Practical Gardening

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 23, 28 January 1928, Page 6 (Supplement)

Practical Gardening

SLSN^thus

Correspondents will greatly oblige oy observing the.following rules In yn<tiw> questions for publication in these columns:—

I—Letters should be In not later than Tuesday to bo answered the same weak addressed to Garden Editor, "Star" Office, Auckland.

2—Write on one side of the paper, and tcake ail communication* aa concise as possible. B—Flowers, etc., sent for naming mast be sent separately, and, It possible, packed in a tin or wooden- box—cardboard boxes ax* very liable to be broken la transit and the contents damaged

4—The fall name and address of the sender must iTmja be tent, hot a nom dt plume or Initial may be given tor publication.

HANDY ORCHIDS.

Sooner or later the rock gardener is attracted by the hard Orchids, especially the terrestial ones, some of which are most beautiful, others curious, while most of them are intensely interesting. It is usually somewhat late in his career that the amateur feels competent to attempt to grow the hardy Orchids, chiefly from the mistaken idea that the} are difficult, while many of them, when given suitable conditions, are quite easy. The idea probably arises from the fact that the greenhouse epiphytal Orchids are generally thought to bo amenable

only to the care of the skilled grower. However, that may be and it is not altogether {rue, no such consideration need deter even the beginner iron. attempting the hardy Orchids. The best time for planting is autumn, as the tubers commence to grow early in spring. There are many varieties at present considered as greenhouse varieties that would be quite at home on the rockery about Auckland, and to the novelty

seeker and enthusiastic amateur there is a wide unexplored field in the outdoor Orchid. The easiest of all are probablj the genus that gives its name to this class of plant, the Orchis. The Madeira Orchis (0. foliosa) is exceptionally handsome, having large attractive leaves and spikes of rosy purple flowers, some ISin or more high, in November. The marsh Orchis (0. latifolia) is a showy purpli sort, some 12in high, while 0. maculata, of similar height, has prettily-spotted leaves and pale rose-purple blooms. Both

these grow wild in Britain and in June can be found in masses of full bloom. 0. maculata superba is a variety with sr flower stem 18in high and the blooms are lilac-spotted, with purple. Other pretty kinds native of Britain are O. mascula, only four or five inches high, bearing spikes of purple blossom In October: 0. pyramidalis, 12 to 15in high, with rose-red flowers in December, and 0. militaris (the Soldier Orchid) about 18in high, bearing a spike of purple blossoms in October.

0. spectabilis, native of North America, is a pretty pinkish kind six inches tall and blooming in November. All these can be grown in deep, moist soil, containing turfy loam with peat and sand mixed. They like a sheltered spot, j but not too shady, althugh they are better when not exposed to the mid-day sun. Epipactis latifolia and E. palus tris are worthy of cultivation in the moist, peaty soil of the bog garden. Both grow about 12in high, flower in January and are natives of Britain. The flowers of E. latifolia are purplish-green, those of E. palustris are purple. The quaint little bee Orchis, found wild in limestone hillß in Southern England, is ophrys agrifera. The colouring, brownish green, is not showy, but the mimicry in the resemblance of the flower to a bee !« very striking. It should be grown i?. a sunny spot in a soil containing limestone. The curious man Orchis (ophrys anthropophora), is of greenish colour with yellow tip, while the spider Orchis (ophrys aranifcra), of green and black shades, is curious, if not attractive. Both these need loam containing chalk or limestone. Gymnaderia or habenaria biflora Is the butterfly Orchis. It is about 12in

high and has small white flowers. G. conopsea and G. odoratissima have purplish blooms. They flower in November, are fragrant, and thrive in peaty soil in half shade. Serapias is an interesting Orchid from Southern Europe. S.

lingua is perhaps the chief species, it grows some 12in high and bears reddishlilac flowers in November. This Orchid needs a sunny spot in sandy loam containing limestone.

THE MORAINE IN THE SMALX. ROCK GARDEN.

The moraine affords a successful means of cultivating plants which are difficult to accommodate in the ordinary conditions of the rock garden. Many alpliine lovers who have small gardens are deterred, however, from adding a moraine lest it should take up too much space or lead to considerable expense. In the first place, the moraine may be very small, even a yard or two in extent will be found useful. In the second place hardly any outlay is required, especially by those who have ready access to stone and chips or small gravel concrete work is not necessary to form a watertight bed, except in very dry districts and may quite well be dispensed with. In dry parts of the country a good substitute for a concrete tank below, can be formed with flat stones OF tiles, cemented at the joints, even if not absolutely watertight. It is possible to have a charming little rock garden only three feet or so at the highest with daintily-designed valleys between the heights, and these were filled with moraine material in which were a charming set of plants. It is quite easy to excavate a part of the rock garden, preferably with a slight slope to carry surplus water from the bottom to a depth of two feet. Make the bottom firm by treading and lay about a foot of rough drainage consisting of large stone with smaller ones on top. Add on the top of this about eight inches of fine soil, of sand loam, or leaf soil, loam and sand in about equal proportions, and supply fine gravel or stone chips for a surface. The small chips are used for surfacing tarred roads are suitable and, roughly speaking, gravel about the size of a thumb nail or less, will answer admirably for the top. Gravel from a river, stream bed or the seashore will do. A few larger stones rising a little above the surface will add to the appearance of this small moraine. THE VICTORIA REGIA. One of the most interesting plants in the Royal Gardens at Kew is the giant "water lily," Victoria Regia. Its wonderful flowers and foliage command the admiration of all who see it. It is a native of Guiana, where it covers large areas of rivers and lagoons. Its introduction to Kew was full of difficulties and it was tried many times without success. Seeds were received in 1846, and two of them germinated, but neither matured. In 1849 more seeds were sent, in water, and the resultant plants grew and flowered in 1850. The leaves were so large that they overlapped the edge of their tank and in 1852 a new house was specially constructed for the plant. The lily is really a perennial, but at Kew it was found best to save seeds every year and treat it as an annual. When mature the leaves are wonderful structures, often over six feet across with a vertical rim of about six inches. The undersides arc covered by a network of strong, spiny ribs, thus forming air pockets which support the leaf. The strength of the leaves varies with the credulity of the listener, but they can certainly support a tremendous weight if it is evenly distributed. It is quite common to hear that the leaves will bear a man standing on them, whether this is so or not must depend somewhat on the size of the man. Thero

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

R.E.A. (Auckland) writes: I have to be away for three weeks. Would you kindly Ml me If. It would be a benefit to strip my Runner Beans of all beans and flowers before I go. I thought it might conserve their vigour and prevent the plants from giving over cropping?— Yes, it would be a very good method, and you will probably find the plants will be all right by the time you return. PEGGY (Papatoetoe) writ?- T must thank you for the many valuable hints you give each week in Garden Notes. I have a vegetable garden, and this is my second season. I have just had a good crop of Peas and Cauliflowers, and the Onions are nearly ready to harvest. lam now wanting to know: (1) What manure to use now? (2) What vegetables to put in for winter?—(l) There is no particular manure to use at this time of the year. Of course the best manure to use is stable, cow or pig manure. Failing this, give the ground a dressing of superphosphate at the rate of about four ounces to the square yard. (2) At the present the weather conditions are too dry for sowing seeds, etc., but assuming that it will rain before long you coud sow Swedes, Turnips, Carrots, Spinach, Silver Beet, and plant Cabbage and Cauliflower, if you have more vacant ground than you can use sow a crop of Mustard or Oats and dig it in later as a green manure. HAKEA SALIGNA (Whakatane) asks the following questions:—(l) I intend planting a hedge of Hakea Saligna this winter. The ground has been broken in this summer and the soil is good. What preparation would the soil need this autumn, also what artificial manure could I dig Into the ground so as to give the plants a good gtart? (2) I Intend'to place the plants nine inches to a foot apart so as to en- -* sure a dense growth near the ground. Is this space right? (3) I intend planting - a patch of Strawberries. What preparation and manure can I apply in the meantime? (4) I have a few Hakea Saligna that were planted last winter. As " I would like to lift these plants what would be the best method —(1) The soil should only need breaking up and an application of blood and bone given just beore planting time. (2) Yes. (3) The ground should be dug at least two spits deep, or, if ploughing, it should be subsoiled. Superphosphate at the rate of about fifteen hundredweight to the acre, or three-quarters of a pound to the square vard; should be added about a month before planting. (4) The Hakea plants : will be quite easily moved. If your ground is ready, lift and plant these easly ' in autumn, or otherwise leave them till spring. MA. (Rcmucra) asks what to plant to have the garden gay in April and May and again in August? —ItJs very difficult to say what to plant this season, the weather is holding up planting, and consequently autumn plants will be late. Salvia splendens, Phlox, Drummondii, Petunias, Oelosias, Zinnias, if planted now should give a show during April and May, but a lot depends upon the weather. Anemones, Ten Week Stock, and bulbs of various kinds would give the beßt results about August. , 8.8. (Point Chevalier) sends a Tomato stem for examination. The plants are " fruiting and are apparently strong and healthy. In the diseased part is a little red worm, which I think is the actual cause. The first sign of the leaves withering denotes that the bark • has rotted away.—The trouble is caused apparently by some insect barking the stem. Try a good insecticide. Dust it on the ground around the plants, it will get rid of the insects and also any fungus that may be present. B. (Devonport) asks: (1) When would you recommend sowing Cineraria seed for early spring flowering? (2) Would seed do as well in open as under glass? (3) When should the seedlings be transplanted? (4) When is the best time to sow Pansy seed, also to transplant the **°wths at foot of the clumps? © W° u ld the latter do out in the sun? i- is£ you Procure the beßt Lettuce seed a hearted plant run to seed or r,ryLl. Btu , mp? C) What is the cause WhM^™i e * y S? burning brown. (8) nartw Carna tionß do you have to now ?*v Parent plant?—(l) Sow & kcpil nnr. Provided you kept the <af The Bj^Hn^" B ?^ a<led and moist h&ye t0 ■«» ***** must not te Wt '• crowded TheyJ^^^L, to **< open abtat April. out You corild pull the /* April, plant the young pi £ ces aud it can be done once the . thoroughly moist and (5) Yes. (C) From a hear?^^^ 00 In some varieties the V. 1 have a brown edge, but In your i may be due to mildew and the hot weatfce

HINTS ON GROWING CHRYSANTHEUUMS.

During this month growers will have to attend to their Chrysanthemum plot, whether they are to be grown in the ordinary way or for the purpose of producing large flowers. In either case stakes will have to be put to each plant, and it will be found at flowering time that three stakes to each plant is not too much. They should be placed at equal distances round the plant and about a foot from the centre or stem, so that when tying up before flowering there will be plenty of room for the flowers to develop properly. Where a single stake only is used, the stems have to be bunched and tied too tight, giving the plant a cramped appearance. Chrysanthemums that are grown for cut flowers, both large and small, were cut back about the end of November. This is done not because it is the best way to grow good flowers, although many of the best show blooms can be grown by this system, but to save time in tying up until it is really necessary to attend to this work. Time is everything in a place where an attempt is made to grow all flowers well. The old practice was by flowering time to liave many of tbe Japanese varieties about 6ft high. Now, by the cuttting back system, at flowering time we have just as good flowers, and not higher than 4ft, and in many varieties under 3ft. By growing them this way the beauty of the flowers can! be seen without having to have small steps handy, and considerable time is saved that can be devoted to othetf subjects in the early part of the season. If the young plants start into growth freely after being planted out, and this should be the case if the ground was properly prepared by manuring and deeply working, there should be no necessity for applying water until the present month, when growers must give attention in this and other matters pertaining to this culture. Where large or exhibition blooms are intended to be grown, it will be advisable early in the month to examine each plant, carefully rub off all badly formed shoots and select about six or eight to grow on. These should be of about an equal strength of growth, and presenting a healthy appearance, free of caterpillar trouble. These growths can be kept in an upright position by passing a tie ■ round the stakes, about a foot from the ground. From now until the coming into flower these selected growths must | be examined at least twice each week i to see that no caterpillars are eating ■ out the centres of the growth. The indi- | cations of this trouble are a few parj tides of black or brown dirt, really the I excrements of the tiny caterpillar in ' the point of growth. A British grower I some years ago gave the following adi vice:—When indications were seen that a growth was being destroyed by this , pest, the best way to stop it was to r kill the caterpillar first and then look 1 for it afterwards. The advice was good, because, when indications are seen, » the point of growth may not yet be e damaged, and may possibly be saved, | and again, if one were to look for the i caterpillar before killing it, unless very r quick of eyesight, it could easily be ? missed; as soon as one commences to o look and touch the leaves, the enemy " will have disappeared, dropped by a ? web to the ground. To v make certain s- of a capture, gently squeeze the poinl y of growth, and in moat cases it will b< * found the caterpillar is crushed. About i.i the middle of February a watch musl «l, be kept for the flower buds showing anc v disbudding must be attended to. A 1 s buds round the centre or crown bud musi r. be taken out right down each shoot y if the work be attended to properly, I It few hours each week will keep th :r. work well in hand.

is a popular belief that the lily flowers j only once and then dies, but, actually, it flowers -frequently during the summer, each flower lasting two or three days. The flowers are white, changing to pink, have a strong scent and are about a foot across. When the flower fades the seed pod sinks and matures its seeds under water. Whether it would be possible to grow this lily outside around Auckland I cannot say but certainly if a pond or basin large enough to accommodate it could be obtained it would be interesting to give it a trial Certainly the climate during summer would be warm enough, the only doubt would be whether the spring would be warm enough to give the plant a sufficiently early start to enable it to mature seeds before autumn. There is certainly no chance of it becoming a weed and it would certainly be a great attraction in any public park if it could be grown.

PIGMY TREES FOR THE ROCK GARDEN.

Trees or large shrubs, as a general rule, are out of place in the rock garden unless it is of an exceptionally large area. There are, however, some Pines, Firs, Cedars, and Shrubs of small stature that lend themselves to positions on the rockery, providing, of course, that they are not overdone. The most picturesque of all Shrubs for the rock garden are the Pigmy Conifers; they are so admirably in keeping with the rest of the scheme—the rocky peaks and promontories and Alpine dells—and add greatly to the illusion, for that is really what the rock garden is—an attempt to reproduce a piece of mountain scenery in miniature. The Pigmy Spruce are especially suitable. They form somewhat rounded little trees, varying iff height from one to three feet, and give one the impression that they are true mountain trees dwarfed by exposure of Alpine heights. In fact, similar shrubs are to be found at high elevations. Some of the Spruces suitable are: Picea excelsa and its varieties glolosa nana, compacta, dumosa, and pygmaea. Or one may have little Pines, e.g., Pinus montana and Pin us edulis; together with the Dwarf Cypresses, prostrate Juniper (Juniperus Sabina prostrata) and J. comunis tamariscifolia; and the Dwarf Yew Taxus baccata ericoides.

ROSES AFTER EARLY FLOWERING.

As soon as blooms on Roses commence to fade they should be removed. Directly the earliest blooms are over the growths carrying such should be shortened back several inches, which will encourage the issue of new shoots and later blooms. The portions removed, if choice varieties, could be prepared and inserted - as cuttings in some shady corner, allowing their base to rest on sand by dropping a quantity in each hole before -insertion.

By autumn many will be rooted, and will be nice bushes in a couple of seasons. Immediately after such shortening back, treat the beds to a good watering with liquid manure or a top-dressing and a good hoeing. The most suitable top-dressing would be one part each oS well-decayed manure, loam and leaf mould, with a scattering of some patent manure.' By this means the trees would be greatly benefited. lettuce. February often finds many gardens without a really good example of lettuce in them, and however highly we may regard our salad plants, none seems to take the place of tie Lettuce. If good heavy Lettuce are to be obtained, the planting should never be too near other crops or under the shade of trees. Plenty of room must bo allowed between the rows, and the plants should be at least a foot apart. Whenever transplanting has to be done while the soil is still dry, water the rows previous to any disturbance of the roots, and alwavs use a small fork for lifting the plants from the drills. Select only the strongest and best-rooted plants, bury considerably deeper than they were in the seed bed, and unless a good rain is likely to follow, give plants a thorough soaking of water. Keep the ground well stirred with a Dutch hoe, and directly hearts are forming give rows a generous supply of liquid manure, and, if possible, mulch between the rows or near the plants with short stable manure. CHRYSANTHEMUM MAJESTIC. A writer iu a London journal, referring to the variety "Majestic," says: There 13 variety to-day that so dominates a - Chrysanthemum show as does this referring particularly to tlie competitive groups. In the case of a number of amateur productions, indeed, if the r. let ? r Verc tak . en awa > r there would be little left of merit from a culture standpoint. There are two Majesties, the type and the red, and next year the yellow form should get iu the hands of most folk interested. Each is easy to grow, and towards autumn, at any rate will stand a great amount of stimulating, lae developments are magnificent in [ most instances, and if from 101n each way in sue they do not strike one a* being coarse. The inclination to varv in colour on a plant should lead to other forms than the two named, and anvi thing from the source would prove wel7 D . e - is said to have originated through pollen of the crimson Thos Lunt and the white Queen Mary, the I seed parent. J

THE CHRYSABWn^^^iI The "London Evening BtaaJ§|fr*'|llljft its readers a very account of the National Society's Show, held November. "So large the giant show varieties of -c£2aSll® mu&s become as a result <( |Hp tivation, that they now hateSSaßf--shingled and curled before ♦W'fßfe"' before a judge. A visitor to SSI®! Show of the National Society, held at the feSSSßifcultural Hall, Vincent Bqtu» fe" minster, saw these giant jSSgll the finishing touches put totsr|£§fcp| Everywhere were growers laiSS&i petals with little snipping off an unruly ?§ there. The petals had Vta before they arrived at the halicSlllt of the blooms were thirty indies iT®® cumference, and three of more than sufficient to fill vases, twenty-two indies eighteen inches high. been such a fine show of (Jn-? mums here, in spite of the bed iZ2SII we have had. One expert ttidaSl were no fewer than 10,000 blooms in the show, of a colour. Some had long he»i«l« were clean-shaven, some werlfipSiflt as Cabbages, while others larger than Brussels Sprouts. "faKi • , • t