THE GARDEN LOVERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21326, 29 October 1932, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE GARDEN LOVERS

SEAR GARDEN LOVERS: First of all I want to thank those who have so kindly sent me this week, not only cuttings of the helenium and Michaelmas daisy for which I asked, but other nice perennials also. Among those whom I wish to th&nk are Nora Fulton, Flora Soar, Clifford Parker, and Phyllis Manson. Flora asks me if I would like some cannas, but I don't think they would suit our locality very well, as we get a great deal of wind, and canna flowers so soon get torn and dashed. * I had to weed my Garden Lovers' Corner before I could plant the cuttings, for these warm rains have brought up an almost unbelievable crop of—no. not weeds, but poppies! I thought I had cleared the bed of them entirely, but if yoti could just have seen the thick carpet I have had to clear once more! I have left just a few nice plants,_ as I am so very fond of the bright, frail flowers. There have been some very pretty flowers in my Corner this spring, and it has been delightful to think they are all gifts from my girls and boys. First there were the grape hyacinths freesias antl daffodils, then ixias, babianas, and tritonas, which I love. And now there is a lovely plant of blue Cape forget-me-not, and a stately row of tall irises, gold and purple. I go out every night to see n there are any snails creeping up those long stems, ior .the horrible creatures spoiled some of the first blooms. In another bed I have fine lcium plants, sent last autumn by Elsie waring have never had these before; and I am eagerly awaiting their flowering. Just behind Garden-Lovers' Corner are two magnificent spires of fox-gloves, pink and white, and on fine mornings they seem to be ringing all their little bells together in the breeze. The rest of the garden is more or less a not of eschscnoi zias, poppies, larkspurs and cornflowers as usual, for, try as I will, I have not the heart to tear up all these sturdy intrudeis when they first put their little green heads up through the brown earth, mey have bloomed there so long, summer by summer, and the Mother of the Garden loved their gay beauty so dearly that I cannot bear to turn the garden into a trim, orderly one like everybody else has. So I just do the best I can to keep the weeds down, and nob to let these sturdy intruders take entire P?f se * slon - . f I hope that ther? will be some pretty corners when our senior members come to see me on Saturday week, andl oh how I hope it will be a fine day, for it takes the sunshine to bring out all the gold an J crimson and blue of a wild garden.