WHY IS THE GORSE NOT BLOOMING?

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 2, 4 January 1939, Page 6

WHY IS THE GORSE NOT BLOOMING?

AN UNUSUAL SEASON VISITORS MISS “GOLDEN GLORY” It is noticeable that little, if any, gorse is blooming in the Wanganui district at present. A fairly close observation has been made by a Wanganui farmer who motored along the coast from New Plymouth to Wellington, and he says that he did not see flowers on the gorse anywhere. "It is most unusual to find no blooms at this time of the year," he said, “and, presumably, it is clue to the abnormally wet season. There is an old saying that when the gorse is not in bloom kissing is out of favour. I wonder if that is so.” Gorse flowers, though they are anything but pleasing to New Zealanders because of the curse the plant has become in spreading so rapidly over good land, have often attracted the attention and admiration of visitors. Americans who visited Wanganui recently as members of a party on a cruise liner, said they would give anything to have the display between the city and Marton located near home towns in the United States. They seemed most hurt at the attitude of New Zealanders, one of bitter regret that gorse plants had ever been allowed to leave their native surroundings in Britaifi. It seems incredible, but it is true, that gorse plants and seeds once sold readily in Wanganui. Ditch and bank boundary fences were popular in those days, and settlers took a pride in keeping the bank together by planting gorse hedges, which they kept neatly trimmed. To-day, hardly a farmers’ meeting passes, but what some rude reference is made to the curse gorse has since become.