HOLLYHOCKS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 106, 7 May 1931, Page 20

HOLLYHOCKS

METHOD OF PROPAGATION

EASY AND SATISFACTORY

NOTICE TO READERS.

This column Is Intended principally for gardeners with small plots, and the aim is to make It as practical and useful as possible. Inquiries on any matter of gardenIng Interest will be welcomed. The rule for correspondence is that all communications must be accompanied by the name and address of tho writer, not for publication, but as a guarantee of flood (ailh. This rule will be strictly adhered to. This Is your column—make use of it.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. "Topped Trees.I.'—The tree you mention, "Cupressu3 Lawsoniana," may quito safely be toppod. This variety is used very largely for hedges and shelters, and stands cutting better than many.

."C.F." To eradicate 'Tain' Hing" . fungus from your lawn, the following .method is advocated by the Department. of Agriculture. First, go over the lawn with a fork and lightly loosen it up. When the soil of the lawn is moist, apply a solution of sulphate of Iron at a strength of lib to 1% gallons of water. Two applications at half strength should bo given at fortnightly intervals. In making the applications tho mixture should be spread a foot or two beyond the part affected. Sulphato of iron ;ls somewhat difficult to dissolve, but if the crystals are placed in an enamelled bath and boiling water poured, over them the dissolving will not take so Jong. Cutting out the affected part from the lawn would be effective if ■■■- the excavation extended sufficiently far and deep enough to got all the roots of the fungus, but It would be a very long Job, and the affected soil would be difficult to got rid of. fA.M."— (1) To move the silver trees of the size you mention, viz., two to four feet high, may be somewhat risky. You should follow tbo directions given lower down. In any case you will need to move them with a ball of soil attached. There Is not likely to be sufficient frost to damage them. (2) There are two trees known as strawberry trees—Arbutus unedo, which has round fruits the size of cherries, but which are rough, something like a strawberry, and Benthamla fragifera,- which has large fruits somewhat like strawberries. Both are evergreen. They may both be raised from seed gown when ripe, but It is doubtful whether It would be worth while, as It would take many years for them to come to maturity. Either may be obtained from any nurseryman at from 2s 6d to 3s 6d. (3) Hydrangeas are rather uncertain things to pick. Some keep quite well, while others in apparently exactly the same state, picked at the same time, and treated iden- ; tically, will droop at once. Young, immature flowers are most likely to wither than mature ones. The trusses will last quite well when picked quite, short, only .having the soft young wood, but the blooms are ; not much use like that. I have sometimes found that crushing the stems helps to make them last longer.

A very easy and satisfactory way of raising a new stock of hollyhocks is to propagate from buds. The procedure is as follows: Select the greeneat stems and cut them into as many pieces as there are joints, one joint to each piece. They need not carry entire leaves. It is quite sufficient if a couple of inches of the leaf stalk remains. Split each piece down the middle, one side retaining the whole of the leaf stalk, and—which is of great importance—the uninjured basal bud which is tucked away at the junction of leaf stalk and the plant stem. The other half is no use, so can be thrown away. Now scrape out the soft pith in the centre of the split portion. These preparations completed, each piece is planted an inch deep, in sand or sandy ■soil,' in a cold frame, which must I be kept closed, or in air open border under a handlight. The tiny bud, in each case, must be below the soil, the part of the leaf stalk protruding marking where it is. The bud will soon commence to push and make roots. The resulting plants will be vigorous as seedlings, with the added- advantage that they are certain to come true to sort. • PRUNING TREES AND SHRUBS. Each year a certain amount of overhauling is necessary with all trees and shrubs. Any dead wood should be removed from them, for if allowed to re-

main it will spread disease and probably cause further decay among living branches. The (load pieces should bo cut away cleanly, close lo the main stem or well back to where they join a live branch, the cut surface afterwards being pared quite smooth so that it will quickly heal. A knife or secateurs should boused where possible, and where a saw lias to be resorted to the outer edge of the cut should be smoothed off with a sharp knife. Having eliminated the dead wood, the general pruning of the subject can be attended to,, all cutting, however, being done with a definite purpose in view, that is, to keep the shrub within bounds, so that it does not spoil its neighbours or infringe on a flower bod, path, or lawn,'or to improve its shape. If need be, most shrubs can bo reduced to half their size, but in such cases the cutting must be carefully done, the older branches being taken off low down so that their stumps are hidden by the younger tips of what remains. With all shrubs and trees, save smallleaved things, such as box or yew, which are not injured or' made unsightly when cut with the shears, .pruning should be done with knife or secateurs so that no bruised stems or halves of leaves are left on the shrubs.

Nearly all evergreen shrubs can be safely pruned at the present time,-but if very drastic cutting is desirable, such as lowering a holly or laurel hedge. by several feet or trimming a shrub nearly'to the ground because it has become unwieldy or bare at. the base, the best time for doing the work is in the spring, when all fear of hard frost is past; Flowering shrubs that bloom'in the spring upon their old growths should be left unpruned until after they have flowered; but all well-established varieties that bloom on new growths in the summer and autumn will bear a little present-time pruning. ; Young shrubs which havo not filled their allotted space should not, of course, be cut, except where it is necessary to regulate the shape. r . A flowering shrub,that has. failed to. produce flowers can of ten be; made floriferous by thinning the branches a little," the weakest being taken out and the" strongest left at full length to become properly ripened and so produce flowers. The removal of suckors from such shrubs as lilac.is important. They will often fail to bloom for many years if the suckers are not suppressed. TRANSPLANTING TREES OR "SHRUBS. ' It is sometimes desirable to transplant specimen evergreens, an opera-, tion which will require some care and forethought, if it is to be carried out successfully. .Where specimeni, evergreen trees which were planted, say, ten or,,twelve years ago, or yew. or box hedges twenty years. of I age or more, have to be transplanted, special preparation is necessary before attempting to move them. In the first place it will be desirable to dig a deep trench half-way round the tree from four to five feet from the main stem, and then to undermine it, severing all the roots. When this operation is completed, fill in the trench again and, should the soil be poor, place rich compost near the roots that have been severed, to encourage the production of fibrous roots. If-all goes well with''the subject under treatment the remaining portion of the root system may be dealt with similarly in early autumn, and the tree then transplanted. Whore yew or box hedges have to be moved, 'trenches should be dug on both sides of the hedge, the .roots severed, and the trenches filled1 with good-soil in preparation for transplanting ;the ing, season;- The best time ■ for'.trans-. planting .evergreen trees or shrubs is in early autumn or late spring.—-From the "Gardener's Chronicle."