GARDEN FIELD

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7190, 23 June 1933, Page 5

GARDEN FIELD

Specially written for tho Times by “Lorna. ”

General Routine Work in tlie Borders. Heavy frosts have tlie effect, of loosoning the soil at tko baso of newly planted shrubs, perennials, etc. The soil needs to be pressed firmly around again from time to time. Also protect recently planted things from frost, by placing branches of evergreens around them. Continue to plant liliums, a few gladioli, and balled shrubs. Attend to the preparing of ground for new shrubberies, spring • sown lawns, new flower or rose borders, and for hedge plants. There is also much to do in digging out dahlia roots, labelling and storing, and in protecting the crowns of chrysanthemums from slugs. Where these ere very troublesome, the young shoots arc best removed to boxes until such timo as they are wanted for the borders again. Carnations arc now very straggly and should bo cut hard back. After tidying up the garden generally, dress heavy soils with lime, talcing care to keep it away from liliums, rhododendrons, azaleas, kalmias, and heaths. Top dress the pockets in the rock garden with a mixture of leaf mould and sand. Recondition those parts which seem to need more drainage by lifting out the soil, removing more of the clay, and adding more stones or crocks. Sedums, semperviviums, saxifrages and many other species require abundant draninage. Give lawns a top dressing of sulphate of ammonia, which encourages the growth of t-lio fine grasses. The Vegetable Garden. Very little can bo done until warmer weather prevails, beyond the digging and trenching of ground, burning of refuse and trapping of insect pests. Every effort should bo made to aid the drainage among the winter greens by moulding up the rows. Get in supplies of lime, sand, and manure for spring use. Continue to gathor leaves for loaf mould. Prepare ground for rhubarb and asparagus beds, strawberries, and other small fruits. Prune fruit trees in preparation for the winter spraying. Making the Best of It. All good gardeners advise that you should grow only those plants that are suited to your garden and circumstances but it is pleasant to notice how few of them follow their own admirable counsel, for we have all something of the old Adam or Eve in us, and nothing will prevent us from yearning after forbidden things. There are two ways in which we can deal with our impossible desires. We can fall back on the imaginatoin and see, with the mind’s eve this and that patch of ground aglow with those things which we yearn after, but the fancy cannot cheat so well as she is famed to do. and sooner or later we must come back to the muddy reality. Or we can settle down to the old work-a-day truth, that half a loaf is better than none, and see what can be done about it. The heart’s desire of one gardening enthusiast—among other less possible things —the plants of the high Alpine ■screes. To see these at their best, however, we must have a wide slope of scree, backed and interspersed with giant grey boulders, and to provide this in a clay son with no local stone availablo would need some money. There happened to be a derelict lily pond absurdly perched on the t.op of a bank, drained dry through cracks in its cement. This was taken in hand, the drainage made more ample, the floor covered with rough stones, a layer of turf next, and the whole filled up with bricks broken small and mixed with a very little loam and leaf mould. Tho pond was surfaced with a couple of inches of those granite chips with which they make the tarred roads, and the Tesult was, in a modest wav, a scree, or moraine garden. In this, the lovely little potentilla nitida grew with its silvery leaves spangled with apple blosom flowers, Linaria alpina, with brilliant snapdragons of violet and gold. Campanula Taineri, with lovely, fat, silvery blue bells on two inch stems. Erodium chrysanthemum, a subtle harmony in silver and sulphur yellow. Gentian verna, a carpet of delightful blue flowers in early spring. Micromeria Corsica, a wee bush, grey leaved, with a pungent scent of lemons and seaweed, which, by the way, is said to excite tom-cats to transports of ecstasy.

It is, however, not necessary to have an old pond, and other places in the garden will suggest themselves as suitable to those who would fain grow some of these alpine gems. In one’s travels, memory pictures aro often carried of some particular nook which delighted, some bold, weather-beaten expanse, or a riot of colour. By making the best of what is to hand, these pictures, on a smaller scale, may often be introduced into our own gardens, giving great joy and added interest. Even in a cold north eastern comer, where tho docks fail to really flourish, something can be done with the aid of peaty moss, broken bricks and granite chips.

Easily grown Hardy Flowers, Hardy flower growers may be roughly divided into three classes: those who have a thorough knowledge of hardy plants, those who have sufficient knowledge to enable them to make their gardens attractive, and the numerous beginners who must rely on hints from experienced persons and who may gain information from gardening periodicals which contain much practical matter. There are a fair number of hardy flowers which can be taken in hand by inexperienced growers with every prospect of success, and beginners who wish to grow perennial things should conftno themselves to such until more experience is gained. In the front, rank of these are the heuierocallis, or day lilies, of which it may be truly said that they

give results out of proportion to the amount of labour and care ncccsary to endow them with a healthy life and blooming power. They are not in the least fastidious in the matter of soil or situation and need not bo manured. Once established they increase in stature and flower bearing power with no more attention than keeping them from getting smothered with weeds. There arc several varities, mostly in orange, .bronze and yellow shades, and all are very useful for cut floweio. A 1 though these day lilies are old inhabitants of our gardens, they arc not well known to the majority of hardy flower growers. Tho solidagos, golden rod, are of a robust, enduring nature and arc very showy, thriving anywhere. The eryngiums and the cchinops are of an exceptionally enduring nature, and will remain in good condition year in and year out in the poorest of soil. Tho tritomas, red hot pokers, arc notably hardy, and are among tho most attractive and shouy of our hardy plants, growing well with scarcely any cultivation. r lhe colours are becoming wondrously fine, and a good collection of them is something worth having. It is almost needless to recommend the michaclmas daisies, their ability to thrive in all situations is well known. The rough, common monkshood will thrive even among grass, and throw up its effective blue spikes of flowers, as also do the Japanese anemones. Tho above mentioned plants will be found reliable by those who have no great knowledge of plants, also by those who have a considerable area to embellish and arc obliged to practise economy in both time and expense. Many of our plants, although hardy, require sub-dividing and occasionally manuring to keep them up to the mark, and those which go on ycai after year with so little attention ami yet arc beautiful aro worthy of the attention of all flower lovers, and usually there is a poor stretch of soil which could be taken full advantage of in growing the hardy things referred t,n,

Stacliys Corsica. Most flower lovers arc familiar with stachys lanata, but not all know stachys Corsica, which is one of the miniature gems to which the ardent alpinist is partial. It is by somo recommended as a carpeter, but it looks much better and gives more delight if allowed a place to itself without any taller plant rising from its lowly carpet. In a good place in the rock garden it soon makes a plant a few feet across, with charming leaves and miniature flowers of white, clinging close to the foliage, and eventually becoming tinged with pink. Stacliys Corsica is lovely in light, dry sandy’ soil in the rock garden, but it is equally" charming in a stony" moraine. Sometimes it suffers a little in wet cold winters, but soon recovers with the return of spring. Sunlight for Perns. It is in the winter that one realises

how great tho value of well grown ferns is, compared with that of others that have been kept heavily shaded all the summer. No greater mistake can bo made than lo think heavy shading necessary. It is injurious in every way. There is no damping off of fronds where a little sunlight has been in evidence. 'Market growers especially have found out the advantage of ample light, and tho amount of sun allowed their ferns would surprise most private growers. • Charming tints are found on the young fronds which give the plants a gay" appearance. In contrast with these, those that are heavily shaded give but a poor appearance. There are some ferns that have an especially charming appearance when grown in the fullest light, and fronds of a nice, yellowish green arc more in demand for all floral work. One of the chief things in fern culture is the surprising amount of variety in tints of green as well as form of the fronds, but to grow all in a sliady house is lo destroy a lot of this natural beauty.