Garden

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3287, 5 March 1926, Page 9

Garden

(BY "LORNA.”)

Lately the weather has been hind to the garden with the exception perhaps of last week’s frost, which only needed a few degrees more to play havoc with the dahlias. The soil is in good working order, not sticky and not too dry, and a good deal of necessary work should be got on with, in the way of digging, sowing seeds and cleaning up generally. Lawns are once again a beautiful fresh green, with the borders gradually tilling with lovely early autumn bedding subjects. To the gardener who would be successful March should be one of the busiest months of the year. There are numerous seeds which should be sown for early spring blooming, trenches for sweet peas, lawns to renovate or sow, whichever the case may be, seed to be gathered, bulbs to plant, .drainage schemes held over from spring, new catalogues to scan, and final decisions made as to what to order for the garden. This should not be hurriedly done; the subject demands careful thought as to what is suitable for each nook and cranny of the garden. A plant struggling for existence in a position totally unsuited to it is both a piteous and unattractive object. There are plants to be had in variety for all parts of the garden ,for exposed, sheltered, sunny, or shady spots, and under deciduous trees. Prepare for Spring Blooming The gardener, in order to have the borders attractive at all seasons, should always look well ahead. The “maxim” take care of to-day and let to-morrow take care of itself, cannot be made to fit the gardener who must at all times carefully plan ofr months ahead. Make a general survey of the garden and note what space is available for spring blooming subjects, and what plants may with advantage be discarded, In order to make room for something better. Plant all the sarpe bulbs underneath deciduous trees, where they will provide a lovely display. For the sunny borders, which are now filled with asters or other summer flowering annuals, have ready a stock of nemesla, godetla, pansy, beauty of nice stocks, linaria, eschscholtzia, or icleland poppy. The yellow or orange Iceland poppies are useful for bordering a bed of wallflowers or cheiranthus. A charming early spring bed may be arranged, filled with red shades of shirley poppies edged with the royal blue forget-me-nots sweetly dainty Is a bod of for-get-me-nots, with bulbs of the lovely pink tulip (Clara Butt) dotted among them, beds of narcissi edged with yellow violas, and violet-shaded anemones with edgings of mauve violas. In a warm sheltered nook, dig in some sand and loam and plant the hyacinths, in the borders which get the sun part of the day plant anemones in sunny spots skirting shrubberies and drives. Plant masses of the beautiful bearded Irises; in those spots where the water lies in rainy Reasons plant the scented flava day lily. Supply the shady nooks with plants of wallflower, foxglove, and edge with primula malacoides are primroses. Prepare a loamy plot for the fragrant lily of the valley. Sow sweet peas to cover any unsightly spots. The large borders which afford a sheltered background plant generously with antirrhinums, tall growing for the back and medium from the front. These afford a wealth of bloom throughout the spring. They may. be treated as annuals, using the space for an extensive planting of llliums when their first glory is over. In the rockery spare spaces may be filled with anemone fulgens and St. Bavo strains, ranunculus, irises and crocus, with clumps of snowflakes, sparaxis, freezias and lachenalig, with a mass of the fragrant mignonette. Against a wall or building in a sunny position plant lavishly of the handsome Darwin tulips, providing a feast of glorious colouring. Prepare for new rose beds or hedges. If left too late there are usually difficulties owing to wet weather, etc., which do not make for successful planting. Make a list of the evergreen shrubs required for late autumn planting. Scented Gladioli. There seems a desire on the part of some horticulturists interested in the gladioli to raise a scented variety, perhaps, with the object of acquiring something new. Yet one of the causes of the popularity of the gladiolu as a decorative flwer lies in the fact that it has no perfume, as there are few flowers used for this purpose that are not distasteful to some one- —particularly in closed rooms—either from personal preference or painful association. Nevertheless Mr. Kunderd, who is well known in relation to the gladioli, wrote as far back as 1911 with reference to scented gladioli, which ho feit confident would be attained in the hands of Lemoine, Burbank, or Van Fleet. The last named died a. year or so ago without attaining his object. Lemoine’s latest 1925-1926 catalogue makes no mention of a scented variety, while Mr. Burbank, a Canadian speicalist, has so far boon equally unsuccessful. Another keen grower, Mr. L. J. Gibson, is also intent on imparting scent to the gladiolus, so that it may be with the arrival of new catalogues, we may find that success in this direction has been gained by one or more of the worldwide raisers of new varieties, when perhaps we may have a gladiolus as exquisitely scented as a rose. Ericas for Unsatisfactory Spots. In a good many gardens up and down the country there exists a dry bank, a rough slope, unsatisfactory rose beds, dry borders which never do any good, in fact a number of little bits of ground which can never be made to fit in with our dreams and ideas of what they ought to be. Having these little eyesores to contend with, how many planters turn to ericas, but in many cases ericas are just what is needed. There is the dry bank, where nothing will grow, where the soil is light running to dust. Take out the soil in tin? autumn to a| depth of one foot and "bout the same

in diameter, have some pieces of half round drainpipes, large tiles, or anything similar you can find. On tho lower side of the hole put your slate in an upright position, place a little well-rotted manure and good soil in tho hole and it is ready for yodr plant. Prepare sites as above all over the bank one foot apart will plant with erica cinorea. This will provide a densely covered evergreen bank. During the first summer after planting it may be necessary to water the ericas, but the pieces of slate will retain a lot of moisture. Where there is an unsatisfactory rose bed which is perhaps too shady, too wet, or too much enclosed by nearby hedges, why tolerate them. Trench the beds and i add some very rotten manure and sand if the soil happens to be heavy, and plant with erica carnea a beautiful bright winter blossoming heath of : a rich rosy red; plant them all over j tho bed with bulbs of the lovely mus- ' cari (heavenly blue) dotted thickly among them.