FLOWER GARDEN

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1696, 31 August 1904, Page 78

FLOWER GARDEN

Calceolarias of the shrubbery or “budding” kinds planted out next month will succeed far bettor, particularly in light soils, when the usual run of bedding plants, geraniums, etc., are put out. These calceolarias are almost hardy, and when planted early, in well-manured soil, they scarcely ever fail, and continue to bloom throughout the whole of the season. They are among the best of subjects for damp soils or cool and shady positions.

Pentstemons, too, should be planted out now; those invaluable plants enjoy a rich well-worked loamy soil, and a sunny and fairly sheltered position. They are easily raised from cuttings inserted in the autumn or from seed, and if put out at about the present time in good soil they will bloom continuously from December till May, and the bold spokes of rosy, pink scarlet, or crimson blossoms are wonderfully effective.

Such things as antirrhinums (snapdragons), th© beautiful coreopsis grandiflora —which is perhaps the finest yellowplant for cutting wo have —the tall or herbaceous lobelias (L. cardinalis, etc.), may also be safely planted out now. Give them good soil and a sunny position, and they will bloom profusely all through the season. The planting of hardy perennials of all kinds should be finished at once.

Sow another batch of hardy annuals, and thin out those sown previously and already up. The ruin of most of the annuals grown is want of thinning or overcrowding; when well thinned out they make large, lusty, plants, and produce plenty of fine, handsome blossoms during the greater part of the season, instead of being over in a mouth or so. The annual chrysanthemums—o. coronarium, C. tricolor, ©to.—are splendid things for outting, and succeed well in town gardens. The sweet sultans are also grand plants for cutting, and are very easily grown; the yellow variety is particularly fine, and none of them are cultivated to the extent that they might and ought to be. All the more forward bedding plants—geraniums, marguerites, etc.—may be safely removed to a cold pit or frame new; keep them rather close for the first week or two, and then give air more and more freely as tho weather becomes warmer.