GEUMS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 42, 13 November 1936, Page 16

GEUMS

Easily Raised From Seed Geum Mrs. Bradshaw (scarlet) and Lady Stratheden (yellow) are two names to conjure with in every mixed border. They are so easily raised from seed that the money available for spending in your garden might well go for other things, while you use but a few coppers for the geum seed. The plants belong to a family that must be humoured a bit in the early stages. You do them best, for instance, when you sow them in pure leaf-mould, and it is done in this way. Place your seed bed in a sunny spot, fork it a foot deep in the usual way, get a good fine, firm finish, and draw Jin. deep drills 4in. apart. At the bottom of each drill place a Jin. layer of sifted leaf-mould. Then sow the seed thinly, cover It with Jin. of leaf-mould and fill up with finely-sieved soil. In very quick time for perennials the seedlings are through, and being drilled, are so liable to early congestion that you must be prompt with planting into nursery beds.

Here again make leaf-mould your stand-by. Plant 6in. apart, and when the rosettes form, take care that no soil crumbs wash or work into them, otherwise you will lose the growing point and the plant with it. Flowering is very precocious. In fact,' it may be necessary to nip out buds before autumn to prevent the plants wasting their vitality. In early November mulch with an inch layer of leaf-mould.