THE ARTISTIC ARRANGEMENT OF FLOWERS 
WAS much interested in the article entitled 
“I'he Artistic Arrangement of Flowers” in 
your January issue. It stated that flowers 
“with soft, slender stems, should always be arranged 
in low, wide-topped bowls so they can ramble over 
the sides. ” 
All this is true, but often it is the rule that those 
in the center lop over against those on the outer 
rim and cause a lumpy effect. 
Perhaps your Garden Correspondent can tell us 
how that may be remedied. L. J. E. 
Go to your tinsmith and have him make two flat 
disks of copper or galvanized iron wire, or silvered 
wire, if expense is no object. Have one slightly less 
in diameter than that of the inside of your bowl—say 
half an inch below the rim and the other disk to fit 
at a point one half or a full inch from the bottom, 
d'his disk is composed of a circular outer rim, hav¬ 
ing wires run across so as to form an open mesh 
about one inch square. 
Have three “legs” of stiff wire, running from 
the larger disk to a half or a full inch beyond 
where the bottom disk is attached. This forms two 
shelves of wire mesh one directly over the other. 
Flower stems placed within these meshes are 
held by the wire at two points along their course 
and are thus held in a comparatively upright posi¬ 
tion. Any deflection from this position required 
may he obtained by slanting the lower part of the 
stem and inserting in the proper mesh in the low^er 
disk. 
These wire frames are also very useful when made 
to fit large vases where any heavy-headed flowers, 
like peonies, are used. A very decorative arrange¬ 
ment may he had by obtaining a small wicker basket, 
or some of the fancy vase or urn-shaped waste bas¬ 
kets, and having a water-tight, tin receptacle made 
to fit, and also a wire frame upon the same lines 
described above. 
Be careful in selecting the baskets, avoiding 
high colors and endeavoring to obtain a neutral 
tone. If you see one whose outline suits you, 
but its color does not,—you can paint it. Some 
florist who is intimately acquainted with firms 
whose business is that of wire work, can have the 
frames made for you. 
BLOOMING OF COLUMBINES AND DELPHINIUMS 
Will columbines and delphiniums bloom the same 
season they are sown A . F. M. 
Columbines seldom bloom until the second season, 
hut the delphinium will if sowm early. Get Dreer’s 
Gold Medal hybrids or Lemoine’s hybrids and sow 
early, and in a majority of plants you can have two 
seasons of blooms the same year, if the first is not 
allow'ed to go to seed. 
SAFETY OF LIQUID WEED DESTROYERS 
Are the liquid weed destroyers for road and walks 
safe to use ? S. O. P. 
Yes, if care is used. Select a day when it is not 
liable to rain for twenty-four hours. Give the sur¬ 
face to be covered a slight sprinkling with clean 
water, and then apply the liquid, keeping away from 
near the roots of the grass or adjoining shrubs. If 
rain comes and washes the material down hill to 
plants not desired to kill, trouble is apt to followL 
WILD FLOWERS FOR THE ROADSIDE 
I have a roadway running hack to my barn, part of 
which is through a woods. I would like to have 
some wild flowers bordering it. Something that 
would take care of itself . The soil is fairly rich. I 
don’t want to go to much expense. C. W. E. 
Go into the open spaces of the woods and select 
any flowering plants you see there, mark them so as 
to identify them for fall removal. Strong growing 
plants, like asters and golden rod, may be taken up 
when in bloom, cutting off the flowering stems to 
w ithin one foot of the ground and giving them a good 
soaking when planted. They may be heeled in, in 
some vacant space and w-ell watered and be planted 
later in the fall or the follow ing spring. Obtain some 
seed of the Hesperis matronalis and of Rudbeckta 
laciniata and loosen up the soil here and there and sow^ 
them, making informal groups or colonies of them. 
The former is a perennial with pinkish flow-ers bloom¬ 
ing in the spring and is not at all particular as to soil 
or situation. The latter is a biennial, but sow s itself 
so freely that you will always have it. It may be 
termed a fall blooming, improved “Black-eyed 
Susan. ” 
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