Floral Decoration

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23121, 20 August 1938, Page 10 (Supplement)

Floral Decoration

Charming, Combinations of Colour

arrangement of cut flowers depends on the blooms available at the different seasons of the year and on the receptacles. on hand for their display. Many and varied types of flower holders are available, so that the taste of everyone may be catered for. Expenditure can be as modest or as lavish as tho purse permits. In the very modern home, flower baskets hanging on 'the wall are very attractive. Wall vases, too, for large or small flowers can bo used to produce charming effects, and aro particularly valuable where pictures are less used than they were in bygone days. In winter, when flowers are scarce, the utility of these vases for sprays of foliage and coloured berries and seedpods will be greatly appreciated. Posy rings and posy bowls make attractive table decorations. Green bowls filled with yellow primroses bring a breath of spring into the room, and if one's table linen is a pale yellow and the glasses are green, the result will be a picture to remember. Earthenware pitchers, large jugs, old brass receptacles to hold largo flowers such as peonies, delphiniums, iris, liliums and the showy lupins, do royal duty on staircases, hall tables or pedestals. Yellow daffodils in pottery bowls or large jugs are an alluring decoration, and the yellow jasmine, when other flowers are scarce, has a great deal of charm for indoor decoration. Incidentally, this plant will grow well on a south wall where it gets little, if any, sunshine. To the doronicum — the yellow marguerite of spring—we owe a great deal of appreciation for its blooms of sunshine hue. The flowers may not be so suitable for table decoration, but for corners of rooms, halls and windows they are most useful. Ihe doronicum lasts a long time in water and stays in bloom in the garden for a month or six weeks. A large grey green pottery jug, filled with doronicums, makes one feel that summer is on the way. It is best to cut the flowers before the sun is up and not to take those that are fully blown. Stand them in a large jug of cold water before putting into the vases and they will keep fresh longer. Flowers with hard woody stems should have these crushed at the foot before putting in water, and all tho leaves near the base of the stalk stripped off. Leaves in water soon rot and the flowers fade sooner in consequence. Poppies should have the ends of the stalks burned or scalded as soon as cut. Carnations look well in silver or crystal, so do roses. Both should be cut before the fully-open stage; the roses will'also last longer if the steins are split for an inch or two, or strips of bark shaved off; this helps them to absorb water. Summer brings us to a wonderful range of annuals—the poor man's flower r-which, if well grown and cared for.

will produce blooms of surpassing beauty. The main secret of successful culture of annuals is drastic thinning iu the first place, then in staking and tying up as a protection from wind and rain. They aro a great standby for decorations. Not all of the annuals aro suitable for cutting, the great merit of some being their brilliant show in the garden. Among those which lend themselves admirably to cut flower purposes are asters, godetia, cornflowers, marigolds, nasturtium, Shirley poppy, ieptosvne, the quaint nigellas, linarias and the annual chrysanthemums. All of these aro perfectly hardy and can be sown in the open ground in September, but do not forget to thin out the seedlings.