
blue and green. When two colors do 
not harmonize when together, separate 
them with white, the contrast accen- 
tuates each color and brings out latent 
beauties. 
Black never produces a bad effect 
when placed between luminous colors 
and always should be placed between 
red and orange; blue and violet and bro- 
ken tones of luminous colors, viz. yellow 
orange, red, light green and light tones 
of blue and violet. However, if black is 
not available then white should be used. 
White should always be used between 
red and blue, orange and blue, red and 
violet, orange and violet, yellow and 
blue, green and violet, green and blue. 
When we desire to bring out bril- 
liancy we resort to contrast. In the 
selection of flowers for a bouquet or the 
decorations for a room or a house, the 
principal is the same. When one is free 
to choose he will consider the aspect of 
the room and whether the light be nat- 
ural or artificial, some flowers, beauti- 
ful in daylight, are killed by electric 
lights. We must never lose sight of 
this and in many instances it can only 
be determined by experiment. 
Tone of color is of equal importance 
with color. Deep tones sometimes pro- 
duce a crude effect when if light tones 
of the same color were used the effect 
would be pleasing. It is in the flower 
garden that the color artist may revel 
in resources for color and his arrange- 
ment may be made to bring out each 
color, hue and tint, so that they stand 
out in their full glory and beauty, but 
how sadly this is overlooked in most 
gardens. Size, form and contrast can 
be used so marvelously that we often 
wonder at the lack of art in our gar- 
dens. Bearing in mind these principals 
in planning your garden, remember to 
bring out by contrast the flowers which 
shall attract. Do you want your garden 
to be restful ? Then avoid placing flow- 
ers in juxtaposition where the colors 
will not harmonize, or as we sometimes 
say “clash.” If you have done this it 
must be remedied at the earliest possi- 
ble moment. 
Just a word more to bring the idea 
concretely to the reader and bearing in 
mind colors which are mutually com- 
plimentary, we must arrange with the 
following harmony chart in mind : 
Flowers — Yellow flowers accord well with 
blue flowers ; yellow, more green than orange, 
go well with red ; deep red flowers harmonize 
with deep blue flowers ; orange flowers go 
well with violet flowers ; white flowers go 
well with all these arrangements. 
We must separate : 
Pink flowers from scarlet or crimson ; 
orange flowers from orange-yellow flowers : 
yellow flowers from greenish-yellow flowers ; 
blue flowers from violet blue flowers ; red 
flowers from orange flowers ; pink flowers 
from violet flowers ; blue flowers from violet 
flowers ; red flowers from brick-red flowers. 
The last is because the duller red is 
killed by the luminous color of the pri- 
mary red. In the application of the 
law of contrast to arrangement of flow- 
ers we must not forget to consider var- 
ious heights and shadings of light so as 
to produce the desired effect. Do not 
make a dark, shady nook in your gar- 
den still darker by plants of sombre hue 
and do not make the mistake of asso- 
ciating German Iris with the light vio- 
let of Lilac. Suppose instead we add 
Persian Iberis, and red Tulips on one 
plane and deep blue and light Violets 
on a more distant plane, we thus ob- 
tain an arrangement of pleasing effect. 
Repetition of arrangement produces a 
pleasing effect as does a solid mass of 
one color. 
The writer wishes to acknowledge 
his indebtedness for his authority for 
the statement of principles here in- 
volved to the following ; 
Bailey’s Cyclopedia of Horticulture, Cen- 
tury Dictionary, The Encyclopedia Ameri- 
cana, Cornell Extension Bulletins, Chevereul 
on “Color,” Encyclopedia Brittanica. 
The arrangement of diagram is our 
own. 
'HIHHIIIIIHimillHIIItlllllllHIIIIIIIMIIHIIIIIHIIIIIIMHIHIIIIIIMIIIIIIIMIIIIIHIMIIItllllMIIIII^ 
| American Gladiolus Society, j 
The following named Gladiolus has been 
offered for registration by Vaughan’s Seed 
Store, Chicago, 111. If no objection is filed 
with the committee before June first the 
registration becomes complete. The follow- 
ing is the introducer’s description : 
Name — Mrs. H. A. Caesar 
Description : 
“ This seedling Gladiolus is a cross of America with 
Sunbeam. 
Its habit of growth is more robust than America, 
and with same flowering season. 
The length of spike is about the same but it pro- 
duces more buds, frequently showing five to eight 
open flowers, well placed on the spike. 
The color is a beautiful lavender shading to lilac 
with a yellow dash in the lower petals. Admirers 
have called it Orchid Beauty. The spikes are uni- 
formly straight and upright, with no crooked stems.” 
A. C. Bf.al, 
Chm. Nomenclature Com. 
