Evening star., 1883-06-06

which he carries OF his bride. The family Of the
bride, If they have invited guests staying In the
house, furnish carriages for all who 60 to the
church from their house, but invited guests
from the outside furnish their own carriages,
At a wedding breakfast in the country, as
elsewhere, every lady guest wears her bonnet
and removes her gloves as she sits down to
table. There should be some usher, or near
relative, or master of ceremonies, who shall tell
each gentleman what lady he is to take In to
the breakfast, for, if seated banquet, it has
much the formality of a dinner.
A table spread under the trees with camp
stools scattered abOut-no formality, but gen.
erai sort OF garden party-is the fayorte
method adopted at June weddings for feeding"
the guests, to use vulgar Americanism. Often
another table Is furnished In the house, to avoid
the accident of bad weather.
The bride, if she is to walk to the church,
should either have carpet of flowers or a real
carpet to walk on. Great care must be taken
that the wedding dress, with its vOluminous
train and trimmings, is not soiled in the transit.
Harmony Of Color in Horticulture.
From Land and Water.
Artistic arrangement in flower gardens Is
thing very easy to talk about, but it is not
quite so easy to put it into practice. Anybody
can point out the errors, the want of taste, the
glaring defects in the laying out of parterre but
it is quite another thing if they are asked how
it is to be remedied. Everything seems so
easy and so simple when you merely look on as
acrtic prepared to find fault without having
any share in the labor. So many difficulties lie
in the way of harmonious coloring and arrange
ment as applied to flower gardening-far more
than would appear to superficial observer. AL
though there are flowers of every hue and of all
sizes, yet they may not bloom at exactly the
same time, or some may fade sooner than
others, or the form and size of one plant may
not contrast favOrably with the Others
OF late years we have made rapid progress in
artistic Horticulture. No longer do we submit to
see our gardens scattered over recklessly, with
out regard to harmony or contrast, with flowers
OF every color or species. In our days we see
more tasteful arrangements and dispositions in
the flower gardens of some of the poorer subur-
ban streets than were displayed in the extensive
and costly parterres of thirty or forty years back
Flowers were formerly taken by striking con-
trast, without relation to harmony, and planted
here and there, wherever spot appeared suit
able for their reception; but now, by grouping
plants in masses, and attending, SO far as pOssi-
bic. to their relative hues and FORMS we can
produce finer and more striking effect with
halt dozen species than the gardeners of past
times did with half hundred.
Nothing looks worse in flower garden than
to see plants, large and small. bright or somber.
is usual to see small beds filled with six or seven
varieties of flowers of as many different colOrs.
This imparts very scattered effect to par
terre, for too much variety in detail leaves no
spot for the eye to rest on. Small beds should
never contain more than one species and one
COLOR though this may be as bright as you
please. Large beds, on the contrary, may be
planted with greater variety of flowers. Great
care should always be taken to plant flowers of
the brightest scarlet pelargoniums, for
example-in the center of the group and these
should be sOftened by degrees with flowers Of
less brilliant tint toward the margin of the bed.
White flowers are. perhaps, the best to plant
along the margin Immediately inside the box or
turf edging
In large parterres the beds should be sepa-
rated from the bright gravel paths by margin
of green turf not less than two feet in breadth
In smaller gardens, however. this would occupy
too much space, and box edgng is generally
substituted. But this verge should not be less
than three inches in thickness, and perfectly fiat
on the top.
To form perfectly harmonious contrasts in
a parterre, it is best to plant one of the three
primary colOrs-scarlet, blue or yellOW-next
to another; or. if perfect primary is not at
hand, to take the complementary color formed
by cOmpounding the other two green being
color to red. orange to blue, and
purple to yellow. Many persons. indeed. say
that two primaries form too viOlen a contrast,
and recommend that the complementary should
be employed in preference. For instance red
must be cOntrasted by blue or yellow, or else bv
green. but not by purple or orange, because red
enters into the composition Of both these colors.
In default of any of these cOlors, white or some
neutral tinted flowers may be employed. In the
same way blue flowers should be contrasted by
either red, yellow or orange, but not by purple
or green. because blue enters into the compost
tion of both colors. Also, with yellow, you must
contrast with blue, red or purple, but not with
green or orange. There are many neutral col
ors. as red brown or olive brown or pale layen-
der, or even light pink. which will form suffi-
clent contrast to the others. White is very use
full for placing between flowers of brilliant hue
which harlnOniZe badly.
Very bright cOlOrs however should always
be used sparingly and never placed in large
masses, because the eye is wearied by too much
positive coloring. 1t is very great mistake to
plant clump of dark. funerea-loOking ever
greens in the center of a bed of bright scarlet
bright yellow dahlias, or white
as strong contrast, and to make the
whole look cheerful But so far from having
this effect, it imparts harsh, disagreeable effect
to the entire group. Masses of dark green
should never be cOntrasted Immediately with
brighter colors. If they are softened by de-
grees with neutral tints, or even by pale yellow
or white flowers, the group blends insensibly
into the surrounding landscape in place OF
out in violent contrast from the rest.