AUTUMN FLOWERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21019, 7 May 1930, Page 14

AUTUMN FLOWERS.

During' the coldest and darkest of the autumn months, when most we need flowers to brighten our rooms and thoughts, it generally happens that blooms, even of the most ordinary kind, are at their most expensive. Indeed, they are often so expensive that even at the risk of chasing brightness from our live* we do not feel Justified in buying them* “They last such a little while and cost so much," we say, and so prepare to face smpty vases with brave, if gloomy, hearts. Yet those vases need not remain so depressingly empty if we learn by experience and spend judiciously. There are. for instance, flowers that last much longer than others. There are hardy flowers more capable than others of withstanding cold and lack of sun. Some of these hardy flowers are expensive, but some are cheap. Sometimes, of course, it is greater economy to buy, with the little money you have to spend, a few more expensive blooms rather than a bunch if indifferent blooms which will not last as long. Of the hardy flowers the marigold ranks, perhaps, first and foremost. At one time regarded as little more than a weed, it is now looked upon with more appreciative eyes. It is cultivated extensively in France, and over here it is allowed to run riot in most gardens where its capacity for spreading was once regarded with apprehension. It is » cheerful flower and that may be one reason for its popularity. It has also vivid and beautiful colouring, its foliage being, in its different way, as bright and as hardy as its blooms. More, it is theflower most right of all for the more modern type of pottery. Bought fresh and kept supplied with fresh water, these flowers last well. Another hardy tittle flower is the multi coloured anemone. A tiny bunch of these bought ih bud looks practically nothing, and, indeed, looks very little but a small ring of buds for the first few days. But after a few days the blooms will open out, and the lovely colourssfind dark centres of the flowers disclose themselves. These will last, with suitable care, nearly a fortnight. Anemones, like marigolds, seldom cost more than 9d a bunch. Turning to the more expensive flowers, chrysanthemums costing fid or 8d each will usually last more than a fortnight, so that three of these prove better value than a bunch of smaller blooms. In buying hothonse flowers—which one does sometimes for special occasions—always choose carnations in preference to roses. Fresh blooms usually last well over a week. looses seldom last more than a few days. Hardier than any flowers, however, and more satisfactory for the small purse are some of the little plants in pots. There is a tiny- tree, complete with little orange and red berries —not the stuck-on variety —called Salanium, which lasts almost indefinitely, and which has been on the market for a shilling and sixpence a pot. The little pots of purple and white heather are other good 1 asters. The purple heather particularly goes on looking pretty, even after it is seemingly dead. Pots of daffodils and hyancinthia last well, too, but these are more expensive. Maidenhair fern looks pretty in vases even when unaccompanied by flowers. It lasts for wfeks, and should never in thrown away just because the flowers that were given with it have died.