Summary

Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" opens on the morning that the Sheridan family is giving a party. Mrs. Sheridan, the family matriarch, has agreed to step aside and act as a guest while her daughters arrange and host the event by themselves. Laura Sheridan serves as the story's protagonist. Since she is considered to be the creative sister, it is up to her to set up the backyard for the guests.

The day of the party, the weather is perfect. It is warm, with no clouds in the sky, and the family's gardener has been up since dawn tending to hundreds of roses that seem to have bloomed overnight. The narrator comments that roses are the most important flowers at garden parties. They are sure to impress the guests, because often they are the only flowers that everyone recognizes.

Workmen arrive...