THE SPIRIT OF THE GARDEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 508, 10 November 1928, Page 28

THE SPIRIT OF THE GARDEN

ARE YOU A GARDENER? This time of year am) this sort of weather call for renewed activity in the garden. It is the moment for planting, for transferring seedlings, and for the final planning of the dreamed-of summer display. Amateur gardeners, in particular, welcome this opportunity of offering some tangible devotion to their cherished plots, and in their enthusiasm they spare no effort to make the garden as attractive as possible. But how many of these eager horticulturists, one wonders, take their gardening in the spirit which is likely to yield the maximum amount of joy and recreative benefit in return for ungrudging labour? How many are true naturalists? How many are mere materialists? In other words, do we, speaking generally, find the main thrill of gardening in watching the gentle unfolding of Nature's secrets in infinite varieties of form, shade and perfume? Or are we moved primarily by an unquenchable desire merely to produce faultlessly well-ordered paths, beds, and borders; flawless lawns, dazzling arrays of rare and exotic blooms; prolific pickings of vegetables. and fruit of phenomenal size? Do we take anxious stock of every shoot and bud. calculating to the last degree the likely yield and profit on every tree and bush? Do" we allow our gardens to become miniature flower shows, inviting the appraising glances and admiring comments of our friends, but sternly discouraging any attempts at intimate association?