BEAUTY IN ABUNDANCE

Otago Witness, Issue 4066, 16 February 1932, Page 20

BEAUTY IN ABUNDANCE

THE OAMARU GARDENS One swallow may not make a summer, it is true, but there is no mistaking the season of warmth and laughter, when the festival flowers burst forth into every hue and tint, and transform the landscape into a riot of colour. The chaste and more subdued shades of spring are supplanted by a richness of livery that is fascinating in its appeal, and infectious by its suggestive joie de vivre. Enter the gates of the Oamaru Botanic Gardens these days, and an indescribable fragrance assails you —the scented spell of a magnificent bed of 10-week stocks. Nemesia further adds to the colourful effect, and when the blooms lose their freshness and pass, dahlias, in many varieties, supply the display until the warm weather bids adieu. The scene on the front lawn is exceedingly gay and exciting. A spreading Cedns Atlantica glauca stands sentinel over beds of phlox drummondi, and a little farther on the handsome fountain plays joyfully in the centre of an extensive array of French and African marigolds, in all their golden splendour. Pivoted round

a towering deodar, famous in song, are numerous beds of antirrhinums, rich in colour but weird in name. And then for the gem of the outdoor display —three carefully-arranged beds of begonias and fuchsia, with nemesia harmonising perfectly in the tout ensemble.

The day of the herbaceous border is at hand, and old favourites vie with more recent introductions in claiming attention. Daisies in every variety and hue, perrenial phlox, statice in varieties far removed, hollyhocks, pentstemons, cornflowers, gargantuan solidago just turning into rods of gold, campanulas, billowy gypsophila, and the early blooms of gladiola combine, with many others, to delight the eye.

When the roses arc in bloom the air is heavy with a scented fragrance, and few there are but will succumb to their charms. On every side there is a remarkable prodigality of blooms for a second crop, rich in texture and colour. As in the early summer display La.ly Inchiquin must again be accorded pride of place, and for a variety that has generally come to be regarded as the antithesis of robust—and in many instances dispensed with on that account — this rose has done remarkably well, both in growth and quantity and quality of th° blooms. The beds of Covent Garden. John Henry, Golden Emblem, Madame de Boullet, Shot Silk, Betty Uprichard, Red Letter Day and Constance are exceedingly gay, and a colourful touch is added by the deftly-placed weeping standards, particularly the Excelsa varieties, with their trusses of deep red blooms. The rhododendron dell gives promise of soon being bright again with gladioli, chrysanthemums, and dahlias. Just beyond is the azalea garden, where petunias at present make a bold showing in the beds that dot the lawn. BEAUTY UNSURPASSED. If for no other reason than to drink deep of the beauty in the greenhouse, a visit should be paid to the Gardens at the present time. The begonias, which form the main display, are magnificent in colouring, size and form, and represent the acme of perfection in the gardener’s art —for art floriculture most certainly is. Draping the remaining side of the spacious house are streptocarpa, ad mirably displayed to give full effect to beauty of nuance, full-throated gloxinias, and geraniums. Overhead the colour symphony is completed by hanging baskets of begonias. While all who come to view will remain to praise, there are many whose thoughts do not go beyond the superficial. The constant labour and attention, and the treatment of each variety of plants as an animate individual are essential to success, but are factors that are very often not weighed in appreciation of proficiency in cultivation. However, effort is not wasted that is appreciated, and the unsurpassed 1 beautv of the greenhouse, and, for . that niatter the whole gardens, is cherished by ' large numbers daily., -

The fernery/ -chestnut lawn, rock garden, -and native garden each makes its ow-n appeal, and- has much to. in; terest the visitor. More popular than

ever is the children’s playground, where' the games and furnishings are . equal to those to be found anywhere. Apart from the wealth of the colour of the' flowers and the sylvan.; beauty of the' trees, there is another joy for the visitori in a ramble round, for the well-kept paths are rich iji unexpected turns andwindings. With Jupiter Pluvius in sullen mood for some months now the task of the curator (Air J. Tait) in attaining and maintaining the displays has been ail extremely difficult one, but he has sue* ceeded admirably, and the standard is on a par with that introduced when he came to Oamaru some three years agio. Mr Tait’s successful combination of botany and artistry is everywhere in evidence, and when he returns from his tour of England and the Continent, or! which he embarks about the middle of the week, all will await with pleasurable anticipation the introduction of new colour schemes gleaned in his travels.