NEW GARDENS FOR OLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEW GARDENS FOR OLD.

To the ordinary observer, many of j life's changes are so gradual and uiiob- | trusive as to be almost imperceptible. I The thoughtful visitor to this year's 1 Lhelsea 1"lower Show, for instance, must surely have been struck by the pervading note of informality in garden design (says "The Listener"). "While music, art, building and furnishing are all I becoming "ultra-modern.'' gardening I seems to be moving in the opposite direction. and is more than ever inclined to submit to the guiding hand of Nature, jdone. or goTng, are the geometrical beds lof geraniums, the statuary, the limti- ! lated bushes, and the hard, tailored lines j so dear to the Victorian heart. In , j their place we find tree-shaded walks.; j woodland streams and rockv banks, indi- j 'eating that the modern gardener's side j object is to reproduce natural conditions j for the comfort of his plants, rather i than merely to make use of them and to j force them to adapt themselves to his Own aesthetic requirements. Thus in the average warden an atmosphere of pleasant peace and harmony supersedes the jarring incongruities of our grandfather's days. We must, however, be fair, and reniemj ber that the modern gardener is less limited in his choice; for during the last half-century nearly all the flowers of the world have been gathered together to enrich our English gardens; and the flower shows of the Royal Horticultural Society are surely a living monument to those adventurous spirits who have penetrated the most forbidding corners 1 of the earth in search of floral treasures. Unfortunately the local flower show, almost the sole survivor of the ancient village institutions, tells a different story. There is evidence of waning enthusiasm and stagnation. It seems a pitv; but if it only means that j>othunting has given place to a love of the garden and gardening for its own sake, we can accept the decline of the flower i [show with equanimity.