THE GARDEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18802, 3 March 1923, Page 17

THE GARDEN.

NOTES BY D. TANNOCK. F.R.H.B. WORK FOR THE WEEK. THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. Continue to select buds on chrysanthemums growing in pots or tins for large blooms, and thin out the buds as already advised on'single and decorative varieties. Keep a sharp look out for caterpillars, which soon eat out a flower bud, and keep shoots securely tied to their stakes. Pot cinerarias, primulas, and cyclamen, jmd pot and box up bulbs of various kinds for forcing. Give both tomatoes and vines plenty of air whenever the weather conditions are favourable, and keep the tomato Souse as dry as possible with a view to avoiding or reducing attacks of disease. It is now time to put in cuttings of bedding geraniums to provide plants for next season, and as the growth is both backward and soft, - owing to the wet season. it will he difficult to get the right kind of shoots. Old plants which have become established in sheltered places will provide the best cuttings this season, and it should fee possible to get one or two shoots frrm each plant in the bods in the meantime, end to get a few more later on when they ore better ripened. Being very fleshy cuttings they are more liable to rot lb in dry up. and after removing the two lower leaves and all the stipules and cutting the stem straight across below a node they are often spread out on a bench to dry a little before being put in. The usual cutting soil composed of loam one part, leafmould one part, and half a part of clean sand will do. If a large number of plants are required it is to use boxes, which should have a good layer of rough stuff in the bottom to provide drainage. Pots, will be quite suitnble if a limited number of plants are required, and these should be Sin or Sin size, the cuttings being placed about 2in apart round the inside. Make the soil in the pots or boxes firm and level, and spread a layer of clean sand on top. Push in the dibber about 2in, and as it is withdrawn some particles of clean sand will run into the hole, forming a well-drained base on which to rest the cutting. Push the soil firmly round the cutting with the propagating stick, and make the surface level. Give one watering, and stand the boxes on the bench in the greenhouse or in a frame with the sashes on. During a dry season it is possible to put them right outside in the full sun. but this would not be advisable this season. THE FLOWER GARDEN. Continue to plant bulbs, to cut over herbaceous plants which are past their best, and to keep the surface soil stirred from time to time. I should mention that it is not. desirable to cut the herbaceous plants right down to the ground just now. but. to cut away the old flower spikes. Layer carnations and collect seeds when the woatheis favourable. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Continue to dig, dry, and, store awav potatoes, being careful to keep out any* vhicb show signs of disease. Plant out cabbage broccoli, and savoys, and clear off spent crops from time to lime. Collect fruit ns soon as npe. and store it away on dean dry airy shelves, where it will keep for a tjm©, according to variety. AUTUMN FLOWERING BULBOUS PLANTS. Then are quite a number of autumn flowering hardy bulbous plants which are mostarusoful m the herbaceous border and fer providing cut flowers. I mentioned the gladioli in recent notes, drawing attention to the satisfactory nature of the Primulinus -hybrids. Montbretias are very hardy and robust plants froni South Africa, which will thrive m any kind of soil, and are suitable for groups in The herbaceous border or for massing among shrubs. They will even hold their own among weeds in a neglected garden, and flower every year. The older varieties are quite good, but quite common when compared with some of the new hybrids raised bv George Davidson and others. In England they are usually lifted, dried off, and kept in a cool, dry shed all winter, and planted out again in spring, but though this is not necessary here it is not good to leave them too long without dividing them up. When they become crowded the flowers are small and the stems short, and it is good practice to lift them when at rest every second year. To prolong the season it is quite a good idea to lift and dry portion of the corms and plant them back in the spring. They will begin to flower when those which were left in the ground all winter are nearly over. 1 hey carry from England very well, and are easily acclimatised, and as they are not at all expensive there is no reason why we should not have the best. The older varieties are Eldorado, with large golden yellow flowers and dwarf habit; Germania, a rich, glowing orange and scarlet; Rayon d’Or, a rich yellow with circle of brown; Vulcan, a bright red with yellow centre; and. Soliel Couchant, a brilliant golden yellow. The following are some of the newer varieties which we imported last year:— George Davidson, pale orange yellow and deeper orange externally; King Edmund, rich golden yellow with chocolate eye spots; Lord Nelson, deep crimson scarlet; Promethroa, three inches across, deepest orange, with khowy crimson ring round the eye. Koh-LNor, dark orange; Star of the East pale orange yellow, with lemon yellow eye ;' and Wostwiofc, orange red with clear yellow eye with dark circle of maroon. Amaryllis Belladonna (the Belladonna Lily) is quite hardy and is a peculiar plant, the flower stems springing up out of.the ground and the leaves appearing Liter on. To secure regular flowering m this district it should be planted in a dry, warm, rich, sandy soil ai the foot of a wall, or in front of the border, facing north, where it will get plenty ‘of sun and some shelter from the cold south-west winds. The bulbs do not like to be disturbed, and if doing Well should bo left in the same position for years. There are two or three varieties with paler coloured flowers than the type, which is rose pink, and one called blanda is almost white. Orinuma would flower during the summer, but they are usually so badly cut down by the frost that they do not recover sufficiently to flower well until the early autumn. Though not quite hardy, they will stand the winter all right if planted deep (at least 12 inches) and mulched with dry stcawy manure and planted on a welldrained border in front of a vail or fence.

The kinds to grow aro Crinum capense and G. Mooroi, and one which is said io be a hybrid botwen the two—C. Powolh. Nerino sainiensis (the Guernsey lily) is the best and hardiest of the nerines. It is usually (jrown in pots for greenhouse decoration, bi:( it will grow out of doors if planted on a well-drained, sunny border at the foot of a wall, or on a warm part of the rock garden. It requires similar treatment to the belladonna lily, and, like it, the flowers appear before the foliage. When grown in a pot it should bo left undisturbed for years, and when the foliage appears it should bo encouraged with applications of liquid manure, but whl?fs ripened oft' should bo kept quite dry and baked up as much as possible.

.Sternborgia lutes (Lily of the Field). The crocus-like flowers of rich golden yellow’ are much appreciated in late autumn. It likes a warm position on the rock garden or at the foot of a wall, with a rich, sandy soil with a little lime or lime rubble added, and when once established it should not bo disturbed often Colchicum (Meadow Saffron or Autumn Crocus). These, like some of the other autumn-flowering bulbs, throw up their flowers in the autumn and their foliage later on, but, unlike several which I have already mentioned, they like a more or less moist position, near water, or in a moist part of the rock garden. C. autunmale is the best known. It produces its rosypurple flowers in abundance, and should be planted in a mass. C. spociosum has large flowers of a rosy-purple colour, and there is a variety with white flowers. The bulbs should be planted about four inches deep, mid they need not he disturbed until they become overcrowded.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “Lilac,’’ Belleknowes.—l cannot see anything the matter with the branch of lilac you sent, except that it shows signs of premature ripening. I would recommend you to fork up round the plant, and give u a good dressing of bone meal or basic superphosphate. “Ice Plant.’’ Gibbston.—The plant sent is the true ice plant Mosonibryanthemum erystallinum. It is usually treated as an annual, and is most effective when planted out on the rock garden. Its flowers are unimportant, but its leaves and stems, which are bespangled with crystal, arc interesting, and have a refreshing look on warm days. They are sometimes used for garnishing. The disease which has attacked your tomatoes is similar to the potato disease, and can be kept in check in its early stages by spraying with summer Bordeaux mixture, but as the crop will bo pretty well set now it will not do anv harm to remove the bottom leaves which are affected.

“Rosoneatb.’’ —Your asters are behaving in the mysterious way peculiar to asters—they die off suddenly when full grown for no apparent reason. We know that it is a disease which attacks the roots, but beyond dusting the soil with lime, providing good drainage, and giving the ground a good dusting with quick lime when preparing it for planting in the spring, I cannot suggest any remedy. “Geranium.’’—The spots on your geranium leaves are caused by a rust fungus. If growing in rots dip the plants in a solution of sulphide of potassium, loz in three gallons of soapy water. If growing in a border spray them.