BLOSSOM TIME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 180, 1 August 1935, Page 5

BLOSSOM TIME.

AN EARLY SPRING? AUCKLAND INDICATIONS. GARDEN «CASUALTIES." Blossom time in Auckland is fast approaching. Already around the suburbs can be seen a few peach and nectarine trees garbed in varying tones of pink. Indications, according to the experts, are in favour of an early spring, although officially that season does not begin until September 23.

At the present time gardens are generally drab, most of them pathetically so. Apart from Iceland poppies, popular varieties of house flowers are extremely rare, although the stately daffodils are steadily coming into their own. Among plante put in for early spring flowering, the wet weather has played havoc, and heavy casualties have been Buffered in the ranks of stocks, antirrhinums and nemesia. Where plants have wilted some enthusiasts have bravely tried to preserve the good appearance of their beds by transplanting, but mostly the task hae been a disheartening one. Growers of the Spanish iris have viewed the many wet days of the past two months with mixed feelings, seeing this popular variety of iris thrives splendidly through the rainy season while plants beside them have succumbed to the various garden ailments that invariably come with a long wet. spell. Planting at a Standstill. Over the past two months planting has been at a standstill. In many cases the condition of the ground has made working impossible, while where beds hp.ve been prepared the continual wet has oonvinced the most optimistic

enthusiast that young plants will have to make a stern fight to survive. It was mentioned in last Saturday's "Gardening Xotes" that planting operations were entirely suspended while the ground was so wet, and that any seedlings ready for planting should be held until the weather improved. Provided that the weather during the new month, which began to-day with brillant sunshine, is in happier mood than it was in July, the work of stimulating sodden plots and borders will be pushed ahead and next month the planting of annuals will commence in earnest.

Although it has been unusually wet, the present winter so far has been comparatively mild and frosts have caused little worry. Last month no frost at all was registered at the Albert Park observatory, although it twice made its appearance in the suburbs. In the next two months "old Jack" is likely to be about, and those amateur gardeners who have high hopes of their cineraria making a brave display will need to be on their guard. This particular variety of annual is wide open to the slashing blows of a frost and the good work of months can be wiped out overnight. If beds are not over large the plants can be protected by newspapers or light scrim, provided the frost can be "smelt" coming. A suburban gardening enthusiast said this morrrfng that no frost would follow a night on which any cloud could be seen in the sky and added the warning that no protection should 'be given plants unless a frost seemed certain, as an unexpected wind would often cause the coverings to damage the plants.

It was pointed out by a city seedsman that the wet winter .did not necessarily mean that gardens would be particularly gay in the spring and summer, as Auckland soil was not a good holder of moisture. In past years a wet winter had often been followed by an unusually dry summer, which had told as heavily against the garden as continual wet. But the average home gardener is nothiii", if not an optimist and groans about parched plots can be left till the drought arrives.