370 FLOWER ARRANGEMENT

USING FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS

Personalities. Flower arrangements should suit the personali-
ties and tastes of the family or individual who is to enjoy them.
A conservative family might want to exclude contrasting colors,
bold forms, or any unusual exciting ideas which would delight
young experimental persons. A sophisticated personality could be
expressed in a column of gladioli and calla lilies; a more domestic
personality, in a loose, irregular mass of verbenas. An experienced
arranger expresses her own moods in her compositions.

Occasion. Within the limits that the room itself imposes, a
flower arrangement should be expressive of the occasion for which
it is made. Large symmetrical arrangements made of elegant
flowers are especially suitable for formal affairs. Smaller casual
bunches of gay flowers are in the mood of a jolly intimate occa-
sion. Flower arrangements for the dining table can be made to
express the theme of almost any party. See page 60.

Room. The mood of a room or the feeling it expresses deter-
mines not only the kinds of flowers which may be used therein
but also the types of flower containers and the style of the flower
arrangements. For example, a pair of silver urns, containing sym-
metrical arrangements of pale pink roses, blue delphiniums, and
white sweet peas, express the refinement that suits an elegant,
formal room. Calendulas put in a brown pottery bowl in a natural
manner suit the intimate mood of a simple cottage. Three cycad
fronds and some magnolia leaves fit well in an artist's studio.

The style or design of a room, too, indicates the design of the
flower arrangements to be placed in it. See page 423. The angular
lines of a Modern room are repeated in tight, blocklike bunches of
narcissus, backed by a large, stiff palmetto leaf, which has been
trimmed to a rectangle and anchored in a hollow glass brick. A
period room suggests containers of the same period. For example,
bulbous lines in a silver vase and bouquet conform to the lines of
Colonial furnishings.

The colon of a room dictate the colors of the flowers for it,
unless the room is largely neutral, such as beige or white. Walls
colored a pale, soft, warm green,;like a muted chartreuse, make a
friendly background for most flowers, A colorful room usually
requires flowers in the same hues asr the room.