GARDENING.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15185, 10 March 1923, Page 11 (Supplement)

GARDENING.

THE GREATEST OF PLEASURES. (By Marama.) There is perhap*"«o pleasure which •Is so generally felt as that which comes from a garden. It appeals to all; it unites men and women in one taste. The wealthiest take pride in spacious lawns and vast shrubberies, but the poorest take equal pride in flowers so cultivated as to make the home a place of beauty. It is probable indeed that the pleasure taken in the garden is in inverse ratio to the money spent therein, and that the greatest zest is felt by the man who does his own work. The wise Bacon says, "God Almighty first planted a garden; and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures." We may take some small credit that Anglo-Saxons have especially delighted in gardens, and have carried their tastes to the Dominions planted overseas, while America shows the same tendency. Apparently it belongs to temperate'climates, for though tropical lands may show go ,'eous parks, and overpowering growths, they do not favour the humble individual who would cultivate his own small patch. Gather Roses While You May. Gardening first began to be practised when the feudal system ended. So long as the baron lived cooped up in a castle, it was impossible for his lady to do more than grow a flower in a pot. But when the Wars of the Roses destroyed the "nobility, and wealth came from trade rather than from land, men built villas in place of castles, and sought the means of beautifying their homes by flowers and shrubs and evergreens. In the essay of Lord Bacon, which w© quoted above he gives a list of what may be grown all the year round, including many evergreens, which were probably new at that time. He specifies also the flowers which provide the sweetest smell, both those which perfume the air and those whose scent clings to the bower. Many of our flowers of to-day he mentions by names which leads us to think they were recent importations, such as tulippa, the French honny suckle, and the French Mary Gold; liliura convallium, which we have Anglicised, and a long list of fruits. Bngand was then in a receptive mood; the Renaissance had set all minds to work. Learning, ideas, improvements of all kinds were earnestly sought, and busily used. To France and Italy we especially looked, as to the two countries which, after the fall of the Byzantine Empire, represented a higherand wider culture; and in addition to ideas and literature, we took flowers, fruit and shrubs, with designs and patterns for gardens, which we modified later to suit our own tastes.

Free From Men's Conflicts. The Seventeenth Century was too fcbusy with political and theological disputes to show much advance in gard/sning though "we may be sure that ,3cvout souls tended' the spots won from the wilderness, the rare places Xree from mani's conflicts. But a hundred years after Bacon came the great Dutch King William 111., and with him came a bevy of his countrymen, bringing with them their own ideas, language and tastes. The Dutch were great gardeners; those stolid men had been known to ruin themselves by the exorbitant' sums paid for bulbs. Their tastes were at least as pronounced as ours, and took the shape of a passion for gardens laid out on geometrical patterns, decorated with statues, and with shrubs trimmed to fantastic shapes. The fashion was so pronounced that it of necessity paled, but it affected the taste in gardening for a very long period. Pope was a famous gardener, and his grotto at Twickenham was only less celebrated than himself. The Dutch symmetry affected our poetry as much as our gardens, and it was therefore to be expected that when the reaction set in against classic regularity in verse it should do so also in gardening'. The Romantic movement which Rousseau started led to gardens of one or two acres laid out like wildernesses in which men might lose their way. In William's time the Maze at Hampton Court was planted, but this was a triumph of artifice. The garden of the later 18th or early 19th century was supposed to be a return to nature. It was of course neither more nor less of a convention than the square flower bed and clipped trees of the Dutch.

Taste Rather Than Fashion. It is no good to bid people follow their 'own tastes in gardening rather than follow the fashion. The garden

will be a reflection of the man who i owns it. It is for thai reason that we y so seldom see good lawns, for lawns require time; we might almost say eternity. No amount of money or vigour will suffice without the essential time, so ttiat a good lawn is as satisfactory a reference of ancient birth as a copy of our pedigree hanging in the hall. It is of course useless to

ask for lawns in a country where men arc for ever selling one home and buying another. For perfection, or the nearest approach to it, we must go to the lawns attached to colleges of our ancient universities. Centuries of attention have achieved a result which the newly-arrived can only envy. These triumphs of course are not for the common or garden variety of citizen but he nevertheless may have as genuine and heartfelt a pleasure in the work of his own hands, in which vegetables mav hold as honourable a place as flowers. It is difficult to grow romantic over a bed of potatoes, hut what scarlet geranium equals the scarlet runner bean? The scent of a broad bean is as enthralling as that of a rose. Asparagus grown to eat is as beautiful as when grown fo? decoration, and infinitely more luxuriant.

The scent of a lemon leaf will raise memories of South Seas, and palmfringed beaches. Flowers may have endless beautiful associations, hut cannot be allowed to absorb all the romance, thougb they have so often inspired the poets, from Shakespeare downwards, with beautiful thoughts and images. Man searches for beauty in all direct ions, and ransacks land and sea" for precious stones; he achieves

miracles of painting and sculpture, the price of which is a King's ransom, and all the lime there is as much beauty of form or colour and of smell as can be found in the rarest perns or the greatest achievements of art. The gifts of God aiv made to all: they an' not reserved for the rich and mighty or for those entrusted with the ten talents. They are bestowed in bountiful measure'upon all who care to cn-

3oy. Artillery fire has been heard at 370 rniics.