USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 237, 5 October 1940, Page 7 (Supplement)

USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL

Garden Not**

Although not many garf dener f will agree with the farmer who said that the handsomest flower in the garden was the cauliflower, most of us find peculiar satisfaction in growing plants which are beautiful as well as useful The list is longer than is generally supposed, and those whose gardens are small may very well utilise profitable things of an ornamental manner to advantage. Without doubt, the best combination of beauty and usefulness is found in the common scarlet runner bean, for besides being one of the most profitable vegetables to grow, the grace of its habit and the colour of its flowers are alwavs admired. J There is every probability that if it were not an edible vegetable., florists would have given it special attention with a view to improving the size and varying the colour of its flowers. As it is, it can be had with white flowers as well as the familiar scarlet ones, and <♦>

also in a combination of the two, each c producing a profitable crop. For cover- j ing ugly walls and sheds it has no rival. Asparagus Comes Second 1 Second on the list is asparagus, tli€ exquisite foliage of which is pe.rhaps ' the most highly prized of all for decora- 1 tive purposes indoors. It is not at all . necessary to grow asparagus in special and separate beds. In a good, rich, but not too heavy soil, clumps may occupy a place at- the back of the. border, or a long row can be planted in the 1 same situation, forming a summer back- « ground to the flowers and providing , delicious dishes in the spring. Beet produces foliage of such a rich, ' almost tropical-looking purple, that scarcely anything will give more effect in the foreground of a border. Single plants placed here and there and cultivated mainly with a view to the production of fine leaves, will be worth while, and at the. end of the season there will be some good roots to utilise in cookery. Parsley, more particularly of the deep green, moss-curled kinds, is also highlv ornamental in the border. Most of°th'e I herbs in common use are sufficiently j <S> 1

ornamental to be •worth a place in the border. Lavender, marjoram and thyme are perhaps the most useful as weJl as highly decorative, and the added attraction of fragrance makes them additionally valuable. Rosemary has exceptional value, becausc of its bushy, evergreen head and early blooming habits. For Salads Borage is not so much used as it used to be, but is a pleasant addition to salads, and its bright blue flowers are welcome in any border. The common nasturtium is a useful salad plant, the pungent flowers and young tips being used in mixed salads, while the green seeds are not uncommonly pickled in lieu of capers. Tomatoes were first introduced into English gardens as ornamental subjects, and it was a long time before people ventured to eat the fruit which we now prize so highly. They have lost their aesthetic value, but a well-trained tomato plant, bearing heavy trusses of fruit, is not the least ornamental object in a garden. Tobacco ig certainly ornamental, and although home-grown tobacco has not yet been able to compete with the commercial article, a passable weed can certainly be prepared from it with a little care. The Beauty of Fruit Fruit is highly decorafive. What is more beautiful than an apple tree in blossom, unless it be the same tree laden in the autumn with bright-rosy-cheeked fruit, such as Devonshire quarrenden or Cox's orange pippin. A bushy or pyramid apple tree at the back of a border is certainly a handsome object. Strawberry flowers are beautiful, and produced in profusion, while the richlycoloured fruits certainly appeal to the eye scarcely less than to the palate. The now popular loganberries, lowberries and their hybrids are not only most profitable fruits to gTow, but highly ornamental when trailed over a support, such as an arch or pergola.