FLOWER ROOTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21758, 24 March 1934, Page 8 (Supplement)

FLOWER ROOTS

LIFTING AND STORING W'heu tlio first sharp frost has cut down dahlias and other half-hardy, or tender summer-flowering plants, and they xfb no longer ornamental, the question arises as to what shall be done •with them. It is necessary to treat them correctly, so that they will be available another season.

In some gardens, it is usual to leave the eorms of gladioli in the ground throughout the winter months, but that is a safe practice only in exceptionally mild districts, and where the soil is light and'well-drained. If it were followed in the average garden, a good many of the corms would perish before spring. The safest- plan is to lift' them as soon as the leaves begin to change colour, cut them to within 3in. or 4in. of the base, and place them in a shed or glasshouse for a week or 10 days. It will then be an easy matter to take off the remains of the old leaves and the soil.

The old, shrivelled corm, which will be found below the new one, should be removed and destroyed, as it is of no further use. Small corms will probably be found attached to many of the large ones, and they may be preserved if it is wished to increase the stock of any particular variety. Both these and the large corms, which will be replanted in spring, will keep sound during the winter months, after they have been dried and cleaned, if they are placed in paper bags and stored* in a frost-proof room. If disease has been present, it may be advisable to soak the corms for about 30 minutes in a two per cent solution of formalin, drying before storing. Sometimes amateurs experience difficulty in keeping dahlia tubers through the winter months. On examining them in spring, it may ba, found that they have decayed. It is not perhaps verv helpful to say that this has happened because they have. been kept in too dry or too • wet a place, but this is true. Dahlia tubers may perish either from dry rot or by decay, set up by too much moisture. Many old gardeners have found that the safest way to store dahlia tubers for the winter, *is to dig a hole in a sheltered position out-of-doors at the foot of a wall or fence facing north, and keep them there. Ashes should be put in at the bottom of the hole and the roots put in so that they are not less than about Bin. from the ground surface. Sticks should be placed across the top of the hole and covered with litter and soil to exclude frost.

Dahlias usually come through the winter well if placed on the earthen floor of a glasshouse from which frost is excluded. The degree of care to avoid damage by frost must depend on local conditions.

EARLY CHRYSANTHEMUMS SOME NOVEL VARIETIES . Improvements are being made yearly m chrysanthemums which bloom' earh in the season in March and earlj April. They are easily grown, and wit! slight disbudding will produce b wealth of bloom. They thrive in anj well-cultivated garden soil, but. it is ac advantage if they can be allotted s place by themselves. As. they, are surface rooting, good results are not obtained if the plants have to compete wjth others in the same border foi root room. A. selection of the latest novelties if given with the average height and time of flowering:—Crimson Ace, 2-Jft. crimson, golden reverse,' late .February; Golden Emperor, 3lft., gold, March; Hertaorfc Sut-cliiFG, 3ft., golden yellow, early March; Hillcrest Red, 3JftJ crimson, bronze reverse, March; Kate Mclvor, peach pink, late February; Rose Precoce, 3ft., bright roso. February-March; Trigo, 2Jft., bronze yellow, early March;' Robert McAlphene, 4ft., terra cotta, golden reverse, March; Welcome, 2Jft., orange suffused red, March; and White Splendour 3Jft., white, March. After flowering is over the plants can be out down and a plentiful supply of rooted pieces is soon available, whicli wijl obviato the necessity of taking cuttings. It is better to replant ever;, year as the blooms will deteriorate if the plants aro allowed to grow on from year to year. ROADSIDE GARDENS REWARD FOR SMALL EFFORT Few people are concerned with that part of their garden which abuts on the road. Their pleasure is solely in the garden enclosed by a hedge, fence or other boundary, but occasionally one may notice some public-spirited persons. endeavouring to beautify the roadside adjacent to their properties. Theii effors are to ho commended and it if sincerely hoped the movement wil spread. . In cities there is little if any scope for roadside gardening, but in eountr\ and suburban districts much mnrr might, he done in this respect; How do lightful, it is, for example, to come across a. strip of closely mown, well teneleel grass along the outside of the Harden, and how still more delightful to find a few flowers or even a. smal garden there. Occasionally the owner ol a, roadside plot is public-spirited enough to transform it into a beautiful garden, and tends it as carefully as il it wero part of the garden proper. If a, bank or slope lies immediate! l , outside the garden fence, it can be made into a garden at small cost ant Tilth little trouble, by clearing it ol weeds anel planting with free flowering creeping or spreading plants such ai verastnim, Mesembryanthemums, Ara bis or \\ lute Rock Cress, or Aubrotia e>i J Geranium. r l hero aro numcrom plants which will flourish in thes< positions, and add greatly to th< beauties or the neighbourhood.