CHAPTER VII
ARRANGEMENT OF FLOWERS
The arrangement of flowers is interesting and means a great deal. It means that this chapter will tell you what wild flowers look prettiest on the dinner-table and in bowls and vases in other parts of the house; what flowers and vines will keep fresh longest, and the kind that do not need water but are beautiful when dry. It means that you can learn not to force a tightly packed handful of all sorts of flowers into a small vase and expect them to look well. Flowers don't like crowding and are quite particular about their associates.
If you come in hot and tired after your walk, put the flowers you have gathered into a pail of fresh water and let them stay there until you have rested and are ready to sort them out and make each kind look its very best. All flowers do not appear well in stiff, straight vases; all do not look well in bowls. That is the first thing to learn, and the next is that while some flowers seem to smile upon and nestle lovingly up to some others, there are kinds that they seem to draw away from and frown upon. Only a few examples can be given here. If you love the flowers you will find out more for yourself.
The Wild Morning-Glory
In your walks through the fields and along the country roadsides have you ever noticed the wild morning-glory? Of course, you have seen it and, perhaps, gathered some blossoms, only to find them in a short time wilted in your hand or turned into little, long bags, puckered at the top as if drawn up with a string.
Fig.44 - This is the way the Wild Morning Glory looks.
When I say noticed, I mean have you thought about the flowers while you looked at them? Have you noticed their shape and beautiful color, and have you seen the great difference between the green leaf of the wild morning-glory and that of the cultivated one?