The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-09-14
A WEALTH
OF FLOWERS.
The Floral Treasures Of the
Meadow and Wayside.
Some Practical suggestions-How an Attrac-
tive Flower Bed May Be Laid Out and
Kept at Very Little Expense.

| feEaskS IONS IN furniture ana dress mas
Aa4.N come liking, pretended or real,
| for old-fashioned flowers. Then naturally
| follows taste for the simple wild flowers
| OF the woods, meadows and wayside. Happy
they who can discern and appreciate the
native grace and beauty of these wayside
darlings, unspoiled and untouched by the
fashion and false taste of the florists and
gardeRers. For such, world of floral
wealth and loneliness is all before them.
None so poor that they cannot have and en-
joy.
For her who lives in the country For on
the edge of a town there is "all Elysium in
plat of ground" says the Philadelphia
Times She need not be dependent on the
seedsmen, florists or greenhouses. for coun-
try neighb0rs are proyerbally free-handtd
in giving seeds and slips. So her borders
may be gay with the bright-eyed coveopsiS.
the royal iris, or fleuT-de-liS, or golden COL
umbine. The hollyhockS will tlaunt their
painted cups, the carnations will contribute
their vivid hues besides their breath of spicy
sweetness, making odorous the air; the blue
larkspuis will surely Win their welcome by
the purity and intensity of their hue, and the
tall white day-lily will lend her beauty and
fragrance to the scene
be complete without its clump OF be rgamot,
OF ribbon-grass and Southern wood. This
last brings to mind the long, drowsy after
moons in the little church on the hill and the
old woman in sun bonnet who always
brought with her huge bunch of it, which
she persistently shifted at through the whole
of the service, when she was not p0kiDg it
under the noses OF those who sat by her.
Sweet Williams, too, there must be and
These
waited that any one for few cents worth of
seed may have mass of delicate hue and
fragrance all the summer long. Larkspurs
are easily grown, too, from Seeding plants;
and those who have but a " handkerchief
garden" or one no larger than an ancient
Lac0nlan epistle, Will do well to raise no
more than these two last-named flowers.
The vases in the house will be kept full of
bloom and scent, and there will be enough
and to spare for less fortunate friends and
neighbors.
Do not make the mistake of crowding too
many flowers into bed or border Rather
let few be disposed so as to form masses of
color. This will contribute to the artistic
effect of the whole. Avoid, on the other
hand, the stiff, artificial mounds in solid
bands of color, OF wheels within wheels, or
stars. or crescentS, which have been COM
mon for some time past in suburban front
yards, and are to be seen at the wayslde
railroad stations. Such puerilites might
well come under Lord Bacon's animadver-
sion, They be but toyes; you may see as
good sights many times in taTteS." Sir
William Temple, too in his essay on gar
denS, though not always quite consistent
with himself, holds that in making garden,
as i'll many other things, we should follow
nature.
Now who has ever seen ferns, violets,
hepaticas, anemones, Quaker ladies or dan
delions in set mathematical lines or figures.
Have a care then to dispose OF your flowers
so that they may present an irregular mass
OF solid color, or graduation Of color /. e.,
shading in one tone If color from light to
dark, as may be done with pinks, ranging
from the delicate white OIL through the pinks
and lighter reds to the vivid hneS of the car
nations. The marigolds, toe, so popular this
summer ana last. will afford lively har-
mony in yellOwS from the pale lemon color
up to the deepest orange.
The same rule holds good in the arrange
ment of flowers in vases The vase should
lead up to or intensity the hue of the Hover
Put bunch of buttercups in blue Bohe-
milan glass bowl and nOte the effect, or
mass of blue larkspurs in blue cloisonne
vase Metal vases, brass or silver, seem to
have the effect of making the flowers placed
in them more transparent i'll texture Try
bunch Of La France roses or pink orchids in
4 silver vase.
But for the floral adornment of the house
what shall we do that have not so much as
If we are wise we will do as our English
sisters do; put on our stout boots and short
frocks and 90 into the outlying country.
There we shall see the creamy white cymeS
of the elder flower covering the old fence
corners with their fragrant beauty. When
we get home we will put these masses of
delicate bloom into the old blue china salad
bowl or, if there is a silver bowl to spare,
twill but enhance their loneliness.
little further along the road we shall find
quantities of the brilliant yellow corntlower
or thimble weed ana we can gather by the
wayside handfuls of the tOadflax or "butter-
and-eggS," with their yariesated hueS of
orange and canary color. These we will
put into that pale yellow jar brought home
the ether gay.
And ah! in that field do but see the tall
stalks of cornflower and chicory, each with
its own peculiar blue. These we will ar
range in a jar of cloudy blue, the same in tone
of color but more subdued; and while We
look and admire and enjoy their beauty we
can read Keats sonnet on blue.
A little later in the season we will come
here again and bear away the dainty white
corymbs of the wild carrot, Queen Anne's
lace, or fairy parasols," as the children
call them. If they were but seen in a con-
servatory they would not lack for admira-
ton of their delicate beauty. Then, too,
there will be great purple stars of intensest
hue, and the great wave OF color produced
by the heliopsis, or oX-eye, and the many
varieties of golden-rod. And perchance we
may find i'll that wood yonder a few spikes
of cardinal flower. What blaze and glory
of color.
In the meantime, instead of reveling in
the future, let us secure dozen OF pond
lilies from the creek close at hand, and on
reaching home we will let them display the
beauty of their 1.-THE, long, green stems in a
shallow celery dish of clear cut glass.
The process ion of the flowers through the
,,1,a~ nd ont w ,a
pretty floral calendar The writer. being in
town so far all summer, marked the days in
her calendar and said softly to herself, with
a sigh Of regret To-day the blood root is
in bloom; to-day the slope south of the old
school-house Is fair with the spring beauty
in blossom; to-day the dogwood is out in
flower"
Taking a hint from the method pursued by
the Agricultural Department in Washing
ton, she planted some seeds in water, and
was rewarded by having healthy climbing
vine for one of her windows. She under
stands now very we'll the abs orbing interest
and tender solicitude of the Prisoner of
Fenestrella for the fate of his picciola.
1t is said that the curious canary-brd vine,
with lis graceful foliage and delicate yellow
fringed blossoms, will grow in this way.
At any rate, this will do well in a window
box in sunny corner. Be sure to plant in
the window-box two or three varieties of
ipomea, or morning glory. To have a bloom
volvulus bona n0X.
In India it is believed that a visit to this
plant when blooming ends in u happy mar
rage "a word to the wise, etc..
Then what brave show of color rewards
one for setting out the nasturtiums. They
60 through the whole gamut of yellow,
orange and red. This flower should have
been dedicated to Mars. There are the
shield-shaped leaves, the trumpet-shaped
flowers, ruddy in colors, altogether martial
like. The tropoeolenm major is a noble
vine, but perhaps for window-boX the
minor will be better. The first time you go
to the country get a few roots of the partridge
vine to put in your box. 1t takes kindly 10
cultivation and its waXy flowers, glossy
green leaves and bright red berries will
amply repay you Put it in q corner where
it will be shaded by other plants. In an
other shady corner. perhaps, you may coax a
few hardy ferns, the polypody and asplen-
ium eburnnm, to grow over few miniature