PLEASURES OF A GARDEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13491, 18 May 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

PLEASURES OF A GARDEN

BY ONXOOKEB. The sense of beauty -throws wide the door to endless wealth, which is. one's own for the taking. Of all the possessions not entirely necessary to existence, the most charming is a garden. It is a place of pleasure, breathing out joys and rest continually. In it one slips off the ghosts of the present day, which peer into our eyes ana remind us of care, and wear us with daily troubles. These things are eased when out in the open, where flowers exhale peac< and' sweetness unceasingly. Of all the dear and lovely spots one'.' own, garden should be, may be, the dearest, The size of the plot is nothing. If small, it may be the more perfectly kept. II large, a wilderness, care and love of it wili make it beautiful. Don't you want a gar den? Come into mine and feel its charm. It is always lovely, even when bare of bios soms. Come in the spring when soft show ers and sweet, sunlight are fostering the tender growtft, when bursting willows turn golden green, when the sunny air is ful of nestlings' calls ; when bonny cbaffinchei and liquid silver-tongued blackbirds fill ont with joy so deep that it is akin to pain Listen to the larks singing high in the.blue so high that they seem to touch the • little white shoaling clouds which chequer tin sky. ' ' * In the beds tall yellow daffodils no( dewy, cups above the big purple violets which make a carpet round them. Watcl them quiver in the tall grasses, under tin tall leafy •; puriris, • when the wind comes rol licking across the garden, laden with fresl pine scents from hill groves. Come ou just after dawn, when sleepy, piping gold finches and thrushes wake myriad black birds to their sweet wonder songs of earl; praise, till every tree and grassy lawi echoes and re-echoes- with a liquid, hoi; chorus of tremulous'harmony, so exquisit' that it casts a spell which holds one in ; silent . adoration. Don't stir in this stil place where the sleeping flowers droop un der the drenching dews, lest you frightei these sweet feathered singers away. Wander, as the sun comes up, down th purple periwinkle slopes,, -laden, flash ing■ like..amethysts and diamonds. Lie ful length at midday, in the deep beds of pale blue forget-me-nots which clothe the grassorchard bottom with pools and stretches c ' delicate blue. Idle in the seething loveli nests of Nature's best hours, and watc tho white fleets go sailing by across th blue air ocean overhead. Let the ope mind' go rioting in the why, and wonde the inner meaning of it all, and heal th cuts and scars made by lesser things. But come back to this peace haven, thi garden of delights, and wander in and on among the plots. A crescent-shaped prim rose bed breathes a faint fragrance on th fine air,'and steals the heart out of one b its delicate powder of pale sulphur. Here iu a sunny corner, sheltered by. thick shrul bery from the chill south wind, lies aro.un bed of hyacinths, purple-blue, pink, white beautiful waxen walls of rich, heavy scent Touch } with gentle fingers the polished painted tulips that gleam and flash like lit tie flags. Come through the blossoming orchard an stand beneath the trees where. every gentl evening breeze brings down, a shower c white pear blossoms and pink apple petals and tosses hither and thither the rosy peac petals. Come in the dear October, and Nf vein her days, when roses bloom in ever corner and climb the walls, when gay re ramblers splash and" blotch the trellis wit CTJ.eKoij, . and . giant ; cloth : of • gold : ro.se spread -out to the .warm sunbeams, from tli top of ; a tall karaka tree. Here, on th smooth-shaven turf, white and pink azalea droop low, with their,heavy weight of bio: som, arid further across the. green velvt blooms a lilac and a laburnum, calling" horn the older English hearts! to days of chilc hood spent in a northern Motherland. ' The world in glad spring days seem t burst into joyous riot, brimming over wit loveliness till every spot, every bush, ever blade of grass seems to have more beaut than each: can, contain. In the early summer a drowsing peac fills the hot sunshine hours, and bees hut on, on monotonously, buzz-buzz-z, and blue green kingfishers flash in a.nd out of su and shadow, and cheery grey. warblers tri] their tiny songs, and happy fantails drif and flutter and whirl in the pine-tops. A the. summer grows the garden 'fill with tall tiger lilies, pink and white an gay phlox glow in the warmth. Ever week has its own treasures. This week i is the ixia-s that flash like gay jewels, am dazzle the eyes with colour, then the beau tif'ul scented carnations make one wonde if anything can equal the clove-red pinks or the Malmaisons. Late summer brings the butterflies, brow: and yellow ladies, and red admirals tha float and settle now here, now there. Ever; bird and bee and insect loves the summer and when the shadows lengthen, and th dew falls, the birds gather in the opei spaces, on the daisy-whitened turf, to niee and say good-night ere the yellowing sun beams sink behind tho hills. This garden is a quiet place, ringed- wit] tall trees, pathed with grey sea shingle and edged with close-clipped box. Th flapping ..stiff swords of the cabbage palm spear the clear air, and dark pohutukawa mingle with ash and oak. As one enter beneath the arching trees peace greets one bidding care depart. Now, don't you wan a. garden? Go into yours and make it plant borders of sweet peas, pink am cream and heliotrope in groups, deep red and scarlet, blue and white; nuture then tenderly (planting, them early) and trail them on a wire-netting fence, and in sprinj you can worship to your heart's content Sow a little . bed with mignonette to seen the evening hours, and border it with Rus siau violets. Plant a yellow primrose bor der, two-deep, and sow the centre witl mauve Virginian stock. Choose a sheltered spot and plant ciner arias, to bloom in the shade • that ot-he flowers dwindle in. Dig a long plain bolder, 6ft wide, and plant a line of mauvi cosmeas, no white or red, and nearer tc your path or turf, put a wide rank of littlyellow, black-eyed sunflowers, and neare still, put in some clear, 1 pale, yellow gar denias, and border the edge with mig nonette. Take your neighbour's ugb boundary fence and plant wisteria along it and nail and train it closely, and put a linj of pink monthly roses and sweet, everflowering tea roses beneath it. Dig in some grass plot a, round bed am: fill it with pale blue delphiniums. But whai use to go further; with very little monej and a great deal of love your garden maj be what it.should be—a little earthly paradise. ■ On the sixth day of May, flowers arc few, excepting the rows of bright chrysanthemums, yellow and cream and pink, brown, white, and red. full of fresh and vigorous life. The oaks are brown and thin, and their dying leaves flutter across the empty garden spaces which seem: to shiver in the cold air. Yonder, standing in the rain-soaked, long, ragged grass, grows a flaming fine jewel, a persimmon, glowing in the damp air like some fire-blooded red-leafed tree of enchantment. It flares against the cold, grey clouded winter skv, like a beacon, seeming to draw into itself every ray of light and warmth in the surrounding garden. This morning, when the dawn broke, boding only rain and cold to the waking world, the laggard sun rose out of grey mist upon a grey sea, and flung scarlet lights across the gloom, catching the drifts and burning them with fire. The reddest beams caught this persimmon tree, flooding it with an unearthly fire till it. glowed and burned like some dazzling jewel. All through the day it bums like a warm heart, and as the winter sun sinks he sends his last farewell ray across the damp evening- chill to his bright reflecter, and the tree holds it till the scarlet leaves fall. :