BEGONIA HOUSE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 68, 17 February 1939, Page 6

BEGONIA HOUSE

ATTRACTION FOR CITY.

KEEN SUPPORT GIVEN. The decision of the Palmerston North City Council, last year, to vote a sum of £250 towards the provision of a begonia house in the Esplanade Gardens lias aroused the keenest interest ol flower-lovers in the city, and erlhusi astic support has been promised the council in its project. In conversation with a “Standard” reporter, this morning, Mr A. W. Just, president of the Palmerston North Horticultural Society, stated that his organisation viewed the proposal in a most enthusiastic manner and had decided to accord it the utmost support, financially and otherwise. Remarking that Palmerston North was the only centre of note in the Dominion that could not boast a begonia house—those in the chief cities were a source of pleasure and pride— Mr Just stated that it would be- a valuable acquisition indeed. Begonias were, of course, a seasonal flower, blit there was no reason why for nine months in the year, at least, the building should not house attractive displays of cyclamen and orchids—the latter a bloom in which the late Mr F. J. Nathan had taken the keenest interest from the cultural point of view, ami which Mr P. Black, curator of parks and reserves, was also propagat* “The proposal of the council has the whole-hearted support of the Horticultural Society,” declared Mr Just, who added that, not only would a begonia house prove a source of pleasure to citizens, but it would enhance the already fine reputation the city enjoyed among visitors from other parts of the Dominion and abroad.