COLOUR ARRANGEMENT
We have just considered the grouping of flowers by themselves. There is another element to be considered before we can have artistic results, and that is arrangement as to colour.
Colour Grouping.—We may not all be sensitive to colour ourselves, but in arranging flowers we should always keep in mind the pleasure that is to be given others, and so we wish nothing in our colour grouping that will offend those whose colour sense is keen. There are three colour schemes that can be followed with success and satisfaction to all. In one we group together only flowers of the same colour, as red roses, pink sweet peas, yellow iris, not red, pink, and white roses, nor all of the various colours of sweet pea.
Another arrangement calls for shades and tints of the same colour. With many flowers it is possible to get exquisite effects by following this scheme. For instance, pansies ranging from a pale lavender to deep purple are lovely arranged in a low basket of damp moss. Sweet peas have beautiful shades of pink that can be combined, as well as shades of red and of lavender. Nasturtiums are never so effective as when the various shades of yellow, orange and brown are used together. The garden aster of to-day is another flower that affords much pleasure in colour arrangement; for it has lavenders and purples, a variety of pink tones, beautiful reds, and perfect white ones.
And the white ones! What shall we do with these? Three or four pure white asters of the same variety may be used together; or two or three white ones may be grouped with a few lavender ones, or pink ones. White may be combined with any colour with good results. Nature is a good teacher here for she gives us both the coloured and the white in almost every variety of flower. For example there are crimson cosmos and white cosmos, scarlet geraniums and white geraniums, blue violets and white violets, and so on through a great many varieties.
Combination of Complementary Colours.—Another colour grouping that is sometimes desirable makes use of the complementary colours. The salpiglossis, a garden flower that ought to be better known than it is, gives us examples of these, with its blue and orange-yellow flowers that are so effective together. The iris also has flowers of complementary colours, yellow and violet blue being common among them.