GARDENING NOTES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4871, 16 July 1936, Page 8

GARDENING NOTES

DECORATIVE CLIMBERS. The question of how best to remove such unsightly objects as dead trees and stumps is a problem that most gardeners have to face at some time or other. Many methods of dealing with them, apart from the laborious and costly business of extraction by the roots, are advocated, but none of these which involve treatment of the stump with some corrosive agent like saltpetre, caustic soda or nitric acid, is very satisfactory. By far the easiest and best plan to adopt is to leave them alone where they do not interfere with the design or the planting scheme, and clothe them with some suitable climbing plant whose growths and blossoms will transform them into striking and attractive features that will add considerably to the beauty and interest of the garden. Most of the honeysuckles are delightful used in this way. Both the early and late Dutch varieties, Lonicera Jericlymenum belgica and serotina, are worth trying, as well as the fragrant L. Caprifolium and the vigorous growing bright yellow L. tragophylla, which will nourish in partial shade. Though the honeysuckles are rapid, they cannot compare in rate of growth with the rampant growing Polygonum baldschuanicum, which climbs at an incredible speed, and will clothe a tall tree in two or three years. For quick effects there is no other climber to equal it, and

there is no doubt either about its decorative merit. With its feathery sprays of tiny white blossoms, which change to an attractive pinkish crimson as they seed, it is a singularly lovely plant in flower, and only equalled in floral effect by its Chinese pinkish flowered cousin P. Aubertii. There are few more attractive incidents in late summer than a tall tree draped with one or other of these Polygonums, and if they have the company of one of the handsome I large leaved vines like Vitis CoigneI tiae, whose foliage assumes the most gorgeous autumn tints of orange red [ and crimson, the effect will be most striking. There are several other vines like the beautiful claret leaved vine, P. vinifera purpurea, and the Virginian creeper, that can be tried; and for more uncommon effects, where a tall tree such as an old oak acts as host, the keen gardener can choose as a guest one of the wistarias, the fine foliaged Actinidia chinensis, or that little known climber Celastrus articulatus, which is always a sight in the autumn, when its slender branches are hung with green fruits, that open to reveal a lining of golden yollow, encasing seeds of a brilliant scarlet. PRUNING FRUIT TREES. ENSURING MORE AND BETTER QUALITY FRUIT. The winter pruning of fruit trees is a very necessary operation. It results In the production of more and J better quality fruit, free access of'

light and air is permitted, diseased and unnecessary growths are removed, more growth is encouraged, the trees are shaped to special requirements, and kept to restricted areas. In the case of a young tree the chief aim is the production of new wood in desired positions. There is a difference of opinion as to when a young tree should be pruned. Some growers allow a full season to elapse before pruning, but it is only necessary to wait until the circulation of sap is vigorous. The aim in pruning young trees is to form the shape and proportions of the tree so that there is a proper number of branches, each rightly placed. It is important also to make the cut clearly and decisively just above a bud pointing in the direction in which the new branch will be required to grow. By so doing there will be no superfluous, wrongly placed branches. This cutting back to the properly placed but should be practised until the tree is reaching maturity, or is getting very large. With young trees we must not aim at the production of fruit, but for correct, healthy growth. The first operation in pruning should be the cutting right away of all dead, diseased, decayed, bruised, crossing or over-crowded branches. This applies to all fruit trees. In the case of dead branches, it is important to cut back to the larger branch, or the portion left will in time decay. Where large cut surfaces are exposed it is advisable to cover with Stockholm tar or some harmless material to exclude fungi pests, and to prevent rotting.

Where a young tree is being formed, branches that affect the symmetry of the head should be removed. In the case of a tree which grows in a restricted space, care should be taken in the cutting back. With spur-bear-ing trees, the limit cut should be made at a spur and the laterals cut back to spurs, but where the tree bears on the young wood, then the cut should be made back to young growth. During the first four years of the average tree, all efforts should be made to induce strong growth, thereby building up a shape capable of bearing large crops in later years.

Pruning must be done on commonsense lines, and, according to the actual variety of tree and the conditions under which the tree is grown. Cuts must be made in a slanting direction. When cutting back to a bud make quite sure it is a wood bud, if it is intended that the branch should extend. A wood bud is thin and reddish, while a fruit bud is thicker and lighter in colour. Only sharp tools should be used in pruning. A keen edged knife is, perhaps, the most useful, but a fine saw may be needed in some cases. STRAWBERRIES. PLANTING TIME NOW. While most small fruiting plants have a life of eight to ten years, the strawberry, like most herbaceous plants, requires to be replanted every three or four years to obtain the best results; indeed, in the warmer districts, where it matures rapidly, replanting is done annually when the crop is grown for the market. It is advisable to work in a liberal dressing of blood and bone manure, and then, when the surface had been smoothed out and the land become firm, to set the plants firmly 9in to 12in apart and 24in to 27in between the rows. The plants should be chosen with great care, as they should be not only of a good fruiting strain, but of a variety suited to the district, as they are unaccountably fastidious in that respect. In other respects almost any climate or soil here is suitable, after good preparation, so long as it does not dry out in summer. Planting should be done now without further delay, especially in the cooler localities.