The role of potted plants in decoration should not be forgotten. At one time, these would never have been considered subjects for flower arrangements, but today pot-et-fleur, or the arrangement of cut flowers and potted plants together, is a style of decoration which is growing in popularity, something which pleases me greatly since I introduced it.
Good, long-lasting pot plants are now available to everyone and in ever-increasing variety. While some of them can be expected to last for years, even those kinds whose lives are more fleeting nevertheless last longer than cut flowers, especially in centrally heated homes.
From pot-et-fleur it is not a great step to plant arrangement, an art which on a grandiose, over-lavish, and somewhat tasteless scale was practiced by the Victorians and possibly because of their over-indulgence has tended to be forgotten since their time. Today compositions consisting entirely of growing plants, newly planted or remaining in their pots, are playing a role of increasing decorative importance.
Many of the so-called foliage plants have leaves as bright as any flower. Those who live in towns or have no gardens would do well to consider these as components of ‘flower’ arrangements. Those with gardens, greenhouses or some other suitable place to raise house-plants will find it both possible and profitable to build up a stock from which a never-ending succession of home decorations can be made.
Those who regret that flowers when cut are often so fleeting, and who perhaps because of this might be reluctant to spend time on flower arrangement proper, may find a greater pleasure and satisfaction in the arrangement of the entire living plant rather than its part. Like the traditional flower arrangement this form of decoration also offers a great deal more than appears on the surface. It has a particular appeal for those with ‘green fingers’.
