SIGNS OF SPRING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20642, 14 August 1930, Page 8

SIGNS OF SPRING

FLOWERS IN THE GARDENS. \\ I SEASON OF GOOD PROMISE. DISPLAYS JUST BEGINNING. Not with a sudden blaze of glory as in cold, northern lands does the spring appear in this mild climate, but gradually and imperceptibly, one season glides gently into the next. Nature is never locked fast in the grip of winter here and so there is no sudden rush of returning life, altering all the face of the landscape as the days begin to lengthen. But although the return of spring is so unostentatious it is. nevertheless, quite definite, and its many signs may be read. Almost two months have passed since v the shortest day and gardeners are watching expectantly for increasing signs of activity in their trees and flower beds. .The 'winter, following a long, dry ■ autumn, has been a favourable one, with just about the desired amount of moisture, and prospects for the approaching season are of the best. The best display of spring (lowers is still some distance off, but. the dull flowerless days of winter are - definitely 'past and the colour and fragrance of narcissi and of violets are everywhere abroad. Iceland poppies ha ft* been spreading their gay colours for somfl time and azaleas and rhododendrons are beginning to'deck themselves for their annual sustained display. Among trees species of wattle are perhaps the only ones in full bloom in these parts just now, although some fruit blossoms have ventured* out., and pussy willows may be seen. In Albert Park. In Albert Park —where amateur gardeners may always look, with confidence for guidance as to what they should bo doing at home—the bedding out of the main supplies of such favourites as ranunculi, stocks, anemones and cinerarias has been completed and there is little to be done for the time being but to keep the beds tidy and trim the fresh spring growth .from the lawns. The earliest of the cinerarias, which still have to be covered as a protection from late frost,, are just beginning to show colour. Ihe rose bushed and hydrangeas are rapidly breaking into leaf. A bed of freesias by the caretaker's house is flowering freely. 'Aloes of two kinds lift their brilliant red spearheads in stately order. Gladioli are. moving along quickly and promising to show earlier than usual. The long beds by T'owen Avenue are already giving indication of a wealth of colour jtoon to come. Pansies and violas are there and Iceland poppies. Gazanias and venidium are opening out their yellow and orange blooms as they trail oyer the rocks. Here and there an antirrhinum is in flower and the blue nubretiu, carnations, many-coloured nemesia, primula malacoides, and the little daisy of heavenly blue (agathea celestis). Beautiful Flowers. , An orange mesfmbryaiithemum w.ill soon be commanding admiration; and small, but each beautiful in its own way, are the daphne, diostna (breath of heaven), a dee]) pink rick cistus and the red euphorbia splcndens (crown of thorns). Arum lilies arc flowering freely, but they flourish for so great a part of the year that they are scarcely to be classed as spring flowers. Among the trees and large shrubs of Albert/ Park very little movement is to be traced as yet. A large Jaurestinus is beginning to put on its mantle of white, but it'is probably the only shrub or tree to show colour. A South American Phytolacca is beginning to break into bud. but it/is always very-.early. A native karo is putting out fresh young leaves, but none of the Knglish birches or oaks show the. slightest trace of green as yet. The kowhais are still some distance from opening their yellow flowers. The ripening bnnchojfc .of seeds on the phoenix palms add to their handsome appearance at the present time Narcissi in the Turf. At the Domain all tho beds have been neatly out, and the staff has been busy sending out from the propagating sheds supplies for the outlying parks and reserves. Several large rhododendrons are in full flower. Narcissi, including masses of tljfcm growing uncultivated in the rough turf, are making a beautiful show, and the observant eye will admire not only geraniums and clumps of nemesia, but early carnations, cyclamen, primulas, stocks, auriculas and primroses, cinerarias, violas, .salvias and not a few inore. The large glasshouses are, of largely independent of the seasons, but thev too have their displays suited to the tim'c. Tn the tropical house, the mainstavs of the exhibition, apart from the wealth of foliage, . are the poinsettins, cyclamen, primulas and the blue winterflowering coleus. In the older glasshouse across the court the cyclamen, primulas,, lachenalias and amarvllis will be much appreciated by visitors. Spring this year would appear to be neither early nor late, but just normal. Active growth is everywhere beginning and watchers will be finding pleasant surprises ./in tlieii gardens any day now. It is this air of expectation that, makes this for many nature-lovers the most delightful season of the year. Certain it is that if the present promise is fulfilled they will have great successes to enjoy through the coming weeks. yPERMISSION REFUSED. ADDITION TO BUILDING. f HENDERSON BOARD'S DECISION. Tli/ dispute between the Henderson Towiy Board and Mr. S. O.ich, who was recently refused a permit to erect living rooms above one of his shops iri Station Road, was again considered at a meeting of board. A letter from the board's solicitor, to whom the matter was referred, slated that ■while the condition attached to the subdivision was invalid, and the by-law prohibiting the erection of a new house on an area of less than a quarter of an acre with ii frontage of 66ft. was unreasonable and therefore invalid, the board was, in his opinion, justified in refusing tho permit on the following grounds That the provisions of the' Health Act, 1920. could not be complied with, section 36 of the Act providing that when part of nj building was used as a dwelling house, 0 ' tlie medical officer of health must In* satisfied that there were suitable appliances for the disposal of refuse water in a sanitary manner. Tlif/t, the board had grounds for refusing the permit under the Town Planning Amendment Act. 1029, which provided that a local .authority may, at any time before a scheme has been approved by the Town Planning Board, absolutely or condi/iotiiilly refuse its consent to Ihe, erection of a building if it appears to such local authority that the erection of such building would be in 'contravention of the scheme if it had been completed and approved, or would be iu contravention of town-planning principles, or interfere with tin? amenities of the neighbourhood. SMi °P' n '°n was supported by a letter ® r * G1 icsson, medical officer of i xvbich ,1C state,! that "he was ■ "ttcrly opposed, from a sanitary point of &.-V '• l ® a Permit being granted." P&' S,!?" 1 , ? ecidwl lo ac,hfMo 10 its esolution and refuse the permit.