8o 
HERBACEOUS GARDEN 
from cream, light yellow, bright yellow, orange, 
salmon, scarlet, maroon, and from light pink 
to rose colour and crimson, and his mauves in 
varying tones to purple. While blues are 
best used if in the pure vivid tones, either 
alone or with lemon yellow, the paler blue 
and white are effective together. 
The happy accident often lends itself to the 
finest effect of all, as when a primrose-coloured 
seedling of the lupin comes up and flowers 
next to and at the same time as a “ King of 
the Blues” delphinium; or when a hydrangea 
in that indescribable shade of blue found 
growing on ironstone soil, a blue both rich 
and cool, has a group of pink gladiolas growing 
next and partly through it. 
A great effort is being made to “ standardise ” 
colours. At one time it was quite impossible 
to glean any true ideas of the colour of a plant 
from the description in a nurseryman’s cata- 
logue. Even now, however, too much is 
made of an attractive-sounding description of 
a colour without strict regard to veracity. 
For instance, Achillea Crimson Queen is de- 
scribed in a catalogue before me as a brilliant 
cherry colour, whereas in effect it is a rather 
muddy dark pink. To me the words cherry 
colour and rose colour convey the idea of a 
