CITY OF ROSES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18257, 28 November 1933, Page 9

CITY OF ROSES

GLORY OF CANBERRA SEVEN MONTHS OF BEAUTY Within tlio past fortnight, writes a Canberra correspondent to the Sydney Morning Herald, . a wonderful metamorphosis has over Canberra. Lul the beginning 61 the month, there hacl been little hot weather; then, suddenly, came several really warm days, and almost at once, it seemed, thousands ot roses in the Federal Capital burst into Hoorn, and what had been mere dark, beds in the lighter green of the lawns of Commonwealth and King avenues, became flaming groups of color, the gardens in the grounds of Parliament House became ablaze, and private gardens, oVer-nigbt it seemed, grew similarly into masses of rose bloom. To-day not oven the greatest critics ot Canberra say slie is not beautiful. Spiing comes with flowering shrubs —its peaches and plums and wattles—the deciduous trees change from mere skeletons of branches and trunks into the delicate green of young leaves; early summer Sees the poplars in all their dignified youthfulness, and the elms, oaks, cedais, and all the others at their best. ; late summer and autumn are no less beautiful with the yellow of dying leaves ami the brown of the thirsty hills; mu winter is a time of crystal days and blue distances. Put it is the roses which nie becoming Canberra’s greatest charm. It is the roses which yearly are becomjfnj m ore beautiful and more plentiful, an3\jt is the roses that last from November till late May— sometimes till July. " It is doubtful' if any other city in the world has such a public show of roses, it is the boast of the parks and gardens section of the Department of the Inferior that all along Commonwealth and King avenues—and Commonwealth avenue is one of the principal thoroughfares of the city—one may pick from any of the “wayside” rose beds blooms which are fit for the show bench. They are no amateur productions, these roses. 1 here are more than 20.C00 of them, and almost every one is near perfection. MASSED PEAUTI' Each bed contains but one variety, and so the maximum effect is obtained. Here is a mass of sunset shades —the glorious Angele Pernet. There is a group pf K. of K. But one could go on almost indefinitely describing the different beds, for there are 165 distinct varieties in these two avenues. Some of the best are Shot Silk, Rose Marie, Dame Edith Helen, Airs. Bryce Allen, Golden Emblem, Lord Charlemont. Sunburst, Sunny South, and Hadley. There are climbing roses, too —the pergolas in Hie courtyards of Parliament House are a mass of yellow; soft gold that takes Hie breath away with its luxuriance. It has been found that, though Canberra’s climate is fairly dry. very little Watering'is required. In fact, the roses pf King’s avenue are not watered at all, and the superintendent of parks and gardens, Mr. A. E. Bruce, says they will never need water. He points to some beds where excessive watering—caused by the necessity t-o keep the lawns moist —has resulted in an overgrowth of wood to the detriment of the general effect. Nowhere in Canberra can one look today without seeing roses. In 1926 the oH-'ial plans for the beds were made, auk Mr. Bruce has given'them his ronsHmt care ever since. He has described roses as the “backbone* of the flotal decorative scheme of the capital, and they are not now at their best, ihe National Rose Garden is yet to come fully into being, and constant improvements are being made in other directions. In addition, the roses in the grounds of Parliament House are a picture. From the roof of the House one sees roses in whichever direction one looks, and almost every private garden has its magnificent plants. To-day, Canberra is a city of roses indeed, and it takes little imagination to visualise it in another 10 —even another five—years, when the Chinese elms and the cedars, which intersperse the public beds, have grown to maturity, and the blooms are even better than they are now.