KOWHAI IN FINLAND

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 212, 13 September 1940, Page 3

KOWHAI IN FINLAND

NEW ZEALAND GIFT TO FINNISH COMPOSER Trees which produce what many people regard as New Zealand's national flower may one .day bloom in Finland. More than a year ago a Wanganui resident posted a packet of seeds of the New Zealand kowhai to Jean Sibelius, the celebrated Finnish com poser. Recently he received a copy from the composer written" on May 17 from Jarvenpaa, Finland, acknow lodging the gift. The composer wrote-: "Please accept my cordial thanks for the seeds. My gardener will set them in my garden, ancl I am rather curious to see whether the trees Avill grow up here." Finland is famous for its forest areas, but it is understood that this is the first attempt that lias ever been made to grow kowhai there. Most of the country is high tableland, but the low coast lands are fertile. The climate is rigorous, with summer lasting only two and a half months in some places', but in the west and south-west it is moderated by the influence of the Baltic Sea. Johan Julias Sibelius, generally known as Jean Sibelius, is probably Europe's foremost living composer. He studied music under Wegellus in Helsingl'ors *in 3 885-89, under Becker in Berlin in 1889-90, and under Fnchs and Gold mark in. Vienna in I£9o-91.