MANY-HUED BEAUTY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 47, 25 February 1937, Page 23

MANY-HUED BEAUTY

HANGING BEGONIAS

RARE EXOTIC BIRDS

TREASURES OF HOMEWOOD

One of the best tests of the culture of a people is its horticulture. When the people of New Zealand measure their progress by Census statistics,' they may possibly; remember that the Government Statistician does not take count of the great aesthetic advances that have been made; and, of these, ~the advance in horticulture is by no means the least.

It does not require a long memory to recall the'time when the Wellington City Council had no begonia house worth while. But today oaia municipal effort and private effort are directed to making Wellington a centre of horticultural beauty, for the benefit not only of individuals, but of the public. Many thousands of people have been through the municipal begonia house in the Botanic Gardens and that of Mr. B. Sutherland at Homewood, in Homewood Avenue,, Karori. To spend an hour amid such beauty is of cultural as: well as horticultural value; and -though Tuesday afternoon was blowy, rainy, and coldish put of doors, an "Evening Post" representative who visited Homewood felt, 'that he had stepped into a new world when he found himself amid the begonia blooms of many hues and the greens< of the fernery.

Some people find their ideal world in beautiful rainbow colours; others in soft foliage greens. Mr. Sutherland's begonia house and ferneries bring beauty to both tastes—indeed, "to all tastes.

A generation ago Wellington had "old-world" gardens, which offered a beauty all their own! Today Wellington has these, plus many. beautiful novelties obtainable from the world's horticultural specialists. One result is a show of begonias at Homewood probably not excelled, perhaps not equajled, anywhere in New Zealand. This unique exhibition can be termed a possession of Wellington as well as of Mr. Sutherland, because he has been liberal in inviting the public to enter, and the -beauty he has created at Karori has been made a means of assisting public causes as well.as introducing many neophytes to the culture which resides in horticulture. COLOUR IN DAZZLING SHOWEKS. Under the pilotage of Mr. Blackwell (in charge of the Homewood glasshouses) step now into the begonia house. Since you were here before (it is safe to assurhe that this is hot your first visit) there has been a notable addition in basket begonias. They are suspended in the air-space between the begonia stands you so well' remember. As you pass down the aisle under the ] baskets the long fronds of flpwer ( and foliage reach down towards you, and the whole vocabulary of colour could not describe them with justice. Alice Manning reaches down' with bloom of a bewitching yellow colour, and you are conquered, but then you behold .Stella with deep rose pink'lures, and you waver between the' two. Before you can choose between, Alice- , and Stella your eyes light ujion Golden Shower, whose name is sufficiently descriptive. Very soon you realise that ;it is impossible to. award a palm to any one basket begonia, amid air this riot of loveliness. The immense spread of foliage and flower is in .many cases so great as to dwarf the hanging basket of soil out of which all-this splendour issues. Alice Manning, hanging from her little basket.in mid-air, is a sphere of lemon beauty no less than three feet in diameter and four feet deep.

Passing by Mrs. Bilky (salmon pink) you are introduced to some of the latest novelties, noted for beauty or size or both—Lucy Dare, silvery pink; Lord Rendlesham, salmon pink; W. J. Naish, gold, but with a rose pink edging that diffuses itself into the gold; Lady Lilford, yellow; Betty Hampton—Betty is considered to be a deep flesh colour. Mrs. Raeburn Mann is a large pink begonia; C. E. Pearson is bright scarlet; H. Franklin, deep scarlet; Mrs. E. Hamsden, reddish old rose; Lady Ann, pale rose; Brian Langdon, bright rose pink. These are conquering names in the ears of connoisseurs, but you need not be a connoisseur to- drink to the- indescribable beauty of the begonia, in.its limitless variety of colour and form. Then you pass to the fernery, and here the lover of foliage greens has his feast.' Many shades of green, arid much fancifulness in form, make you linger in the fernery'and in the ferngrotto, which provides a vista from the great crystal panes of the Sutherland home down to ( the bathing pond in the outer garden.1 '.. FERNS, • ORCHIDS, AND EARINA. ■ The bird's nest fern is described by its, name; it is a verdant and wonderfully cup-shaped' species of the Asplenium family, and the plant in front of you is at least six feet in diameter from frond-tip to frond-tip. But Davallia Fijiensis, which proclaims its place of origin, is a still larger ball of feathery green, about seven feet by seven feet. Then you suddenly discover how closely beauty and utility can be allied, for here is the famous sago palm (Cycas revoluta), palmlike and of exquisite colour and grace. Imagine a basket fern eight feet in diameter! But you- don't need to imagine it, because here it is hanging in festoons of green—Nephrolepsis tuberosum. In the rafters hangs a climber that-brings you back to the world of flowers —Lapageria rosea, ■with rose-pink bells hanging overhead, brilliant blossoms in a world of green. Down in the grotto you have a breath of home. Here there is a subtle fragrance that probably you know—the fragrance of the New Zealand orchid Earina autumnalis, which loves to drape itself on the rocks of gorgebound forest streams like the clearwater tributaries of the Hutt. The begonias are exotic, but many of the ferns are indigenous, and this Earina is one of the glories of the New Zealand bush. So is the king-fern or para (Marattia fraxinea), a vigorous specimen of which is on the platform •overlooking the grotto-fernery and its fountains. TAKING THE SALUTE. And then there comes another feast of colour, but quite different—a feast of living colour, the exotic birds. In the aviary (under the control, of Mr. G. Fearn) are many old favourites, but also quite a number of rare new arrivals. If it is difficult to sort out all the colours and hues and shades in the begonia house, it is doubly difficult in the aviary, because the begonias will at least stay put, but the birds will not. If you station yourself half-way along a compartment in the aviary, while someone goes to each end of it to move the birds from the .ends, so that they may give you the privilege of a fly-past, you will not have much time to take the salute. A whirr of feathjcrs and—mind your eye!—the feathered flock has passed you, brushing your eyebrows with their wings. Not one but a dozen rainbows flashed across your sky in a couple of seconds. Cohorts gleaming with purple and gold thus pass and repass. ' _ The flowers of the world, the birds of the -world, and the toy fishes of the

world are nowadays •, organised _in | colour schemes by commerce, which sends them to any part of the 'world that can pay for the privilege. 'Once these many-hued flowers, birds, and fish had their native countries. Now they are cosmopolitan. And quite _ a big glimpse into the cosmopolitan displays of floral and avian life, beautiful and rare, can be obtained at Homewood.

Some birds once pronounced extinct have been rediscovered. Several such are in the Homewood aviary. ■

Amid all this multi-coloured throng of parrots, parrakeets, budgerigars, finches (strawberry, finches, African fire-finches, Cuba finches,, and many others), whydahs, weavers,, and feathered representatives of far-off lands, where shall we start? The pair of yellowish birds with beaks like sparrows are extremely rare;; they are. known as cuckoo weavers. , . EXCLUSIVE BIRDS. Then there is the~ cock Melba finch, with bright tangerine on the head and throat. There is only one other cock Melba finch in New Zealand. It is also understood that the little black-faced weavers, .the large, Cuba finches, and the orange-backed weavers are not duplicated in any , other New Zealand collection,' , ■■■•:' :, The cuckoo weavers have a great interest on account of their rarity, and because of an argument.as to whether they should be classified in the cuckoo family, or in the weaver family. j The orange-backed weaver is coining into colour. His yellow back is a gorgeous sight when he flies. Among Australian grass parrots the turquoisine (blue, green,- yellow)-. and j the Bourke have been pronounced rare; both are in this collection. So is the masked love-bird. The bird-world custom of giving finer feathers to the male does not affect the masked love-bird; the sexes of this species are alike in beauty. Of the parrot tribe are the red-backs and the brilliant ring-necks. Three very dainty starlings can show the ordinary starling many points, in form and'colour; these three species are the chappie, the royal, and the superb. Many brilliant birds gain or lose colour according to age or season. Colouring processes are always keenly watched in an aviary. Two months ago the bower bird from North Queensland was clad in very sober tones, but he is now colouring, and brilliant orange and black proclaim the change. The rainbow lorrikeet Princess Alexandra is an exclusive and dainty acquisition. The yellow-winged sugar bird looks like a beautiful study in blue. But, like the kaka, he has secret charms, under his wings, and it is when he flies that the yellow under-colour explains his name. . The reader can rest assured that this description touches only, the fringe of the avian and,floral treasures of Home-wood-—a culture to which every continent has contributed and where you can realise how large and yet how small is the. world we live.in.