THE GARDEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18625, 5 August 1922, Page 17

THE GARDEN.

NOTES BY D. TANNOCK, F.R.H.S. WORK FOR THE WEEK. THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. Continue to sow sweet pea seed and the hardiest of the bedding plants, such as antirrhinums, pentstemons, pansies, violas, and stocks. Pot foliage plants and ferns, and make sewings of the early varieties of vegetables, also cucumbers, melons, and tomatoes Fuchsias growing on/ the roof of the greenhouse should have been pruned some time ago, but those grown ,in pots, either for the greenhouse or for/bedding out as dot plants among dwarf things, such as tuberous begonias, can be pruned back a bit now. The old soil can be shaken off and the roots pruned a little, and they can then be potted up into as small pots as they can be put into, using a nice light rich soil mixture. They ‘ can then be watered once, and stood on the tench in the warm greenhouse and syringed twice a day during sunny weather to encourage them to break into fresh growth. Those intended for indoor cultivation can be repotted into larger pots later on, but those which it is intended to plant out can remain in their small pots. When I say small pots I mean not less than sin or 6in size. Geraniums which have become legey should also he cut over and repotted, and pelargoniums which were repotted somo time ago will be growing strongly now, and should te potted on to their flowering pots as soon as the soil is filled w-ith the new root®. Watch the calceolarias for green fly, and fumigate on its first appearance. Keep sohizanthus and clarkias staked uo as they grow, and pollinate the test of the Chinese primulas for seed saving. THE FLOWER GARDEN. Continue to plant trees, shrubs, and roses, to fork and dig shrubbery teds and borders, and to stir up the' soil among the daffodils and spring flowers. A start can be made to dig and replant herbaceous borders, tut it may still be rather soon in some district®, for growth should commence before most things such as perennial asters and phloxes are divided up. Keep the rock garden clean and tidy, and watch for slugs. THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN. Continue’ to dig and trench vacant ground and to make small sowings of early varieties of vegetables, also small plantings of early potatoes. Spray fruit trees as already recommended, complete the pruning, anil dig and cultivate among the trees and bushes. Where fruit trees are grown in grass it is an advantage to keep a ring about 3ft from the stem cultivated and free of weeds, and a good dusting of superphosphate or basic superphosphate forked in will be of benefit to the trees. Peaches and nectarines can be pruned now, and as they bear their fruit on the young wood their treatment is entirely different from apples and pears. To vet them to do well in Dunedin they are tetter trained on a wall or fence, and fan-shaped trees are the most suitable. A certain amount of pruning would be done in the autumn to allow light in to ripen the shoots and to assist in the formation of flower teds.

An attempt should be made to have the stems radiating at regular intervals from the base, and to keep them as straight as possible, also to have the extreme ends about the same distance from the roots to secure an even distribution of the sap. By careful examination it will be easy to distinguish between the rounded plump flower buds and the thin pointed shoot buds, and when cutting away the unripened tips of the shoots this should be done to a shoot bud which will continue the growth of tlje stem, and supply the fpits later on with their supplies of elaborated sap. Like roses they have to jbe kept young, and at intervals old branches should bo cut right out, and young ones taken up in their place. The pruning amounts to (1) cutting out all dead and decaying wood; (2> thinning out the shoots so that there will bo a space of from 3in to 4in on each side of those which are left; (5) out back the unripened ends of the shoots to a wood bud\ which will continue the growth. Examine all old ties and renew any that arc at all tight and unlikely to stand for another year. RHODODENDRONS. The rhododendrons are called the rose trees, and they are quite worthy of the important position they take in the hardy flower garden. They can put up with almost anything except lime in the soil and cold south-west winds, and they will thrive and bloom freely in a soil composed mostly of peat, which is too sour for most plants. 1 hough peat is an advantage it is not absolutely necessary, for they will thrive quite well in any loamy soil, provided : t is enriched with organic matter in the form of compost heap, well-rotted manure, or leafmould, and where the soil is light and or gravelly, they should receive an annual mulclv or some kind. What they do like is the bush soil overlying a clay subsoil, which should be well trenched and enriched with well-rotted manure. I have tried growing them in holes like ordinary shrubs, and they do all right on a fairly steep slope where the drainage is pood, but on the flat the holes become filled with water during wet weather, and the roots perish. As to aspect, though they like a serai-shaded position, they •will grow out in full sunlight provided the soil is right, though the foliage is apt to become somewhat yellow and sunburned. Shade is not necessary, still they will thrive and flower under trees where few other things would be a success, and for underplanting woods there are few plants better than the common ponticum, which is quite good when grown in masses by itself, where its colour will not clash with the other varieties. When planted on a grassy bank the hole should be filled with good soil, and a ring round the stem kept weeded cultivated, and mulched. Rhododendrons look well under almost, any system of arrangement. They are probably seen at their best when massed on a sloping bank, or in largo beds, but they make fine lawn specimens, and they are also effective when mixed with deciduous shrubs in the shrubbery border. Wo: are particularly fortunate in and around Dunedin m being to grow all the Himalayan

species and hybrids, which We te be grown under glass in K©w, and we should also be able to grow the' new species which have been recently introduced from the mountains of China and Tibet, a race of rhododendrons having much in common with the Himalayan kinds, and varying in height from a few inches to Soft or 60ft. They are certainly a wonderful race of plants, and Sir Isaac Bailey Balfour stated that there would be anything between 700 and 800 new speciee, all quite igood in themselves, and capable of great things at the hands of the hybridist. The kinds most commonly grown are the ponticum hybrids. They are hardier than the Himalayan species, and though their flowers arc nor so large individually, they are produced with great freedom, and the colours are very good. The Waterers at Bacshot have produced many fine varieties, and any one with a Waterer name can be relied on to he real good. Probably one of the most popular rhododendrons is Pink Pearl, a variety which created quite a sensation when first introduced, and is still much in demand. It is an exceedingly vigorous grower, bearing immense trusses of wellshaped flowers. The colour is delicate blushpink, the foliage being fine and glossy dark given. White Pearl has a better habit, than Pink Pearl, but it is not really white; it opens a pale pink, and fades to a white when going off. Charles Lawson is reallv a better variety fer planting on a bank than Pink Pearl. It spreads over the ground, and its flowers are a pleasing pink shade, and are produced in trreat abundance on old plants. Alice is a new variety, but quite one of the best,. and at Kew there were large groups of it so completely covered with the large compact trusses of large, well-shaped delicate pink (lowers that the foliage was almost hidden. Another thor. ontrhlv reliable variety is Countess of Had dilution. It begins to flower when quite small, and soon develops into a shape!v bush, which is covered with its large bellshaped pink flowers in early summer. George Hardy is said to be a good white, but probably there are none tetter than Frngrantissima. It has a thin, twiggy growth, but every stem carries a flower bud, and they are both large and sweetly scented. Being of a drooping habit, it is fine for planting on a bank. Of the dark red there is a fine variety of arboreum, and such hybrids as Michael Waterer and William Downing. It is difficult to make a selection, there are so many good varieties, but the following would be a useful lot for on ordinary garden:— White; Geo. Hardy, Fragrantissima, Jenkeuiis, Mrs T. Agnew, l and White Pearl. Blush Pink: Concessum, Alice, Pink Pearl, Mrs B. C. Stirling, and Gomer Waterer. Bose Pink: Kate Waterer, Mrs R. S. Holford. Broughtonfi, and Mrs J. Waterer. Bed: Lord Palmerstone, Doncaster. John Waterer, Michael Waterer, Charles Downing. Purple: Baron Schroder, Everstiamim, and Fastuoswm F. PI. a double variety which is a great favourite with many. Bi-colours; Marchionpe» of Lansdowne, Sappo. and Helen Waterer. There are quite a number of very fine Himalayan faeries and, varieties which should te included in any representative collection, but they are not quite so hardv as the ponticum hybrids, and will not stand in such exposed positions. The various shades of-Arboreum are quite good, and the foliage is so distinct. Auckland! (now railed Griffithianum) is very fine, and the Marquis of Lothian, which was raised by the late William Martin at Fairfield, is very desirable but is still scarce. G'll’s Triumph is very splendid in Mr S. Solomon’s garden, and others which occur to me are Virginalis, Jenikonsii, Maddenif. Kewensis. Nuttallii, Fiangrnntissima. Falconeri, Rmithii Auroirm CaJophyllum and Campylooarpum.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS ‘‘A. H.”—Black cotton thread stretched along the sides of the rows of peas will frighten away the birds. It should te just high enough for them to touch it. I would not recommend giving your peach tree lime; it would te tetter to give about 4oz of basic superphosphate. Once a month will te often enough to make sowings of turnips to maintain a supply right hrough th© seaon, but carrots do not go past so quickly, and once every two months will do for them. The extent of the sowing will depend on the demand.

“Gorbera.”—The Gorberas can te grown from seed, but it will probably be tetter for you to purchase plants if you .only require a few. They require a warm, welldrained position on a rook garden, or near the foot of a wall in Dunedin. Wo grow them in front of the winter garden. Californian poppies can be grown from suckers, or root cuttings, but you would be tetter to obtain a plant from a nurseryman. “Pern’’ (Mosgiol).—l would advise you to dig up and bum your rose bushes attacked by the canker. They will not do any good, and roses are easily renewed. Tuber roses cannot be grown in the open here. They require a heated greenhouse. Will be dealing with perennials in another week or so, and will answer your question then. Peg down your fern fronds on a box of nice light soil, and the young plants will soon take root and grow.