AUSTRIA'S CAPITAL.

Thames Star, Volume LXII, Issue 17390, 30 March 1928, Page 6

AUSTRIA'S CAPITAL.

VIENNA, CITY OF FLO WE LIS. Austria's capital is very proud of its flowers. It has been ever since its great liberal burgomaster, Karl Lueger (1897-1910), set earnestly to work to maKe the city famous for its flowers in the gardens, along the streets, and in window boxes. During the war the •abundance of flowers everywhere had to give way to a meagre display. Step by step, however, since the Armistice, the new municipal government has been bringing the flowers back to their pre-war prominence. - It is believed, for example, that more money was set aside in the budget last year than at any time during the last decade for the care of the gardens.The city has a large nursery garden "within the city, and several reserve gardens from which it supplies the 3,000,000 plants needed for the 250 parks and for the small plots bordering the streets. . This service alone requires the time of 400 to 500 workers. One of the most delightful features of A'ienna floral decorations ig the hanging gardens half-way up the lamp posts. ■ These are particularly to be noted around the broad and tret-lined Ringstrasse and about the square before the Parliament building and the Town Hall. . In these steel baskets are such flowers as hydrangeas, petunias, geraniums, ivy, wandering Jew and marguerites. Each day the burgomaster has on his office desk fresh flowers, and the desks of his most important colleagues are ; similarly supplied. Care is taken in the nursery gardens and hothouses, that there shall be an abundance of flowering plants throughout the year. The choice is wide, for in the gardens can he noticed, among other plants, lobelias, dahlias, begonias, gladioli, carnations, pansies, asters, snapdragons, chrysanthemums, roses and amaryllis.