Page:Japanese flower arrangement.djvu/197

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

WHEN FLOWERS ALONE MAY BE
USED AND WHEN LEAVES ONLY


THE best form in flower arrangement is to have both flowers and leaves; but there are flowers which may be arranged alone. These are the flowers on which the leaves come first and go before the flower blooms. In Japan these are principally natsu suisen, or summer narcissus, and a red wild flower called shiba. Such flowers may be arranged without leaves.

In the case of the trees and shrubs which come into blossom before they leaf, as our cherry, the prominent parts of the arrangement, Heaven and Man, should be blossoms, and the leaves put in only for Earth. If it is an arrangement where attributes are used, make them of the leaves and have the

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