ELEGANCE AND COLOUR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 246, 17 October 1936, Page 13

ELEGANCE AND COLOUR

It is a blessing we do not all have the same ideas of what is beautiful Dr single-track minds with regard to flowers. Imagine the result if everyone cared for dahlias and no one liked sweet peas or grew zinnias or roses in their gardens. Would we not grow weary of the repetition? Sometimes we hear remarks that the giant blooms of Japanese chrysanthemums are ugly, yet it is around these stands that the people congregate at the shows, so great is the number of enthusiasts in the growing of these blooms. Some cannot understand anyone making a hobby of glowing vegetables yet there are many r who take a pride in their vegetable exhibits, and in some cases friendships have been jeopardised in the arguments over the respective merits of one or the other exhibit. After all there are a good many things which depend neither upon size, nor any special exhibition qualities to endear them to lovers of r cal beauty. Elegance and grace often characterise flowers which are small individually, although they' may be produced with lavish freedom. Even the plant breeder cannot always convert a small flower into a large one, for which we may be thankful from an artistic point of view, because many dainty gems lose their attractiveness when made large. It would seem that Nature knows this for taking two flowers at random, the gilia and viscaria, there is no difference in the size of flowers grown without special care and those wellthinned and liberally nourished. There are numerous other flowers of a dainty character which are beautiful and interesting, their seeming delicacy contrasting so decisively with the large things which compel admiration that they’ add much to the fascination of a well-stocked garden.