Coronation Carnation.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 24, 14 June 1911, Page 39

Coronation Carnation.

QUEEN MARY SELECTS THE FLOWER FOR HER BOUQUET. CHOICE THAT WILL BE POPULAR. The Queen has intimated to the Gardeners 7 Company her wish that the Coronation bouquet which the company is to present to Her Majesty should ’be composed of pink carnations. The Howers from which it is under stood Her Majesty’s choice will be made are the varieties known as Enchantress, a [vile pink: Mrs. Lawson. a cerise: and Windsor, a full pink.

The announcement has given great satisfaction to horticulturists. as it i* believed that from every point of viva Roy "The present year has seen the production of the tirst true rose-pink carnation.*’ said Mr. Burnett, a famous Guernsey grower. “For this, in any case, great popularity had been foretold. The carnal n is mirable decorative qualities, and it has increased in public favour very rapidly _ the past f . ■ - Mr. K. F. Felton, the King’s fl«>ri-t. -aid that next to the rose, which wareally England’s flower, mere ■ uild *>• no better c loice than carnations. “The perfection to which perpetualhe -aid. "makes them perhaps more sought after for purely decorative purposes than almost any other flower. “Y"ii can decorate with carnations in a way that cannot be successfully undertaken without them. In the tirst place, they have magnificent lasting qualities when cut. The petals do n«H fall, no matter what the atmosphere of the room may be. “However hot the Coronation Day is. and we all hope it will be brilliant, the carnation will stand the oppressiveness of the heat better, perhaps, than any other flower.*’ THE CARNATION—ITS HISTORY. The carnation has been grown in England for hundreds of years. Its tradltions go ba k as far as the thirteenth

century, when it was introduced trom pink. It became a favourite in t •• cloistered gardens of the monasteries in the Middh Ages, but during the troublous times of the ‘ ommonwealth it wa- r.»mo-t b»-t to the country, an.l it was onlv the per-everance and industry of the Dutch. a ho had meanwhile taken up the im pr> -vemenr of the flower, which saved it from practical extinction. They produced more than a hundred new varieties. most of which were introduced by them into England. John Rea. in his "Flora.** published in 1865, enumerates no fewer than 360 good varieties. Sin e that date t he carna - tion ha- been improved by florists out of all knowledge, and it- varieties have been multiplied a thousandfold. The decisi »n of the Queen to carry a bouquet of carnations at her Coronation will, not unnaturally, increase the desire of her subi* ts to grow their owi tion-—if possible in their own gardens. But it is necessary to offer a word or warning. The varieties submitted to the Queen -Enchantress. Mr-. Lawson, and Wind sor are al! winter-flowering or Ameri .-an tree earnation*, and these have been chosen for the very obvious reason that the ordinary outdoor l*order earnation does not bloom until the middle of July, ami cannot easily Im* forced into bloom at an earlier date, as i* the «*ase wit a the perpetual-flowering variety. ITS MERIT*. The perpetual-flowering variety i- an \merican importation. It came to Engwas not un: the cb'-ing y.<r- -f the nineteenth

century that it became really popular in t’ae country. It- greatv-t merits were that it could be had in doom con tinually between trie months of o-to-be r and Marcii. an 1 by delaying it- _ tion and growing it carefully indei glass. flower* it almost any period of the year. Other advantages which it gaim 1 over th< carnation were the charming delicacy and colouring of its lossoms. and th* length of the flower-stalks, which enabled it to be used th the finest ’• for decorative purp»-e*.