File:American homes and gardens (1911) (17534417943).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar81911newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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LONG with the marked progress in the larger, more important details of home making is the attention now paid to those that are contributing to the general effect, but of a less prominent and more imper- manent character. Among the latter there is nothing that gives a more dis- tinctive charm to a home than flowers and plants. A con- servatory may be an object of envy as a luxurious attach- ment to a house, but its specific value lies in its being a source of supply for flower and plant decoration through- out the various rooms. I have seen a small plant room opening from a dining- and a living-room that gave as much satisfaction as an elab- orate winter garden, and an inclosed piazza filled with growing plants of humble origin give more pleasure than a well-stocked glass house. In both cases the enjoyment was not limited to the plants as a collection, but by their trans- ference from time to time into the living-rooms. A tiny greenhouse belonging to a suburban dwelling was so skillfully conducted that it yielded not only flowering and foliage plants, but a constant, if limited, supply of carna- tions and roses throughout the cold weather. In every household there is usually one lover of flowers to whom no thought nor trouble on their behalf is too great, and to whom success seems to come as if by magic. Who has not heard the remark, or made it himself, that "Miss So-and-So could make a garden in a desert." Or, that such a person "could make a bouquet out of nothing." Cut flowers especially seem to know the hand that loves them and respond to its influence, 'and as they are trans- ferred from the garden or the florist's shop to the home they offer themselves for many unique and varied decora- tions. While the conventional holder for a floral centerpiece for the dining table is some kind of vase or jar in pottery or glass, there is nothing more attractive, especially for the out-of-town home, than a shapely basket in which a bowl of water is fitted. So much interest is turned now towards handicrafts of all kinds that basketry has taken a foremost place with both amateurs and professionals. Some of the hand-woven baskets, in the natural color or stained in artistic tones, are peculiarly well adapted for flower holders. There are also Japanese baskets of dark-brown wicker work that give a color base for a bunch of flowers. In the illustrations the baskets are of different shapes, but each is well-made and symmetrical, and the wide open- ing at the top of each permits a graceful display of blos- soms. We owe something to the Japanese for teaching us the beauty of single flower decoration—a contrast to our own too lavish assortment of kinds and colors. One beautiful rose in a slender glass vase will impart a touch of refine- ment to a room where a massive bouquet of many varieties of blossoms contributes only a sense of confused display. It takes some originality of thought to make new and interesting combinations of flowers for the dining table, but
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Pinks and pine needles Tulips and pine

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