OCEAN GARDENS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4834, 25 May 1925, Page 1

OCEAN GARDENS.

ATLANTIC LINER DISPLAYS. In the great Atlantic liueiv. whic'i cross and recross the ocean with the regularity and punctuality of longdistance express trains, there are gardens as lovely as can be found anywhere on land, writes Richard Woi-u* in the Daily Mail. The blooms a. o every whit as glowing and as fresh as the displays which charm fhe eye at Kew.

In the Cunarder Mauretania flowers are used not only for table decoration but tc brighten the great staircase which connects the upper and lower decks. Tastefully the effect of creepers, blooms, and ferns is a never-failing tonic to the invalids among the passengers. TJiit the chief care of the gardener its the flower-bedecked lounge—it is more like a roof garden—which is situated aft. Here almost every flower that can be found ashore —with an abundance' of-roses —is to be seen.

Most people will be surprised to learn that flowens, in common with human beings, suffer from se,a i sickness. This is particularly the case with daffodils, violets, and lilies of the valley.

To keep these in good condition requires a great deal or ingenuity, but the head gardener has several wrinkles, gained by a flve-years’ experience of the work. The softest tissue paper is one of hits greatest standbys', and in this he carefuflly wraps the most tender of the flowers under hm care. They are kept in an even temperature, without water, until the day they • are wanted. Then they are plunged into iced water. The effect is magical. Very soon they are making th j “greenhouse” redolent, with ther-’ smell, and it is hard to believe that they have not just been parted from their parent stem. Th demands made on the liner gardener are many and varied. He is asked to provide special decorations fo ranniversary dinners, aboard ship ; some of the passengers like to wear a flower ...in their buttonhole-; others want fresh blooms daily in tneir sta'e rooms.