The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-13
EVENING CHAT
BIZ RUTH CAMERON.

A big bunch of magnificent pansies
crowded close together in a tall china
vase with a base relief of roses upon
it-yes, it scarcely seems possible in
what 1 actually saw yesterday in the
home of a we'll educated woman.
That low growing flowers like vio-
lets and pansies and nasturtiums
should not be put into tall vases is an
axiom of such skill. Again and again
have seen the effect of such flowers
utterly ruined by such treatment
If you follow the habit of the flow
er's growth in selecting a vase for it,
you will probably be safe. Tall grow
ing flowers like long stemned roses,
daffodils. jonquils, peoples. carnations
and lilies should have tall, straight
vases. Low growing flowers such as
violets, pansies. rambler roses. etc,
belong to bowls of very low, wide far
ing vases.
In buying vases remember that you
are buying a frame. for the vase
should always be subordinate to the
flower, SO that when you look at the
vase of flowers you see the flowers,
not the vase, just as you should see
the picture and never the frame.
For this reason there should never
be any design except conventional
lied one upon a vase. Any bas-re-
lief spelling as it does, the line of the
vase, is extremely bad.
Glass vases are probably the best
because the stems of many flowers,
such as the long. graceful stem of the
rose and the exquisite pale green
stock of the jonquil, are almost as
beautiful as the flowers themselves
and the glass vase. of course, displays
the charm.
The clearer and more revealing the
glass, the more desirable the vase
| Cut glass, for this reason, is not as
good as plain glass, and colored glass
| unless it happens to harmonic per-
| fectly with the flowers and stems, is
not as good as colorlesS- The perfect
vase or bowl. most artists consider
| is that of absolutely clear crystal
glass.
Although glass is the best flower
| holder, there are many vases and
| bowls in dull soft colored china and
crockery that make beautiful frames
| for certain flowers. AS the Japanese
| the people with the most perfect feel
ated the most perfect receptacles for
| them, a Japanese store is one of the
| best places to get vases and bowls.
do not mix flowers" is an artists
rule that I think may be taken with
a grain of salt. 1t may be quite right
| for cultivated f1ewers, but 1 do not
know of anything prettier than some
| of the combinations nature herself
makes. such as buttercups and dais-
| les and grasses, or clover and daisies
| or goldenrod and asters.
Do not crowd too many flowers into
vase or bowl. That is the ordinary
| falling of the inartistic. Divide what
you would naturally put into a given
receptacle in half and it will probably
be nearer the artistic quantity.
Try to have two or three one-flower
vases in your home. There are some
flowers. notably the rose, that are sc
perfect that a single blossom is suf-
ficiently decorative for room.
have a friend who keeps upon her
desk all the year round a tall crystal
vase with a single white rose in it.
When 1 admired the custom she ex-
planned it's origin in statement q
great artist had once made to her
that two things represented absolutely
perfect beauty of line and coloring-
| a half opened white rose and a perfect
violin. She said she couldn't afford
the violin but she could the rose
and SO she tried to have it always be-
fore her as she worked.
Often as l read her poems I fancy
1 can feel the influence of that per-
| feet white rose mutely demanding OF
her a replica of its own perfection and
sweetness
Isn't there suggestion for you in
| that custom?