Gardening Notes

Hutt News, Volume 3, Issue 26, 20 November 1930, Page 9

Gardening Notes

CARNATIONS.

Tii© are few flowers more deserving •f culture than the carnation. Their diversity' and brillaney of colouring, com-bined ■with. their Boft foil of glorious grey-green .grass, are markedly effective j and few plants are capable of giving a "brighter and more pleasing picture in the light aa& graceful habit of their growth. ->t f+T Are well adapted for cultivation -\ i* fhs aad garden or for exhibitions. jE staacl of these first-class flowers, well inait&ed and displayed, appeals with «T6r-powexing force to an educated eye. All carnations, picottes and cloves ori--gloated from on© species-—Diantjhus Caryophyllus. The aromatic-scented, doable-flcxw.ered sel£-eolourod variety ..-'be , ing known. in the' past as cloves. The .<" old florist, for tho convenience of ex- • inhibition purposes, divided theni 'into ■ three distinct classes —bizarres, flake's and eelfs. i Bizarres.—Two or more, colours on coloured ground—crimson, scarlet and jink. J Flakes.—'Pure, ground, one .'colour — ecarlet,. purple and rose. Selfs.—-One colour in any shade, the .more defined the better. * . . _', • ISqt garden decoration and foi supply ■ing oat flowers, carnations are -iridispens -t>3)le. Being easy of cultivation, especially the "border varieties, and.;within the xeacK of all flower-lovers> and well Suited for town and suburban, gardens, One <£ the best English types for winter flowering is the pure iwMte floral Of robust habit, and free bloomer, broad. •smooth petals, and large blooms,.

The Ibeautif xd carnation and pieotees mow raised are a great advance in size, eribstance, form and length of pod on the older varieties. The last is^ one of tte most important points to be coneidered, especially for iborder varieties. which include all classes —selfs, flakes, tnzarres, fancies and pieotees. Nearly ail these have a tendency to "burst the tealyx, and this at times produce ragged bloome. The formation of the foud should be carefully considered in selecting seedlings. Says one raiser: "There •is no reliance to be placed on tie variety that always produces short, TOHmd ttnnt-headed buds, such usually toeing confirmed ''bursters.' A sort that* pTt>.-; r ■duees a long bud, the pod or calyx- be-^ ing about three times as long as its is generally a non-burster, and such alone is worthy of being selected from amongst seedlings as a border carnation."

. The plants from whieli the modern carnation has sprung^ are not with us to-day, jot' we should see as great a contrast between them, as between the did and new chrysanthemum.. During the last 25 years great strides havp been made. In the early eighties, perfection was supposed to have beennearly reached; new sorts being few and far between. They were mostly limited to show sorts, such as bizarres, flakes and white ground pieotees.

The carnation as a garden flower was little grown, and yellow grounds wer,e little known; selfs were not very highly.esteemed. Now, selfs and, yellow grounds are in the ascendant, the more pronounced the better.

T>wo great growers of the -past were Mr. Dodwell and Mr. Wm. Mr. ©odwell grew carnations with tlie object of securing a certain number of .•flowers conforming to a fixed florist standard; he was highly successful. Mr IBobinson gave an impetus to tlie carnation as a garden flower, ihe cared not «. for florist standards. His aim was a hardy, vigorous free-blooming plant, capable of giving a good garden (effect; he taught the great value of selfs ifor garden decorations, and search! for .varieties that did not split their calyx.

.But the greatest lift to carnation came with the seedlings of Mr. Martin Smith, a wealthy English gentleman, who was struck by the beauty of some carnations he saw, and at once began to try his hand at cross-fertilisa-tion. The old standards fell before his ■victorious novelties, and were soon^forgotton. Mr. Smith handed his Bevelties ovex to Mr. Douglas, who offered them for sale. Their beauty won thousands of new lovers for the carnation.

Thus, wit&t the '"beginning of the 20th century, the carnation has been firmly established as ofi©. of the leading florist flowers, both in Bagland and America. Wonderful has its development been. Mnality has not been reached yet, tke Mature has in store for us varieties faT

surpassing even those now with us.

The closing years of the 19th century saw a considerable development in the cultivation of the "famous blush, coloured carnation—'Sou de la Mahn&ison— especially among our Scottish folk, who have ever been distinguished for the zeal with which they have followed the cultivation of these flowers, and also the pansy, auricula, hollyhocks and ranunculus. The popularity of the Malmaison carnation is partly due to tie largo size, good form and pure hues of the flowers; and partly to their remarkaibly ridh "perfume—the pure clovescent. And with these have come the American Variety, of which we nave heard so much of late. They aTe contesting the ground with t-he Mabnaisen. They have come to stay a while, the Malmaison only holds its own by its delightful perfumb and fine form.

Tho American varieties have large flowers and brilliant colours, with, delicious perfume borne. ,on long strong stems. These vigorous flower stalks are • a great feature Of the American- x«u;iety Tendering them valuaJble for ;decorating- . Florists of the old English school look witib. disdain on these ringed ed,ge carnations. But thousand of carnation lovers care nothing whether tlie petals of the carnation has smooth or wavy, whole or cut, edges, sg long as the colours are-vivid and tlwj perfume strong. Colours?of the pure .white, scarlet and pink are invariably prihie favourites, such as Mrs. T. W. Lawson;- but the gem is Enchantress, an exquisite flesh colour, very large'and of powerful clove fragrance, a winter and.spring bloomer. T&us says a great grower,; "Work for form and substance, and leaVe. colour to nature." ' . Much has been written and said in the past on the sirbject of dressing •flowers for exhibition; and it is not - even settled yet, for the R.ELS make provision for -dressed and undressed flowers in its'? schedule.. No flower is. ibetter adapted ifor this purpose than the carnation, and on no flower has the art been more practiced. Collars have always foeen severely criticised, and many fierce invectives and most pingent sarcasms have been launched at this pernicious practice—its critics declaring that exhibiting a flower with a '' ruff' '■ round its nek, is hollow, arti■fieial, and an Offence to good taste. Its" advocates declare that it is only when a bloom rests on a snow-iwhite base of cardboard that its true refinements are to be seen. Its votaries contend that art should be admitted to assist nature in creating beauty in flowers. As does the sculptor when, lie giyes to the shape less ; stone the ideality of Ms' genius, adding as long as art is known, so long will the art of dressing flowers /£ or exhibition be practiced. Ot&ers say: "Though it is better to aim at nonibursters, the time has not yet come when artificial aids can be entirely dispensed with," as the cause of many beautiful varieties splitting when grown to a good size is the mass of petals. Layering is the best means of. increasing good sorts of carnations —tout by this means we get nothing rieV. The natural means .of increase is by seed, tout variable and unexpected results accruing from, it, is its weakness. New" varieties are secured by this method, tiyat they cannot toe true. - , "The art of dressing arnations," aspracticed in 1830 is interestingly told Tby Dr. Hogg, in his treatise on the carnation. "We are told that a certain Kit, a 'barber by trade, was as noted for dressing flowers as wigs, that he could (both shave and lay a carnation to a nicety. The novice who trusted to Dante Nature to open, expand and perfect his flewers; were no niatch fdr this fellow. For he began where she let off, and perfected what she ihad left imperfect. To be proficient in this sorblime art of dressing flowers, proper instruments were required, consisting of a pair of brass or ivory etui, commonly called tweezers, and a small ivory bodkin. As soon as the guard-leaves drop, clap aT-j card on, and with your Ibodkin from time to time assist the -petal" in falling into their places, then place .a glass cap { over the blossom, to enable the leaves (by the warmth to expand freely. Shade the glass when the sun is out; take it off in the evening to expose the blooms to the air, lest by too much confinement they lose their lustre. Dissolve a little nitre of saltpetre in the-water before,, you put your flowers in it, this will help to stiffen t&e leaves. After they ,

nave been in the water ±of a couple of hours, take your tweezers and pull the guard-leaves quite round and circular, then place the second, third and f ourtlh. tier of petals in an imbricated form.-— that is, like slates upon a roof, or scales on a fish—a leaf covering each division" of the leaves in each row or tier, till they are all arranged in a convex form, like the "^outside of a Jome or cupolaj place the "bizarred and finely-

striped leaves in full sight, pluck out all white or self-coloured and superfluous dull leaves,- and those that will not lie, whirl with your bodkin into tih.e erotwn of the flower. Place them in the coolest part of the house, over water. Be careful that-the fissures ojt clefts down the sides of-the pod do not reach below the "bottom external, and that the gaiatd-leaves stand firm and support themselves ■without the card.' '