A BUSY PERIOD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20028, 18 August 1928, Page 5 (Supplement)

A BUSY PERIOD.

MUCH' ESSENTIAL WORK.

The present is an exceptionally busy lime in the various departments of the garden. The ground has to be prepared by digging and manuring, and by treating the surface by liming and using the White Island product where seedlings such as stocks, antirrhinums, asters and gchizanthus are to be planted. These subjects suffer from the damping-off organisms that have become so troublesome of late years, necessitating the incorporation of lime and sulphur ingredients as antidotes. The various beds and borders have to 3be dug over to rid them of weeds, and to impart a tidy appearance. The pruning of roses, conifer hedges, and the various deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs must be attended to, while spraying to cleanse the < trees and plants of jnoss, lichen, and other parasitic growths, $s essential. ' Cannas require to be replanted and arranged. Herbaceous perennials should be divided and the large clumps reduced in size. Sweet peas must be staked and most important of all, precautions must be taken to combat the slug pest if success is to be achieved.

Lawns and edgings should be cut and kept rioat and trim. The planting of all roses, ornamental trees and shrubs most be completed, and seasonable plantings cf seedlings attended to.

X'OE BED AND BORDER.

SUITABLE ANNUALS,

The following is a small list of suitable hardy annuals for sowing in the open beds and borders:— Lupins are free flowering and easily raised and make a pretty show with jittl ? trouble; lavateras, or mallows, are showy tall border subjects, the imposing Sowers, and especially the pinks, being most attractive; Linum grandiflorum rub ruci is very hardy and productes brilliant scarlet flowers; Collinsed bicolor has lilac and white. flowers; Nemophild insignis ;s much appreciated for ribbon borders and general garden decoration; Acroclinium, a very hardy everlasting subject, is one of the earliest annuals to bloom; and Shirley poppies, in an endless variety of shades and colours in single and double form are charming subjects. Larkspurs and mignonettes are also suitable for out-door sowing as soon as rhs soil is sufficiently dry to be-pre-pared for their reception. IRIS VARIETIES. THE RHIZOMATOUS SECTION. Large-flowered flag irises, belonging to the rhizomatous section of the iris family, comprise a large number of varieties, liaving large and very handsome flowers. Their rhizomes or root stalks are formed upon the top of the ground and should not be covered with soil. They may be planted almost at any season and are specially adapted for planting upon poor banks and in places on the rockery. Iris pallida and pumila, with their numerous varieties, and plicata, a garden race of unknown origin, have beautifullyScented flowers. This variegata is a handsome species with several very desirable varieties. All of the above species belong to the rhizomatous section of the genus find are extremely hardy and very showy.

ATTRACTIVE HYBRIDS. The raising of now creations by hybridising and cross fertilisation has received so much attention at the hands of specialists that the number of new forms and hybrid varieties is confusing and can only be partially represented in even large collections. Iris regelio-cyclus is an example of a new raco of hardy prc-flowering irises of great beauty and is of very easy culture. Their flowers are strikingly veined on white, violet, purple and brown grounds and compriso many named varieties. Iris Susiana (the mourning widow) is a most distinctive species, but is much more difficult to grow and perpetuate. Iris lingitana, the tangerian iris, has now becomo immensely popular, being greatly in evidence in our florists' collections. Now that growers Lave become acquainted with its special cultural requirements it will be much more extensively grown. The bulbom sections, including the quaint English and Spanish varieties, or siphions, as they are called, are both of Spanish origin They flower in November and are remarkable alike for their curiously constructed and remarkably beautiful flowers and the manner in which their many beautiful colours are blended. They require to be planted early in the autumn, as the bulbs shrivel when kept out of the grou.id too long. They should be planted in clumps or groups, arranging the bulbs about 3in. apart. JAPANESE SPECIES. Iris laevigata, commonly called Iris' fcaempferi, is the most handsome of the genus of Japanese irises. They comprise numerous named varieties that produce most lovely flag-like blossoms during the early summsr months. In Japan they are cultivated as sub-aquatics and are world-famous for their large flowers of almost every shade of colour. There are several exceedingly beautiful double forms. These irises, unlike the other sections, are not rhizomatous or bulbous, but grow in tufts. They are. quite dormant during the winter, which is the proper time to plant them. They bucxced best in « moist, loamy soil, and require to be liberally watered during their flowering arid growing season, In planting, keep the crowns level: with the surface, to be a little below the surround' ing ground, planting them in a hollow or depression.