Flaring Beauty

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 310, 22 March 1928, Page 15

Flaring Beauty

DAHLIA SHOW OPENS NEW VARIETIES OF BLOOMS Flaring in orange and reds, languid in tender yellow and lavender, passionate j in depths of crimson, the dahlias have transformed the municipal hall at Newmarket to-day. Gay begonias, too, flame in smooth beauty of gold and scarlet. It is marvellous what the horticulturists have managed to obtain from one of the driest seasons on record. The show of the Auckland Horticultural Society, which was opened by Sir Edwin Mitchelson this afternoon, may not be quite as large as in other years, but the quality is wonderful. Probably there is no flower in the gardener’s calendar which has advanced and improved so tremendously as the dahlia. Each year, old standards are passed and fresh novelties come into being in a glory of form and colouring. Three main classes, peonies, in which the centre must be exposed, decoratines which hide their hearts, and cactus with the spiky petals, are benched, and all show fresh varieties.

From Sir Edward Mitchelson’s gardens has come a table of gorgeous blooms, in which there are some unnamed seedlings of outstanding loveliness. Mr. H. T. Goldie has exhibited a bench of peonies of his own raising. These include a prominent “Sir Charles Fergusson,” in rich red, and “Lady Alice Fergusson,” in pure white, both being new varieties. The only entry for the challenge cup, the conditions of which require 12 varieties and six blooms of each, is Mr. A. R. Abbott’s, and they make a splendid array. In other classes Mr, Abbott exhibits the new type of dahlia, which stands almost verical, like a chrysanthemum, on a stiff stem. Chief among these is a great lavender flower, the petals of which suffuse to paler shades. The “Champaign” is a blending of dull yellows and apricot shades. The “Lotus” is strangely like a water lily in appearance, but in salmon and pink. Two blooms which represent a decided advance in the culture are staged by Mr. Parrish, of Northcote. They are coloured a brown red, hitherto a shade which could not be obtained.

Benched in an artistic way is a big setting of ferns, dahlias, begonias and caladiums. This exhibit belongs to Mr. G. W. Wright, of Epsom, and the bright flowers stand out from a background of greenery. In this array is the “created” dahlia, which measures nine inches across, and is probably the largest in the show.

Mr. A. W. Painter’s table of begonias is probably the finest collection of these blooms ever shown in New Zealand. They vary from whites and ivories, through old golds to scarlets. Pretty “pompom” dahlias, in a

great variety and beauty of tints are exhibited by Messrs. F. J. and R. ,T. Roberts; and there are also the strange “collarettes,” with necklets of contrasting colours.