GARDEN NOTES PERENNIALS FORM BASIS OF GOOD SUMMER DISPLAY

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27795, 21 October 1955, Page 8

GARDEN NOTES PERENNIALS FORM BASIS OF GOOD SUMMER DISPLAY

[Specially Written for “The Press”!

[By

T. D. LENNIE.

AH.RIH., N.Z.I

Friday. October 21, 1955. With the conditions so favourable this spring season, it is reasonable to presume that gardening work will be well up to date and permit attention to planting up the borders for the important summer and autumn display. A maximum choice of varieties of bedding plants can now be made, but the claims of the all important perennials must not be overlooked for they form the backbone of any worthwhile display with annuals filling the minor place. In herbaceous perennials, are included most of the best cut flower plants, and to prove this one has only to mention—scabious Blue Mountain Heleniums in browns and yellows, cerberas in many bright shades of yellow pink and red, Michaelmas Daisy in pinks and blues, rudbeckia, the giant yellow daisy flower, perennial phlox—most desirable of summer garden plants, cinerarias for cool shaded positions, hollyhock and delphinium for the back row, carnations, pansies, aquilegias and several others. Chrysanthemums, dahlias and gladiolus can be added to the list, for no garden is complete without a good proportion of these essentials.

If it is intended to improve the quality of dahlia stools planted for some years, these should be lifted and divided without delay. It will be easy to do this without damage, as they will fall apart with little effort. Division will greatly improve flowering qualities and allow manured soils to be provided. Much the same applies to chrysanthemums for in both cases, prolific growth and flowering can be taken to mean a reduction in quality. When it comes to filling up the borders with bedding plants, it is perhaps superfluous to mention any because we have reached the stage when maximum choice can be made. The main point of interest is to choose varieties to suit the position—tall growers at the back of wide borders, with the more moderate in front or in mass on grass lawns. Very fine effects are obtained by planting in this way. Petunais, verbenas. Iceland poppy, phlox Drummondii, and geranium being well suited to this form of display. The old favourites still bulk largely in these plantings. Beauty stocks and antirrhinums have been much improved in colour and habit, and their charm is recognised. Salvia bonfie makes a vivid splash in late summer, and with asters and marigolds, can now be planted. Popular plants, ideal as showy cut flowers, are the dwarf Paris tree daisies, growing 2ft to 3ft high profuse in their long stemmed daisy flowers in white, yellow and pink, with the double forms very graceful indeed. Before planting stocks, asters, and zinnias it would be as well to sterilise the soil about a week before. Jeyes fluid, Restar, or formalin, one teaspoon to a gallon of water, well saturating the soil, should be effective in checking that troublesome wilting disease, which arises from soil germs. Antirrhinum are suspect this year for a reason somewhat similar, but in this case they should not be sown or planted in the same position as last year* Flower seeds of all kinds can be sown freely. Out of doors, asters and zinnias thrive happily without transplanting and seldom take wilt disease if not root broken. Many choice flowers can be sown outside now with confidence provided a nice clean weedfree position is chosen. Outstanding strains of stocks, carnation, primrose, pansy, polyanthus, Russell lupins, delphinium, primula, cineraria, cyclemen, petunia, aquilegia, sown now will give much delight next season. Sweet peas can be sown. Autumn sown plants should be given good supports to prevent stems bending over before the top is reached. They should also be given help by plenty of compost mulch and a good weekly watering. Lawn making and repairs should be pushed on. Seed should germinate quickly now. But make sure a good level is obtained by treading and raking. Weeds in the lawn can easily be destroyed by spraying one of the hormone chemical aids. They can be applied either in powder or liquid form and take effect quickly, causing a total clearance of most broad-leaved weeds within 14 days. Grass is toxic to the hormone, hence a lawn can be rendered weedless without injury to the grass. One thing is proved and reasonable—that the drier months of summer give best results. Hormones are not generally effective during the wet and cold season, because weed? then have greater powers of resistance Aphis and greeft fly will be evident on carnations, roses and other plants Spray to control, using kattakilla or nicotine sulphate. Mildew will b r apparent on rose foliage. The be® remedy is Bordeaux or cosan. and thi should be snrayed on as early pf possible for the spray film is an ip surance against further infection. VEGETABLE GARDEN

This month should see supplies for winter ensured, as transplants' should be put out for New Year if possible. Savoy, broccoli, brussell’s sprouts, drumhead cabbage. leeks, celery, deleriac, Kohl rabi, swede, curlefi kale all are worth growing for the winter scarcity.

Early planted potatoes are showing through. As frosts are still due, the shoots should be lightly covered with earth. This process can be followed for the rest of this month to avoid the risk

of damage. The main planting of potatoes can now be made. There is no need to delay this operation. Plant Aucklander, Inverness. Arran Banner, Dakota, Chippewa or King Edward. Keep up supplies of peas by sowing maincrop sorts such as Greenfeast, Onward or Stratagem. See that the early rows are lightly earthed up and staked. No time should liow be lost in getting in the main lines of most vegetable crops, for the element o£ danger for tender things has about Sassed, and risks can be taken. French eans and scarlet runners are “must for most households. Both need well drained soils, rich in manure or compost. Failing either, place a good layer of superphosphate, 4oz to the yard row, three inches under the seeds, and well mixed into the soil. The dwarf beans should be sown in a double row, seeds three inches apart. Runners need more room and a single row of seeds spaced six inches apart would be about right. The runner bean is perennial, forming root tubers which in certain positions start again and do not need to be resown, but m most cases do not survive the winter frosty Pumpkin, vegetable marrow and sweet corn should now be sown, giving each sufficient room to expand. Sow the corn in a double row with the seeds 9in apart, and allow for future supnorts along the row. Sow a row of lettuce thinly for thinning as required, also cabbage and cauliflower for autumn use. Carrot growing presents difficulties to many, and this applies particularly where sown in confined gardens liable to dry out in summer. As for peas, a naturally moist rich soil will give good results. To check oarrot fly, start soon after germination with a smear of hortnap along both sides of the row and spray nicotine as soon as little white specks show on the seedlings. The spinach family contributes a lot to the home garden supply. The quickest to come in is the round leaved or summer, which must be used when young, as it soon goes to seed. If, however, the perpetual variety or New Zealand type is also sown, the supply will bje extended through winter. , , , Silver beet is another kitchen favourite, and grows more green leaf matter than any other vegetable, and is always ready for a quick meal. There are two types—one the ordinary yellow-tinted Lucullus, and the broad leaved white or Swiss Chard. Asparagus can be cut daily or as required. The cut should be made underground, not high up, to leave a profusion of dried stalks or small thin shoots. * Tomatoes can now be planted freely in prepared positions of good soil reinforced with compost or manure. There are many proved varieties now available. Good 4ft high stakes should be placed ready at planting time. FRUIT GARDEN Spraying of stone fruit trees can be resumed. Leaf curl on peach and nectarine must be watched. If the leaf curl is only slight, much the best course is to go over the tree and pick off, for burning, the infected red; crinkly leaves. Then spray with either lime sulphur or Bordeaux liquid. Be also on the watch for distorted young plum fruits, as a result of the disease (bladder plum). The branches I or buds carrying these should be rubbed or cut off, as the best remedy, before spraying. The vine and also walnut trees should be given a Bordeaux spray. Aople and pear trees promise a good setting this season, ana to ensure a clean crop, it would be wise to treat them also with lime sulphur or Bordeaux spray and follow with arsenate of lead to control codim moth. This spray should reach the little apples soon after they have formed. The Bordeaux spray is for control of black-spot and mildew. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS Constant Reader, Beckenham. —It is the natural habit of the Lilac when grown on its own roots to develop a thick top with little undergrowth. With the modern type, grafted or budded on to Privet, a mere dwarfed growth is produced. You can somewhat improve the habit of your shrub by cutting it severely back next winter. It should then break again in the spring, but it will be two years or more before a flowering stage is reached again. Cork Elm, Fendalton.—l still think sawing off the suckers well below the surface the easiest way to control those elm suckers. A poison liquid like murton’s or sodium chlorate could be used to paint the suckers, but care would have to be taken not to allow adjoining foliage to be wetted. Wellwisher, Greymouth.—Your interesting specimens are:—(l) Campanula glomerata—the Chinese Bellflower. (2) Jonquila gracilis—the dainty jonquil. Reader, Lakeside. —Black spot on pear foliage—often due to atmospheric or root dampness—calls for a Bordeaux spraying at once.

N.Z. Film Director Honoured.—The New Zealand film director, Michael Forlons, and the British writer, David Howarth, are to be made knights of the Norwegian Order of St. Olav at a' ceremony at the Norwegian Embassy in London. They worked together on the British-Norwegian film “The Shetland Bus,” relating the wartime exploits of Norwegian sailors who ran fishing boats between the Shetlands and occupied Norway during the war.—London, October 19.