Begonias at Gorge Threshold

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 28, 3 February 1937, Page 4

Begonias at Gorge Threshold

FINE DISPLAY OF EXOTIC BLOOMS. An exceptionally fine display of begonias has been grown this summer by Mrs. W. Brockie, whose home is at the entrance to the Manawatu Gorge at the Manawatu side. Though the situation might be thought far from ideal for gardening purposes, Mrs. Brockie has achieved something of a triumph with her blooms. Having no glasshouse, she has raised some fine specimens in a bush house which has concrete wails for a height of four feet and overhead a timber frame supporting a canopy of ti-tree cut from the hills nearby. A beautiful single begonia which rocently reached maturity measured eight and a-quarter inches across. Several double ones have had a diameter equul to that of extremely large saucers. The colours are of almost infinite variety, and consrdering that tho ideal temperature control is not available, the delicacy of the tints is surprising. The blooms arc grown in a central bed and in pots, while basket begonias add to the beauty of the bush house, which also contain.* foliage begonias and ferns. In addition to those grown in the busk house, Mrs. Brockie has also an extensive array of begonias grown in the open garden, where rock pockets and a rockery protect hundreds of them. While they are less perfect in some instances than those raised under partial cover, they reveal a new wealth of colouring. Mrs. Brockie imports begonia bulbs each year direct from Holland. Receiving them about March or April, she has to retard them for several months until the advent of the New Zealand spring. This is done by placing the bulbs in slightly damp sand, and Mrs. Brockie’s experience has been that only a small percentage is lost. In August tho bulbs are set out in a compound of sand, fertiliser, and leaf mould gathered in the bush, and this has proved a remarkably successful bed for the flowers. With proper attention, they bloom before Christmas and continue to make new buds for a period of fully three months. For next season Mrs. Brockie has ordered several hundreds of new bulbs, which are now on the water.