In the Garden A part Of the flower-gardener's art is„
of course, the association of colours. Flowers may " swear " ; but the swearing colours, I think, are almost wholly confined to the reds and purples. For some of the oriental poppies, for example, it is very difficult to find any congenial neighbour ; and such a flower as agrostemma, delightfully associated with its own grey leaf, has to be very carefully placed to avoid an unpleasant conflic- tion. You have to be careful even with red-leafed bushes. Two of the best barberries are pratii, with its yellow flowers, and thttnbergia ; but the latter kills the former, if they are planted, as I planted them, side by side. Happily, virtually all green leaves agree to a mutual relation (though Wordsworth disagreed in his harsh comments on the alien larch). The same may be said of the blues, though not of the yellows.
W Brscat Thorims.
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