ARRANGING FLOWERS

Evening Star, Issue 23292, 14 June 1939, Page 15

ARRANGING FLOWERS

HELD for imagination Intelligent women of to-day take the most intense interest in all the modern trends of interior decorating and the furnishing of their homes. Their clothes must be the last word and their grooming perfection (says a Sydney writer). It is strange, therefore, that they have not followed up the new trends in flower decoration which has to-day revolutionised the arrangement of flowers in our homes. All have flowers in their houses, but they seem to arrange them with the same lack of imagination as some people use in cooking vegetables. They buy flowers, regardless of their suitability, but because they are cheap and easy to arrange. That is the wrong principle. The decorative value of a flower must come first, whether it is a weed, an Oxotic bloom, or an everyday flower. I do not mean one should necessarily use exotic and expensive flowers, tar from it; for some of the wild flowers and common flowers—sunflowers,' for instance—have groat decorative value. What I do mean is,, don’t buy ,a bunch of gladioli jukt because they are cheap and stick them in a tall, narrow-necked vase, and cull it a day. When setting out to collect flowers for a vase get as many shapes and textures as you can. In an all-white group you can achieve all .kinds of effects by mixing different textures of white flowers. The highlights _of the shiny flowers, such as gladioli, dahlias; etc., are in complete contrast to the dull surface of a Frau Karl Druski rose or white antirrhinum. COLOUR SCHEME. Don’t be frightened to mix certain colours together, such as magenta and, crashing reds, out have large groups of them. Flowers dotted singly about will clash. Gladioli blooms are lovely when used in conjunction with other flowers.. Their straight, sword-like appearance and glorious colouring is invaluably in making up a perfect group which should include some flowers with “faces,” such as zinnias, dahlias,, asters, sunflowers, etc.

The flowers should li.'iT'-y a definite relation to the colour scheme of the room. For example, in a room with pale green walls red or white flower groups are the most effective. But, if, for instance, you had with your green walls pale yellow curtains and a note of brown in the room, you would keep your flowers to yellows, creamy whites, (and;,browns. You can introduce a touch of brown in. your group with the dried seed pods' of lupins, goldenrod. or delphinium, the seed heads of perennial poppies, sunflowers,- etc. They are left to mature On the plants, and picked when brown in autumn. They last in that state more or less indefinitely. The day has passed, thank goodness, when small silver yases of flowers and pots of ferns were dotted about tba drawing room. To-day, we concentrate on, say, two good-sized groups in the usual sized ropm, with, perhaps, one small low vase of sweet-smelling flower* on a table by the sofa. - Flower groups are creative work, so put all vour thoughts and imagination into making a perfect thing.