Cylindrical jars, like Fig. 495, are suited to heavy clustering flowers like the lilac and also to the large chrysanthemums. Fig. 496 is another good shape; but avoid vases like Fig. 497 with a neck so small it will admit only one or two stems, while the bowl is much too large for the few flowers standing stiffly erect.
[Illustration: Fig. 495.--A cylindrical jar.]
[Illustration: Fig. 496.--Another good shape.]
[Illustration: Fig. 497.--Avoid vases like this.]
Place short-stemmed flowers, like the pansy and violet, in low jars or bowls, and it is not necessary to have them lie flat on the water. A friend of mine has invented for her own use this little
which holds the flowers above the water while allowing nearly the whole of their short stems to be immersed.
With an old pair of shears, or a wire-cutter, snip off a dozen or more pieces of copper wire of varying lengths between ten inches for the longest and five for the shortest piece. At each end of every wire make a loop like Fig. 498; bend the loops over (Fig. 499), then fasten all the pieces to a brass curtain-ring by twisting each piece once around the ring at the centre of the wire (Fig. 500). Bunch the wires together and stand the lifter in a bowl of water; put your flower-stems through the wire loops, as in Fig. 501, and the wires under water will look like the flower-stems, the loops being hidden by the blossoms.
[Illustration: Fig. 498.--At each end of the wire make a loop.]
[Illustration: Fig. 499.--Bend the loops over.]
is pleasing and necessary in many things, but not in the grouping of flowers. You must strive for apparent carelessness in effect while taking the utmost care, and for irregularity and naturalness rather than stiff, formal arrangement. A bowl of flowers need not look, as it sometimes does, like a dish for the table, served with the confectioner's symmetrical decorations; it should rather seem as if the sweet blossoms were growing in a bed of their own.
up in a clump, roots and all; they will look far better than the cut flowers arranged in vases, and the roots may afterward be planted in your wild-flower garden.
[Illustration: Fig. 500.--Fasten the pieces to a brass curtain-ring.]
Bloodroot will keep a long while if the roots are not disturbed, and one of the loveliest flower-pieces we ever had in the house was a gray-green Japanese bowl filled with the growing bloodroot. The blossoms stand closely together and a small bowl will hold quite a number.