BLAZE OF COLOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 244, 15 October 1925, Page 6

BLAZE OF COLOUR.

SPRING BLOOMS IN THE PARK, OVER GOOO RANUNCULI A-BLOW. HUNDREDS OF YARDS OF FLOWERS. There is n wonderful showino of epri flowers up at the -Albert Park"just now* Along Princes Street there is nearly two hundred yards of a lovely fringe of ir geous colouring, and another t,,- 0 died yards or <o on the inside ed*e of the wide border which faces that street Over six thousand ranunculi, planted three deep, backed by a single row' of stock, make up an exquisite strip like the carpet of a fairy palace. The rather delicate and tinted colouring of the ranunculi reminds one of the shades of a Turkish carpet—what we moderns call "Liberty"—and the plants are so massed that when you stand at one end of the street and look along it gives the hn. predion of a piece of tapestry, the oreen of die roots being quite hidden by the mass of flowers. Behind this strip stand the sweet-smelling stocks, with then- prevailing lines, favouring the blu 9 end of the spectrum. Some of the purplea are very rich. In the evening especially after a damp day, hi 8 worth strolling along Princes Street merely to enjoy the perfume with which these delightful old-fashioned (lowers scent the air. But this display is not the only glory in the park tins spring. Over by the fountain there are four beds, alternately of anemones and Iceland poppieg, which though they lack the mass of the Prince 3 Street binder fringe, are perhap9 even more beautiful when seen at close quarters. With their decided colouring (patriotically suggestive of our own red" white and bluej the anemones contrast well with the more fragile and more "feminine" silky Iceland poppies, of which the colours are orange, golden yellow, and creamy white. There is not a gap in any of these four magnificent beds, and both from a gardening and an aesthetic point of view the result is perfect. From the fountain you can get t glimpse of still another very fine Spring sight—the bed of cinerarias—which always rather amuses people in the winter owing to the sedulous care with ■which it is roofed iv with cloth to protect these delicate exotics from the lata frosts. All the trouble taken has been well repaid this year. Some people think a bed of cinerarias has something rather "dead" about it, but no one could deny that the massing of the blues and purples, to almost black, flecked with the whiter varieties, is singularly rich and satisfying. One of the great advantages the cineraria has over many Spring ' flowers is that the large, dark green leaves make such an effective background [ for the blooms. It will be remembered that !asb summer the park made a splendid display of flowers for fully six weeks after the usual time owing to the mildness of the season. A few weeks ago the Spring looked doubtful, but later it improved, and the park flowers made fine growth. :It is doubtful whether they have ever had a better show in the park, and the staff must be congratulated.