THE BACKGROUND
A tall vase with narcissus
Space and Harmonious Surroundings.—To obtain the largest decorative effect we must have not only artistic grouping and harmonious setting of flowers, but space and background, just as are needed for the hanging of pictures. Many a floral composition has lost all decorative effect from being placed in too small a space and surrounded by distracting objects. A few days ago I stepped into a room on an errand and forgot my errand in the pleasure I derived from seeing some beautiful yellow chrysanthemums, three or four, I think, in a yellowish brown jar on a large mahogany table, having for a background the upturned leaf of the table. It stood some little distance from anything else, a shaft of sunlight lay across the whole, and as I looked at it I thought: Here is all that constitutes a decorative arrangement of flowers. It was the feature of the room that held one's attention.
An arrangement for the tall Japanese jar
Flowers for the Dining Table.—If we can have flowers in but one room in the house, it may be difficult to decide which one it shall be. Since it often happens that the dining-room is the only room where a busy family comes together for any length of time, flowers should certainly be introduced here that all may share their beauty and cheer. Any arrangement for the home table should be moderately low; and there are many simple flowers that can be used in this way to advantage. For instance, one can gather a quantity of the innocence or common bluet (root and all), to be found in any field in the spring, and put them in a shallow glass dish. Simple and effective decoration for the table is the result. Flowers with any degree of fragrance should never be used in the dining-room. The fragrance of some flowers is offensive to many people, and when combined with the odour of food doubly so.
An arrangement of roses in a small jar
At a luncheon served by the girls in the model house the floral decoration for the table was a half dozen single, yellow jonquils with their foliage, placed in a creamy brown vase made by one of the girls. Their dishes being in white with a gold edge and the walls and furniture in browns, nothing could have been more harmonious than these few simple flowers.
Expensive Flowers not Necessary.—It is evident that for floral decoration neither expensive nor lavish displays are necessary, that simplicity is the thing to strive for, and that a few sprays of wild flowers in their season are more truly artistic than many expensive hot-house flowers. In this country we do not, as the Japanese do, make a festival in honour of certain flowers; but if we rightly appreciate and utilize the flowers of each season, we may give a touch of festivity to the life of every day.
In the early spring nothing can be more appropriate than an arrangement of pussy willows or branches of the alder with its tassels, while the red maple when in flower gives a touch of colour that will brighten any room. A clump of blood root in a small jardiniere is as decorative as the expensive plants one may see in the home of some friend. The flowers of the field and the garden offer so many possibilities for decorative results that no one's home need lack the cheery touch which they can give.
There is a personal element in flowers such as is not found in any other means of decoration, not even in pictures, with the single exception of good portraits. They seem to speak to us. We can almost believe that they feel an interest in all that we have said about them. If they really could know, would they not approve the principles that we have laid down? We may fancy that they would approve and that, if they could really speak and we would listen, they would tell us so in some such language as the following: