H.B. Garden Guide

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 270, 29 October 1932, Page 3

H.B. Garden Guide

(By

Leonard A. Griffiths.

“There is to the poetical sense a ravishing prophecy and winsome intimation in flowers.” —Tuckerman. THE FLOWER GARDEN Chrysanthemums: The weather conditions are now ideal for planting out “Mums,” and an immediate start is advisable if early blooms are expected. In procuring fresh plants obtain from a reliable source and plant only the best. Quality, not quantity, should be your aim. Place the stakes deeply in the ground and set the plants alongside. Press the soil firmly round the roots. Dahlias: Prepare the ground to receive the dahlia tubers or shoots at an early date. If dividing up old stools be sure each tuber has at least one good eye. They are gross feeders and a mixture of potash and blood and bone should be thoroughly mixed into the soil and left ready for the plants to be set early in November. Summer Sweet Peas: Where is the gardener who does not love sweet peas? Every garden, however small, produces a few. The seed of the Spencer frilled varieties may be sown at once in well-manured and deeply dug trenches. Where a colour scheme is required the seed may be procured in separate colours or a mixture of all shades. Plant the seeds from six to nine inches apart, no closer, as the young seedlings just choke each other out and the strongest prevails which is generally the colour we do not want. Annuals for Quick Display: Most gardeners like to set annuals and see them flower almost the following day. Here are some varieties that, if set now, will flower almost the next day: Dwarf French marigolds, Iceland poppies, pansies, nemesia, primula, malacoides, antirrhinum, violas and cinerarias. Beds should be left for the hosts of late spring and summer flowering .species. Tuberous Begonias: 'These popular bulbrous plants are now sending up their spring shoots, and should be potted up in leaf mould and sand. Be sure that plenty of drainage is placed at the bottom of the pot, otherwise the soil will turn sour.

Rex begonias should be watered with liquid manure to promote fresh growth.