GARDENS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20586, 8 December 1928, Page 7

GARDENS.

THEIR VARYING CHARACTERS. The horticultural papers published in England deal regularly with gardens of manifold character and with the varying prodivitieo af their owners as to layout of the ground, principal flowers cultivated, nature of the paths, and so on. There is no pursuit of a recreative kind which gives such quiet and constant pleasure, as gardening, and the increasing hold it is obtaining in our own community, even among the younger members of a family, who are thus laying up for themselves a source of interest in their maturer years, is a subject of 'common remark. Amateur Gardening is one of the English publications, devoted; to this fascinating pursuit that probably appeals to a wider circle of readers than any of its contemporaries, and we make the following extract from its columns for the . benefit of our gardening readers:—

Presumably aU who regularly study Amateur Gardening may claim to have that much in common that they are fond of gardening, but from this starting point the whole vast multitude of garden-lovers and cultivators splits itself up into innumerable groups with widely varying aims and - ideals, for horticulture embraces so many phases, and possesses so wide a range of interests, that the highest ambitions of one would utterly fail to appeal to or satisfy another. The style and character of a garden which some delight in would be considered by others a sorry waste of space, which they would fain convert into a totally different spectacle. We may be devoutly thankful that widely differing tastes finds expression, in the -making and planting of gardens, for nothing is more intolerable ♦o human nature than monotony, especioily in that which constitutes the environment of home-life~and the garden is •"o-day more than ever before a part of the British homestead.

“True, it may be, that a great majority of our gardens are uniformly rectangular in outline, and In populous areas row after row of oblong plots may be seen which are precisely alike in size and shape, but it is never long before individual gardens in a newly-developed district begin to assume distinctive character, and some will reveal originality of conception and execution, both in regard to layout and occupants.

“ There are those who wish to grow tie greatest possible number of plants in the space at disposal, perhaps with the sole object of providing bold masses of colour over the four seasons of the year; or, alternatively, the aim may be to gather together and maintain representatives of the greatest possible number of different kinds of .plants. There are people who are happy to find continuous occupation in the cultivation of the plants they love. Another large group of garden-owners crave for the sanctuary of a peaceful garden. These delight in enclosures and retreats, in screening hedges, shade-giving trees, and the restful green of grass. They desire a garden to rest in, rather than to labour in,-and it js well that such may be made to meet, the needs of the trull and weary ag well as for those of vigour and activity.”