SPRING HAS MADE THE CITY BEAUTIFUL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18887, 11 October 1929, Page 10

SPRING HAS MADE THE CITY BEAUTIFUL.

RIVER BANKS GLOW IN A BLAZE OF COLOUR. (Written for the “ Star.”) Rioting gloriouslv in vivid hues, spring has come definitely to the city, and has changed it, almost overnight from a place of brown, naked trees staid, grev buildings into a blaze of elorv and life. The city streets no longer cold and windswept, reflect from shining surface* the glare of the sun Great-coats, but a short time ago, the popular covering have been replaced by light thing? airy and more comfortable. One feels thankful to the fashion-expert who de creed that women should wear those hew colours—lime-green and pumpkinyellow—so much in keeping with spring freshness and so restful to the eye. In Nature itself, one finds pleasing changes. The Avon has become a blaze of beauty framed in colours. Near the Library the trees form a glorious picture. Here, outlined against the brichi green of the lawns, the darker shade of the willows, and the brown sparkle of the swift-flowing river, a number of fruit trees —apples, plums and cherriesare in bloom, a glowing tracery oi white, pinks and yellows. Further up the stream the white Bridge of Remembrance shows impressively against a background of green. The island nearb) is a rich green and red, with its covering of bushes and scrub. The river-bank at this part is a very popular resting place, and each dinner hour hundreds of office-workers gather there in the peace and quiet. A rich green is the predominant col our in all the parks and gardens. Hag ley, with its mirror-like lakes, its clumps of trees and wide expanse of undulating green, presents a particularly beautiful picture. Against the background of a setting sun there are few beauty spots in the world that could surpass it. Trim Suburbia. Suburban gardens are beautiful in their spring colouring. Everywhere neat lawns and vivid, many-hued gardens laid out in trim beds, please the eye. Spring shows not only in the flowers and trees, however. Bird-life, released from the prison of Winter, is busy preparing for the mating season, and the trees and gardens are alive with their twitterings. To one home in Oxford Terrace a native pigeon, a regular visitor from Kaituna, has returned. Flying from bough to bough on the trees, which surround the house, his vivid colouring makes a very striking study. The bird is very friendly, and continues to coo softly, unperturbed even when a stranger approaches close. Spring is in the air, in the smiles and buoyant steps of those you pass in the street, in the gardens and playing fields, and in its brighter glow of the city. ■