THE DOMAIN GARDENS

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 14396, 12 June 1907, Page 9

THE DOMAIN GARDENS

MR D'AWE’S PROPOSALS. "With the advent in Christchurch of Mr Janies Dawes, F.R.H.S., horticulturist and pornologist, there has arrived a. now epoch in, the history of tho Christchurch Public Gardens. Too long, ho said, this ninety-acre plot of ground, tree-planted, grassed, and. flower-plotted, has lain gently tended, Buffered to> find, save for the culture of prettiness, its own state. Now that he has been appointed its head gardener, he has plotted out a course of treatment that will embody to the utmost in reason tho surgical maxim “ cut deep and spare not.” The greatest good of the greatest number is his object, and ho seeks this for the plantlives of the gardens as well as for their human visitors. Especially will this bo tho case, if he carries out his pr<u posed course, among the trees. 'When the operating knife, the shears, the saw and the spade have been at work some time, there will bo a gloat change. Tress will feel the sudden less of limbs; shrubs, unknowing of the goodness lurking behind apparent roughness, will silently bewail the taking away of growths that have for years embraced them, comforting with their warmth, hut injurious in their comfort. Crowded places' will bo made mere clear, and where there are now masses of foliage and cramped collections, there will be judiciously spaced plants that will please from every aspect and allow tho eye to wander beyond them to vistas of further , trees and . lawns. The new head gardener will take out every plant that has net an immediate use in its present place, in order to give tho others a full chance of living to their best ability. Those he will remove, if they deserve the further lease of life, and will be placed whore they too, can develop to a state to which their deserts entitle them.

Mr Dawes has occupied important positions at Home, and on leaving was spoken of most highly by those who were in a position to appreciate his work. He is an authority upon fruit growing and horticulture generally, and to tho former his successes at Homo bear witness'. With regard to the intentions of the new guardian of the Domain, a reporter visited the gardens yesterday, and was taken round by Mr Dawes, who showed him what alterations ho contemplated. In the first place the public will, Mr Dawes said, be given more liberty./In the management of estate® visited by much larger numbers of people than these gardens, he said, he had found that the more liberty granted to visitors the greater was the consideration shown at their'hands. For instance, ho said that the present prohibition against walking on the extensive and pleasant lawn® of the gardens would very likely bo abolished. This would do no harm at all, because even now people, prohibited from the freedom of the grass, walked fearsome!y upon the edge whence they could easily escape, and so wore it badly there. The - walks in the gardens would almost all be reduced in width, being much wider than was needed—wider even than those in Hyde Park. He proposed to remove the fence about his own cottage, eo exposing to view the pretty Dutch garden there and allowing access ■ to the sundial. Pointing to tho long borders of shrubs and herbaceous plants that follow- some of the walks, he said that these would need sorting out and clearing of all the more common shrubs where these interfered l in any Tvay with the choicer sorts 1 . Tire borders themselves, he proposed to fill with better herbaceous plants than were growing there now'. Already the avenue of trees along _ Moorhouso Avenue was under attention, and was being pruned, drastically at the southern ©nd where it ran the risk of damage by the wind, and more lightly in other, parts. The holly hedge along the Avenue, being in rather poor health, was being prepared for treatment with manure. Proceeding further into the gardens, Mr Dawes said that the several plots in the corners of the lawns, now planted with miscellaneous collections of shrubs, would be robbed of most of them, leaving only the best and largest standing, and would be grassed right up to tho standing plants. The others would, if possible, bo used elsewhere, and the palms that tv ere in some of them would be transplanted into a straight row along the front pathway. The big front lawn he would have diversified by flower beds, larger than those that wore now there. He proposed to create a rosery near tho house, where the present small one now' stands, and there to concentrate all the roses to be grown in the gardens, with trifling exceptions. The shrubberies practically throughout the gardens would be attended to in the way of clearing away those bushes that encumbered the growth of the others, leaving the handsomest in all cases, and, where possible, leaving spaces between so that there would be a clear view between the groups. As the spaces bctw'oen them would be grassed, free access ivould be given m all directions. Similar treatment would be accorded to the growth along the river, and everywhere the object would be to let the best plants remain, and to allow' glimpses of the river to bo obtained from tho paths at frequent intervals. The flower beds scattered about the grounds' w-ould be practically abolished in favour of those grouped near the front of the gardens, and in. these he would endeavour to keep up a scheme of colour all the year round. In the New Zealand native shrubs section lie had found the same fault as elsewhere, an overcrowding of the plants to the detriment of all, and a repetition of specie® that was neither pleasing nor necessary. He proposed to go through these when opportunity offered, and let daylight in among tho

crowded plants' and the people among the trees so that all of them could bo seen. Mr Dawes explained,, in general reference to the alterations he proposed to make, that they would take a very long time to carry out, owing to the limited staff. ■ They would not involve any change in the general scheme of the gardens, but would deal almost altogether with the details, but still would broaden the effect of the view in the gardens, while in the smaller parts, the appearance would he much improved. ___________