No artist paints a landscape just as he finds it. In- 
stead he shuffles the trees and hills and relocates the 
water to achieve a pleasing and interesting asymmet- 
rical balance. Taking such liberties with Nature may 
seem sacrilegious to the uninitiated, but, after all, 
ought not the artist to have priority over the bird that 
dropped the seed that made the tree? 
The manipulation of forms to achieve beautiful and 
intriguing composition in a picture is considered one 
of the highest aspects of art. Here is the realm where 
the flower arranger reveals much of his talent: good 
flower arrangement is so much a matter of form. Pleas- 
ing silhouette, a feeling of rhythmic movement—as- 
cending or radiating—balance, proportion, and scale; 
harmony, unity, and focal point are so largely ques- 
tions of form. Color, though comprising a complex 
and fascinating field, is easier to handle, allowing more 
latitude for personal taste. 
In securing one of America’s top flower-arrangers, 
Carl Starker, to show us and our customers what could 
really be done with glads, we feel that we were very 
fortunate. Certainly every one of Mr. Starker’s clas- 
sical, yet unstudied, compositions was a “living pic- 
ture” when he completed it—alive with beauty of form 
and color. 
We wish you could all observe Mr. Starker at work; 
it is an art education in itself. (Incidentally he is 
available to flower clubs for lectures and demonstra- 
tions. If interested, please write him direct at Jen- 
ning’s Lodge, Oregon.) Like Frans Hals or Tintoretto, 
he works with the speed of lightning: by the time our 
photographer had one arrangement “shot”, Mr. Starker 
had another completed. Given adequate time, many 
of us can achieve fairly pleasing effects in flower ar- 
rangement, but to see perfection achieved in the time 
required to say “Jack Robinson”, convinces one that 
he is witnessing genius at work. (I hope all this 
doesn’t embarrass our good friend, Carl Starker, who 
is the most engaging and modest of mortals.) 
This year we have repreduced in color five more 
lovely Starker arrangements made for us when he was 
here a year ago, and you will be pleased to hear that 
Living Pictures 
As Composed and 
Interpreted by Carl Starker 
we have arranged for Mr. Starker to visit us again in 
1953. So look for some more arrangement gems in our 
1954 catalog. 
At our request, Mr. Starker wrote a thumbnail 
analysis of each arrangement in this catalog. These 
brief paragraphs will be found adjacent to each color 
plate. For the benefit of new customers we have also 
reprinted, on the pink sheets, Mr. Starker’s longer 
article of last year explaining the art of flower ar- 
rangement. You will find this article invaluable if 
you want to acquire a modicum of Mr. Starker’s ability 
yourself. 
Incidentally, Western Flower Arrangement, by Carl 
Starker, a volume included in Popular Gardening’s 
“100 Best Works on Horticulture” is a book which you 
may want to acquire for your library. The price is 
$2.50. It’s all in black and white but the arrangements, 
embracing a wide variety of flowers, are brilliant. 
And here’s news: a new and much larger volume 
of Starker arrangements, many in color, will be off the 
press sometime this spring. At this writing I can’t 
even tell you the name but the price will be about 
$7.00. We can’t wait to see it! 
If you want either of the above volumes, please write 
the author direct at Jenning’s Lodge, Oregon. 
“Having only a small city garden, I can grow only 
a limited number of gladioli, and had already gotten 
my supply for this year. However, your pictures are 
so beautiful, and Mr. Starker’s arrangements are so 
artistic, that I want to try out a handful. I can ap- 
preciate the arrangements as I am a botanical illus- 
trator for the Department of Agriculture . . . Your 
catalog is a gem; I rate it with that of Wayside 
Gardens.” 
—Regina Hughes, Washington, D. C. 
“Mr. Starker’s arrangements are a real asset, and 
serve to contradict the complaint, ‘Glads are too hard 
to arrange’. I’ve been following Mr. Starker’s work 
for sometime. I find it individual and not at all 
stylized and stereotyped as are far too many arrange- 
ments pictured.” 
—Mary C. Seckman, West Virginia. 
“T’ve been using Carl Starker’s Western Flower Ar- 
rangement in my garden club show work but didn’t 
fully realize how nice his work could be until I saw 
those enticing colored photos . . . You are doing a 
grand job of giving to the world one of the best things 
of life. Nothing outside of Faith gives more content- 
ment than a garden.” 
—Mrs. J. W. Weaver, Georgia. 
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