YOUR GARDEN AND MINE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 69, 18 October 1940, Page 15

YOUR GARDEN AND MINE

By

Ann Earncliff

Brown

(No. 48)

ECENTLY I came home from a week-end in South Canterbury with two names written on a paper — "Amelauchier" and " Andromeda," or, as it is sometimes called, " Bog" or "Wild" Rosemary. Why these misleading popular names are given f cannot see, for Andromeda is not related to nor does it in the least resemble true Rosemary. Florists describe this shrub as "A dwarf evergreen bearing beautiful waxen pitcher-shaped flowers in spring " -a description supported by my 83-year-old hostess, who asks with pride, "Have you seen my beautiful pearl bush yet?" Like strings of pearls the pendulous racemes certainly are. Andromeda polifolia is the only species but there are forms with both broad and narrow leaves. In the autumn I hope to return and peg down a shoot or two of this most attractive shrub which roots readily in moist soil. This will be a short cut to a pearlladen Andromeda of my own, but propagation by seed is also very successful. Like the rhododendron, Andromeda thrives in a moist, peaty soil, so mine will find a place beside that jewel among rhododendrons, "Pink Pearl," a fairly old variety which holds its place by sheer merit against all-comers. I recall with delight a wide-lipped posy vase in dark gteen mottled pottery ware, in which the massed pearls of Andromeda and blue grape hyacinths combined into an unusually beautiful floral arrangement. If you have a spot, moist and partially shaded, with shelter from strong winds, the dwarf-flowering shrub Andromeda would grace it throughout the year. Over the Fence The second name Amelauchier belongs to a tall shrub, or perhaps a small tree, growing in one of your gardens. I admit that I deliberately stared over the fence to try to decide just what the massed off-white blooms were. There are various species of Amelauchiers, natives of China and parts of America, all deciduous and all carrying pure white or pale ivory fiowers in sprifig. The autumn foliage, in varying shades of red, makes Amelau-

chier a worthy garden subject even without the spring beauty. Say It With Flowers Yesterday as I was busy weeding flower borders which I had fondly considered weed-free a few weeks ago, I thought over the social value of flowers.

From the cradle to the grave our friends receive floral tributes, and these silent ambassadors are always tactful. I know that years do not diminish delight in floral gifts, for a week or two ago I saw for myself how much my 83-year-old hostess rejoiced in kindly messages which reached her in a box of fragrant hyacinths, a choice bouquet of deep crimson and flesh pink cyclamen, and maidenhair fern-a hot house bunch in the South although cyclamen with quaint re-curved petals are exquisite bedding

plants in the warmer climates. More joy arrived in a gift of freezias, cream prime roses and giant violets, deliciously pers fumed. But I smile to remember yet another floral effort-a hastily gathered collection of narcissi and a spray of flowering currant. These a gallant and waggish admirer presented with great ceremony to the " Birthdayee." If the old lady recognised the flowers so recently a-blow in her own garden, she did not blink an eye as she graciously ac cepted good wishes and flowers!