Telling time with flowers - Floral Clocks

One of the new attractions at the Royal Melbourne Show in 1930 was the Floral Clock. The Argus was one of the newspapers who reported on this clock - All the works, which are electrically operated, were improvised by the showgrounds staffs with odd material available, including a cream separator and a number of bicycle wheels. The ground of the clock face is a garden bed planted with a carpet of violas, pansies and red and white daisies. The figures around the circumference are picked out in light green exhibition border, and the hands are troughs of earth in which pansies and exhibition border are planted. The seconds hand, by reason of its rapid movement, is the most spectacular part of the setting. It is claimed that this is the only floral clock in the world which has a seconds hand. Mechanism, buried in a pit below the garden bed, chimes the hours and half hours, and at each quarter-hour a set of sprinklers on the circumference waters the plants. An amusing novelty connected with the clock is the "information bureau." By placing the appropriate iron key in a spot, the bell below the bed may be made to give such information as the daily attendance at the show, the number of exhibits, the number of workmen and attendants employed, the rainfall for the last month, and many other statistics (1).

Floral Clock, Royal Agricultural Showgrounds, Ascot Vale.

State Library of Victoria Image H93.228/30

The Clock was a popular exhibit at the Show and in the 1930s the newspapers reported in great detail about the thousands of flowers that were used.  In 1937, for instance, 6,000 flowers were required to plant out the Clock (2).  This report from The Australasian in 1935 is typical of the many detailed reports - The clock, which covers a diameter of about 25ft., has as a central ground work a choice, low-growing, white-flowered sweet alyssum variety Little Dorritt. This is a bushy plant 3in. to 4in. in height, with a spread of 3in. or 6in. A couple of thousand young plants, just commencing to flower, have been used, and are smothered in white bloom. It would be an ideal plant for crazy paving or path edging, for planting as a low bordering plant in borders. Viola papilio in soft lilac blue shades cover the space between the hours, and the hours are worked in a dwarf Pyrethrum, P. excelsior, golden green, a variety of the well-known Golden Feather, which grows slowly and retains its compact low habit. A good strain of pansies, Roggli's Giants, is planted between the hours. The blooms are large, and in rich yellow-brown to purple tonings. Bounding the clock are Anemone Scarlet Emperor, and the violet shaded strains of St. Brigid anemones (3).

The Clock was planted out in the early years by  C. E. Isaac and Sons of Noble Park.  Cyril Everett Isaac established his firm in 1922 and by the 1930s had the largest seedling trade in Victoria (4). Cyril trained as a School Teacher and in February 1911 was appointed the inaugural Secretary of the newly established Victoria State Schools' Horticultural Society; one of its aims was to promote amongst teachers and pupils a genuine love of gardening and flowers (5). He was a Shire of Dandenong Councillor from 1922 until 1931, then 1937 until 1941 and a member of the Legislative Council from 1940 until 1952 (6).

C.E. Isaac's advertisement in the Australian Home Beautiful October 1, 1930, 

featuring the Floral Clock at the Showgrounds.

Digitised on Trove, here.

The Floral Clock was still a feature at the Show in 1940, but I can find no reference to it after that until 1965 when The Age reported that the floral clock, which has been absent from recent Melbourne Royal shows, will return this year as a centrepiece of an enlarged floral display in Centenary Hall (7). The Age also reported on the clocks heart of junk  (the cream separator etc) and said it had been made by the Showgrounds Plumber, Mr Jack Carlton (8). Was the Floral Clock on display at all in the 1940s and 1950s? I cannot tell you.

However, by the 1960s Melburnians had another Floral Clock  - the one in the Queen Victoria Gardens on St Kilda Road. In November 1965, the City of Melbourne Parks and Gardens Committee recommended that Melbourne plant a floral clock as a contribution to the City's 'beautification.' Cr Bren, the chairman of the committee was quoted a saying this will bring us into line with places like Edinburgh - nearly all the world's big cities have floral clocks (9). The cost of the clock was estimated to be £4,100. 

The Floral Clock in the Queen Victoria Gardens, taken in 1967 a few months after it was installed.

Photographer: Brian Ferguson. The report said he went up in one of the 

Council's travel towers to take the photograph.

The Australian Women's Weekly, April 19, 1967  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41853863

Fortuitously for the Council, on March 8, 1966, Mr Gerard Bauer, the President of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Makers, presented the Clock to the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Cr Ian Beaurepaire. It was a gift to mark the Federation's participation in Third International Trade Fair (10).  The Clock was actually displayed at the Trade Fair, which  was held at the Exhibition Buildings from March 5 - March 19, 1966 (11).  After the Fair the Clock was also on display at a  Ball given by the Lord Mayor at the Melbourne Town Hall in the July (12). It was later installed in the Gardens where it was officially 'opened' by Cr Beaurepaire on Friday, November 4, 1966. The weekend before the opening the Clock was attacked by vandals who pulled out seedlings and bent the hands of the clock, however  the damage could be repaired before the opening (13). The Clock is 20 feet in diameter, the long hand is nine feet long and the report in the Women's Weekly in April 1967 said it took 10,000 plants and that it would be replanted three times per annum  (14). The Clock is still a feature of the Gardens.

A postcard of the Melbourne Floral Clock. 

The statue is of King Edward VII. It was erected in 1920 and was 

made by Sir Edgar Bertram McKennal (1863-1931) 

Postcard published by Bartel.

Ballarat also has a floral clock, which was presented by the the Ballarat Begonia Festival to the City. The Clock, which was 20 feet in diameter, had hands 14 feet and 11 feet long and was made in Melbourne (15). It was started by the Mayoress of Ballarat, Mrs Cutts, on March 6, 1954. As is appropriate for a City that owed its existence to gold mining, Mrs Cutts used a gold key to start the Floral Clock, which was located in gardens in Sturt Street (16). March 6, 1954 was  golden day in Ballarat as that was the day that the Queen visited the town, as part of her visit to Australia and New Zealand. The Clock was moved in 1980 to the Botanical Gardens, where it was operating until around 2003 when the hands were damaged by vandals. It was finally repaired in 2017 as as part of the Ballarat Botanical Gardens 160th anniversary celebrations (17).

The Floral Clock. Sturt Street Gardens, Ballarat

Photographer: Frank Hurley. State Library of Victoria Image H2014.76/108e

The Queen's visit was also the catalyst for the installation of other floral clocks - Two floral clocks, each with a face 18 ft. in diameter, have been made in London to commemorate the Queen's visit to New Zealand in December. One will be displayed at Auckland, the other at Christchurch (18). 

The Floral Clock, Albert Park, Auckland.

Postcard published by A.H. & A.W. Reed.

I also found a report that in preparation for the Queen's visit to Yallourn - women are working against time in the Town Hall to complete an 18 ft. by 15 ft. floral clock containing more than one million blooms (19).  I have no other information about the Yallourn clock. 

Victoria does not get the credit for the oldest floral clock in Australia - this honour goes to Sydney where on Wednesday, December 19 1928 - Sir Arthur Rickard set going the floral clock which he has presented to Taronga Park Zoo. The clock is situated close to the seals' pool, and seven varieties of plants have been used to make the clock-face and the hands. In all 14,000 plants wore used by Mr A. N. Allen, who carried out the design for the trustees of the park. The clock-face is a replica of that to be seen in Princes-street Gardens, Edinburgh (20).

Floral Clock, Taronga Park Zoo. Note the Harbour Bridge in the background. 

Photographer: Frank Hurley. 

National Library of Australia https://nla.gov.au:443/tarkine/nla.obj-160111046

The Edinburgh Floral Clock in Scotland, mentioned by Cr Brens and the inspiration for the Taronga Park Floral Clock, was first planted in 1903 with up to 40,000 plants in an ornate design reflecting a different theme each summer. The idea came from James McHattie, City Superintendent of Parks and James Ritchie, the Edinburgh clockmaker, using the mechanism of a redundant turret clock. In 1905 a cuckoo which pops out every hour was added (21).  I rather like the idea of cuckoo.

The Floral Clock in Edinburgh, taken in August 1945 by Cyril Hampden Isaac, the son of C.E. Isaac, who first planted out the Showgrounds Floral Clock (22).

Australian War Memorial Image P00687.885

In 1904, a year after the Edinburgh Floral Clock was installed, the World's Fair in St Louis, Missouri, in the United States, was held and a very grand floral clock was on display. The clock was reported on in the Sydney Mail -
Time's fleeting hours are ticked off at the World's Fair at St. Louis on a wonderful chronometer. This is the floral clock which lies on the slope of the hill in front of the main entrance in the north facade of the Palace of Agriculture. The floral clock has a huge dial all of brightly blooming flowers, marking off the numerals and minute spaces. Spread on the side of the hill, it announces to visitors in far-off parts of the enclosure what hour of the day it is.

The dial is 100ft in diameter and the minute hand 50ft in length. The numerals marking the hours are 15ft long. These numerals are all picked out, in bright coloured coleus, a foliage plant of dense growth, which is kept symmetrical by pruning without danger of impairing its growth. Flowers of variegated hue cover the entire face of the clock, and to ensure a perennial bloom the plants are changed frequently. Collections of 12 distinct plants fill the circles surrounding the numerals, each collection being 25ft long and 15ft wide. The hands of the clock are of steel troughs, in which plants are growing.

A thousand incandescent electric lights illuminate the clock at night, the white light bringing out the brilliant hues of the flowers and foliage as vividly by night as by day. The machinery of the clock is housed in an ornamental pavilion at the summit of the hill. The pavilion is glass enclosed, the  movements of the works being visible to visitors. The hours and quarter hours are struck by  a great brass bell in the pavilion, which may be heard throughout the greater part of the fair grounds. In the pavilion is also a large hour-glass of the time of our grandfathers, the evolution of the process of ticking off time being thus shown in contrast with the most modern methods of keeping account of the passing of the hour (23).

Floral clock and north end of Palace of Agriculture, from Ceylon Building, 

St. Louis World's Fair, 1904.

Photographer: Truman Ward Ingersoll

Library of Congress http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s03592

We will finish off this post with this unusual floral clock at Water Works Park, Detroit in Michigan in the United States. It was unusual for two reasons as firstly it was water-powered and secondly it was vertical. This following account of this clock is written by Dan Austin, from the Historic Detroit website, here. 

The clock was unveiled in the park in 1893 and was designed by Elbridge A. “Scrib” Scribner, the superintendent of the park's grounds. Scribner's clock ran on cup-shaped paddlewheels that moved as water flowed. The clock itself was made up of more than 7,000 plants that were held in place by chicken wire. It stood seven-and-a-half feet high and was 10 feet across. The dial was 6 feet in diameter and had numerals made out of alternantheras, a type of shrub. The rest of the clock's face was sempervivum Tectorum, known as common houseleek. In front of the clock sat beds of tulips or begonias.

By the 1930s, however, the clock had become a liability. Park visitors were no longer enraptured by its water-powered wonder. It also stopped keeping accurate time. In 1934, automaker Henry Ford had a fascination with clocks -- not to mention relics of American history -- and bought the floral timepiece to display at his Greenfield Village. The clock was altered, however, replacing the water-powered mechanism with a traditional pendulum-and-weight mechanism. Unlike its days being powered by water, the floral clock had to be wound twice a day. But also unlike the old days, the clock now kept accurate time. The restored clock sat near the Greenfield Village Gatehouse and was dedicated July 4, 1935. Much like it had at Water Works Park, the clock would delight visitors to Greenfield Village for another 39 years.

In 1974, however, the clock started breaking down, and it was decided to retire the old timepiece. In 1989, Greenfield Village returned the clock to the City of Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department, which oversees what was Water Works Park. The clock was moved to the entrance on the island side of the MacArthur Bridge in 1990 (24).

Floral Clock, Water Works Park, Detroit, Michigan, c. 1900-1910.

Library of Congress http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/det.4a22205/

Are floral clocks kitsch or are they an essential and decorative ornament to a big City, as Cr Bren believed in 1965? I like massed plantings of flowers, but with Councils out-sourcing their Parks and Gardens Departments and recent water restrictions floral displays are not as common as they used to be. It is unlikely that we will ever see new floral clocks that require the planting of thousands of seedlings on a regular basis, so we just have to treasure the floral clocks which remain.

Acknowledgement - The title of this post - Telling time with flowers - I wish I could say I thought of it, but it is from The Herald, September 19, 1935, see here.

Trove list - I have created a list of articles on Trove, connected to Floral Clocks, access it here.

Footnotes
(1) The Argus, September 10, 1930, see here.
(2) The Herald, September 22, 1937, see here.
(3) The Australasian, September 28, 1935, see here.
(4) Dandenong Jubilee Celebrations Souvenir and Official Program, 1933. Digitised at the State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/248012

(5) The Leader, February 4, 1911, see here.

(6) Cyril Everett Isaac (1884 - 1965) was born in Brunswick to Abraham and Mary (nee Judd) Isaac. Abraham was a Congregationalist Minister. Cyril married Elizabeth Brown in 1907 and they had seven children - Percival Everett (b. 1908). Cyril Hampden (1910), Edna Myrtle (1911), Arnold Frederick (1913), Ruby Alice (1914), Bernard Miles (1916), Dory Pearl (1917). Cyril enlisted in the A.I.F in June 1917, had the rank of Lieutenant and Returned to Australia in July 1919. Council dates  http://seha.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/dandenong-mayors-and-councillors.pdf  and articles on Trove.   Legislative Council dates and some family information from  https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/people-in-parliament/re-member/details/24/1312

(7) The Age, September 8, 1965, from newspapers.com, an Ancestry.com add-on.

(8) The Age, September 18, 1965, from newspapers.com, an Ancestry.com add-on.

(9) The Age, November 25, 1965, from newspapers.com, an Ancestry.com add-on.

(10 The Age, March 9, 1966,  from newspapers.com, an Ancestry.com add-on.
(11) There is a photo of it here, but I can't use it as it is still in Copyright - https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/796146

(12) The Age, July 14, 1966, from newspapers.com, an Ancestry.com add-on.

(13) The Age, November 1, 1966, from newspapers.com, an Ancestry.com add-on

(14) The Australian Women's Weekly, April 19, 1967, see here. 

(15) The Age, December 8, 1953, see here; The Australian Women's Weekly, March 10, 1954, see here

(16) The Herald, March 5, 1954, see here.  Mrs Catherine Cutts (nee Garrett), was the wife of the Ballarat Mayor, Francis John Cutts, who was listed as a painter in the 1954 Electoral Rolls.

(17) Report and photo in the Ballarat Courier, November 23, 2017. I could access it on July 31, 2021 but it is now behind a pay-wall - https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/5074176/time-is-ticking-for-ballarat-botanical-gardens-floral-clock/

(18) Weekly Times, October 7, 1953, see here.

(19) The Herald, March 2, 1954, see here.
(20) Sydney Morning Herald, December 20, 1928, see here.

(21) Edinburgh City Council https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/directory-record/1086024/floral-clock

(22) Cyril Hampden Isaac is the son of Cyril Everett Isaac, so it is no wonder that he was interested in the floral clock. I was trying to find a good photo of the clock to use, saw this on the Australian War Memorial website, looked at the photographer's name, and was surprised and thrilled with the connection. Cyril enlisted in the RAAF in February 1941 and was discharged in December 1945. His brothers Arnold and Percy served in the Army in the War

(23) Sydney Mail, September 21, 1904, see here.

(24) https://www.historicdetroit.org/buildings/floral-clock-at-water-works-park