With yellow and its tints dominant, you can use white and blue, orange, or clear scar let for contrast; and where the yellow is soft or pale, pinks of the same chroma. This, however, must be done with care.

The same idea can be carried out in white, red, pink, pur ple, or any one of the distinguishable hues. Your choice may affect the earliness or lateness of the garden picture, and it may be wise to change the dominant color for certain seasons. Of course the color purist would never care for such a broad and varied treatment. To him, this is not harmony. He avoids violent contrast, preferring closer, more subtle harmonies of tints and shades. His color scheme will not have the boldness and vigor of the dominant-color idea, and unless superbly handled will often appear ineffectual.

A number of flowers contain more than one color. Some times it is the center or the underside of the bloom that is different, or, as in tulips, several colors blend together in each flower. You can use these secondary colors as transi tional elements in color harmony. They will often tie the vari ous members of a group together. Often they suggest other colors which, added to a composition, will accentuate the dominant color and so create a more interesting picture.

It may be you will interpret this as a plea for stronger color in the garden. It probably is, for strong hues and off shades have too long been neglected. In avoiding them, we have followed the line of least resistance, being unwilling to give the matter enough thought. As a result many gardens lack strength and individuality. Each is a pale copy of another.

Often when a designer has been bold for a moment, he spoils a sharp contrast by introducing white, long considered the one color that was always safe. Yet white can ruin strong contrast by draining off too much of the deeper, vibrant color.

How often we blunt the sharpness of delphinium and orange lilies by the introduction of Phlox Miss Lingard, or make less strong the combination of veronica, monkshood, and orange daylilies by the introduction of a later white phlox! A better method of holding down vivid contrasts is to reduce the quan tity, not the quality of a composition. The introduction of groups of white flowers here and there in the garden is a sure way of creating a spotty and nervous effect, unless they are so arranged as to produce a definite rhythm. As a peacemaker, try palest yellow or creamy white, but rely on foliage, dis tance, or partial shade to hold down strong color combina tions.