GARDEN NOTES

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 189, 12 May 1928, Page 28

GARDEN NOTES

|By

“Kowhai.”)

DAHLIAS.

Dahlia plants may be lifted as soon its they have finished flowering, and if they are heeled in in a spare part of the vegetable garden until the leaves die off the tubers will get the benefit of the food that is in the leaves and stems. If the soil is well drained and the ground not wanted for vegetables during winter, the dahlias may later be cut back and left there until it is time to replant. If the tubers have to be lifted from the vegetable, garden and stored for the winter they' may be placed in a shed or linden the shelter of a thick hedge, and if they are well covered with sand will keep pliwip until planting time. .Sand is bettfjc Than soil for covering the tubers where they, are exposed to wet, for when the young shoots “start” in spring they often rot off if covered with damp oil that is at all rich in humus. In damp sand this does not happen. CHRYSANTHEMUMS.

Many of the plants are already sending up young shoots from the base. Where shoflt, sturdy ones are available I like to take them now, 'without any roots attached, and to plant them in a sunny, yell-drained nursery bed. If these enttings are kept growing steadily and are pinched several times, they will be fine young plants by the end of the winter. PERENNIAL PHLOXES. Perennial phloxes should be attended

to as soon as possible. Phloxes should be lifted and broken up, health}' pieces from the outside being planted firmly iu well-enriched ground. To get the best results the plants should bo given a new situation each year. The ground should be trenched, and should >be well enriched with thoroughly decayed manure. The plants,, when well treated, make such a wonderful display in the late summer garden that it is worth an effort to grow them well. MICHAELMAS DAISIES.

Michaelmas daisies are such gross feeders that to get the best results the plants should be lifted and replanted iu rich soil each year. It is best to do this as soon as.thb plants ate cut back after flowering. Lift the old clumps and dig out for each- new one a hole about one foot deep and about fifteen inches wide. Place about two spadefuls of manure in the bottom of each hole, and then fill up again with soil. If from the old clump you carefully pull away the outside flowering stems they will come away with roots attached and round each old flowering stem will be several young shoots. Place three stems round the edges of each new hole to form good-sized clumps for the autumn. This way of planting Michaelmas daisies gives much better results than if the old clump is broken up into pieces, and a piece (usually containing two or three old flowering stems) planted in the middle of each hole. The work is quickly and easily done while the flower border is undergoing its early winter tidy-up. • ANTIRRHINUMS. Antirrhinums that are planted out as seedlings -just now will make fine flowering plants for the spring. They should have their tops pinched off before winter sets' in, and this forces them to become bushy plants that should bear several strong, well-formed spikes of bloom. If dead flowers are promptly cut.off, antirrhinums have a very long flowering season, and this helps to make them popular garden plants. The colours of the flowers of up-to-date strains are exquisite.

Antirrhinums are gross feeders, and the ground should be well prepared before the seedlings are put out. Even in a very dry part of the garden they will make a brilliant show provided the soil has been well dug and enriched. The individual spikes of bloom will not be so fine, but the effect of the massed plants in bloom will be very bright. Nurserymen. have strong seedlings ready now, or seed may be sown in seed tlllS.

DOG'S TOOTH VIOLETS. Dog s tooth violets (erythroniums) are charming for a cool shadv corner of u rock garden. They arc quite hardy and may be left undisturbed for manv years. The soil should be light, well drained, and yet rather moist.

Dog’s tooth violets need not: be grown only hi the rock garden, for patches of them may be planted in damp but well-drained parts of the border, e,specially where they receive summer shade from a deciduous tree.

For growing where trees shade, but do not overhang the garden, the variety erythronium Americanum is splendid. POTENTILLAS. Potentillas flower over a long period, and are really attractive garden plants. Several plants should form a group to (get the best effect. They should be planted towards the front of the border two feet apart, and instead of being tied tidily up, should be allowed to spread out well. The effect is charming. , The soil should be deeply dug and well enriched. Potentillas arc among the hardiest of plants and their flowers are very welcome during the autumn months. Among varieties, potcntilla nepalansis, with deep pink flowers, is one of tiie ' best. It is also very free flowering, Potentilla aurea .is a tiny hut very choice variety for the rock garden. It has small bright golden yellow Cowers. ROUTINE WORK. . Keep anemone beds well weeded. ' As soon as flower buds begin pushing up give the plants weak soot .water once a week. Cut back plants of catmint (nepeta) and veronica prostrata, ’caving only the young shoots that are now springing from the centre.

The flower buds of Christmas roses (helleborus) are showing. The plants may be given weak soot water occasionally. Plants of perpetual flowering carnations that have grown too much to old wood may be cut hard back. Rooted cuttings of carnations may be planted out in well-drained ground. Chrysanthemums still need disbudding. Keep, the plants well staked, and the soil about them well stirred.

Ivy-leafed geraniums that are growing against fences should be attended to. Eong young growths should be trained into place. Some of the older growths should be cut hard back, and many others "shortened. Plants that arp growing at the edges of banks and cement walls should have long growths shortened to induce bushy growth. Doronicums may still be lifted, broken up. and replanted in soil to which a little sand and bonedust have been added. As soon as summer and autumn flowering plants are lifted the soil where they arc growing should be deeply dug, and should have decayed rubbish or manure worked into it. i VEGETABLES. Ground that is to be used for potai toes is all the better for being prepared ' now. and the surface may be left rough. ’ If the soil is turned lightly over onee or I twice during the next two months it should be in splendid condition by the I time the potatoes are put in. Push the soil towards cabbages and cauliflower plants as you hoe between the rows. This slight, earthing up. is a great help to the plants. Examine the plants after wind or stormy weather, to see if they have worked a hole about the stems. If they have, make the soil firm about them again. , Peed greens regularly with nitrate of soda, lox. to one gallon water. Seeds that may be sown are:—Cabbage, lettuce, carrots, broad beans," and dwarf peas. "