THE GARDEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19258, 23 August 1924, Page 7

THE GARDEN.

WifliK FOR TEE WEEK. NOTES BY D. TANNOCK. F.R.H.3. THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. Now that there are lots of young seedlings coining on it is necessary to maintain a steady" growing atmosphere in the greenhouse and the propagating house.-;, .('ire heat is a great advantage, but much can bo done with fermenting materials and by shutting up the ventilators early in the. afternoons. Continue to sow seeds of half hardy annuals, to box or pot on geraniums, and to prick out seedlings as soon as they are largo enough to handle. Cuttings of fuchsias and hydranges can be rooted quite easily now. The young growths are coming away and have to be thinned out in any ease, and if the shoots are pulled o(V with a iieel when about two to three inches in length and put into pots of sandy soil either one cutting in a thumb pot, or several round tho inside of a larger size and then plunged in mild bottom heat they will root quite readily and grow into good specimens by next spring. Gloxinais and tuberous begonias are commencing to shoot, and a taw can ho brought into tho warm house to encourage growth. Keep (hem well up to the light, and when well rooted into tho soil in the boxes they can be _ potted upi into the.ir flowering pots. Seedlings of both tuberous begonias anti gloxinias have, to bo treated with great ears, they seem to hang a little after germination lias taken place and require to he watered very carefully and shaded from strong sunshine. Pot on pelargoniums to their flowering pots, feed calceolarias and sehizanthus, and keep a sharp lookout for gmon fly. THE FLOWER GARDEN. Continue to prune roses, manure and dig the beds and borders, and afterwards give a spraying with ciimracroal lime sulphur, which will destroy mildew and block spot. Trench, dig, and replant herbaceous Ixvrders, fork or hoe the soil among bulbs, clip edgings of beds and paths and mow and roll lawn* wiien necessary. Tho edgings of befin and borders soon become uneven end roqniro to be out with tho edging iron. • It is not desirable to have edgings which shrink, imreoseng the size of hods and border*, therefore it i« advisable to fun tho roller over them before cutting is done. Tnu» squashes them oat, firms them, and renders verge cutting a much easier taek. Tidy np the iri» garden removing all old dead foliage, fork up among tho pjjßtta gfring a deeming of bsuoo euporphosphate, lot. divide, anti replant .Tnptcnaso trig if ooowrawry, ana Hoars out tbs water Jjir taunfcs in pn&BnUfum for replanting. fßadioii mm bowsming mn popular, duo JacgHy to mxoim&m ©f iwnulimis fcytjrjda mm 4>J mnm pm planted wt Tlwo* Pm h» pt# PPt oa grroipa in A,* geiewS bossier, ip punmOtt a sacooaann fa fh» iris, wnd in bwl» asui toedors by -jrffih * B ai w® jp ,ani r

The foliage of tho gladioli is too thin to hide tho soil, and a carpeting of dianthua, Phlox drummoudi, verbenas, mignonette, or other dwarf hardy annual adds very considerably to tho beauty of tho beds mid bnrdoi-s. . . . Tho large or flowering covins can bo planted at a depth of about three inches and from nine to 12 inches apart. Keep n sharp lookout for slugs on the rook garden, keep it weeded, clean and tidy, with all soil not covered by spreading plants cultivated with the hand fort THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN. Tho soil ia in fine order for planting potatoes and sowing vegetable seeds, but. ; t is still a bit early to sow tho main crop varieties. Plant out early and second early potatoes .cither with tho dibber, trowel, or in drills drawn with the hoc. I prefer the trowel for philnting sprouted sots, and if there are a number of shoots on them they should all bo rubbed out except tho two strongest ones. Though it is good practice to dig or trench the vacant plots in tho vegetable garden in the autumn or early winter, if the soil is at oil heavy ami retentive it is often belter to leave the digging of tho plot intended for tho eorlv crops until tho spring. Undug ground is drier than dug ground,’mid when wo have a wet winter it is often impossible to get on to tho dug or cultivated ground early in tho spring. Thero should be little trouble this season, but if the. roil is at all sticky it is better to stand on boards wbon sowing and planting. Tho planting, pruning, and spraying of fruit trees should bo completed this month, and tho ground dug or ploughed. Strawberries are beginning to grow, and tbo_ soil round them should he weeded and cultivated with the souffle hoc. It is a bit early to apply tho mulch of straw which is to keep the fruit clean, but if necessary a mulch of woll-rotted manure can bo applied, or a dressing of blood and bono can be scattered round them and worked in with tho souffle boo. EARLY FLOWERING TREES AND SHRUBS. Though there aro very low herbaceous plants or bulbs in flower, yet there aro quite a number of shrubs and small trees belonging to the quince, plum, almond, and peach families which make our gardens gay in the early spring, and as they are not strong growers and can all bo kept within bounds by pruning they are specially suitable for a small town garden. Ihcy are not greedy plants, and can be grown at the bock of mixed borders, as an overgrowth for bulbs and as specimens on the lawn. Oydonia japonica, the Japanese quince is quite a favourite in moat gardens. It is a very accommodating plant, thriving and flowering equally as a climber on a brick wall, a hedge, a specimen shrubs on a lawn, or a spreader covering a warm, sunny bank. When left to itself it becomes a dense tangle of interlacing more or loss/Spiny branches. Iho flowers, which resemble the apple blossom, are produced in clusters of from two to four on tho old wood, and tho fruits, whim are stalkless, greon-yollow or speckled, are fragrant. It is a native of China and Japan, and has been in cultivation in gardens for a very long time, consequently there ore a great many varieties with flowers varying from pure white through all the shades of pink to scarlet or bloodred. We have about 26 varieties in tho gardens and there are still a number of kinds to get. This plant flowers best when partly starved and well-ripened by being planted at tho foot of o wall or on a dry, sunny bank, and its lack of flowers in some gardens is due to exopssive growth caused by bard pruning during winter, too much food and water or shade Quinces can be increased by means of seeds, layers, or suckers. Most of the other early flowering trees belong to the primus or plum family, and one of die earliest and most showy is the almond. Prunes Amygdalis. This is a deciduous tree from 20ft to 30ft in height, a groat favourite in London gardens where it produces quite a fine show in early spring It is not so extensively planted in Dunedin as some other members of the plum family, such ns Primus Piasardi. for example. The flowers are from Tin to Ida across, borne singly or fn pairs on the previous summer’s twigs and varying in colour from pure, white to rose. Though this tree does not need to tie linked or starved like the Japanese quince to get it to flowe-v it should be given a warm position and a well-drained, moderately rich loam. In many districts it produces quite good nuts, and can Tie grown from seed or budded on to the plum stock. Primus eerassifera, the cherry or myrobalan plum, is well known to orehardists, and is often planted to produce a profitable windbreak. It is also ijsed as a stock for budding and grafting, and though of doubtful origin is thought to be a native of the Caucasus. Though the type flowers early and freely it is the varieties which are most esteemed for garden decoration, Primus Pissardi, a variety with dark foliage, ia probably tho most popular, and though grown chiefly for its flowers and foliage It also bears crops of fruit in warm, dry districts such ns Queenstown. The flowers, which aro white, are borne in groat profusion on well-developed trees, and these arc followed by foliage which la at first ruby-red, then changing to claret colour, and finally to a dull heavy purple. Prnnua Pissardi was first seen by Mr Pissard, who was gardener to tho Shah of Persia, and by him was sent to France whence it was rapidly spread in cultivation. It will grow in any well-drained good loam, and can be increased by means of cuttings, or it can ho bndded on to a plum stock. There is another variety called Blireinana, which has bright rosecoloured double flowers, , and another, Moseri, with bright-coloured semi-double pink flowers and dark foliage. P.otn Bllreiana and Moseri can be grown from cuttings of well-ripened young wood, put in in autumn along with other hardy trees and shrubs. Primus Persica (the peach), the double-flowering peach has been In cultivation in European gardens for a long time, some say three centuries, and though Its native country Is doubtful it is considered to have come from China. The fruitpeacli is quite decorative when trained on a wall or fence, but the double-flowered varieties can bo grown finite well In the open, whore they develop into shapely small trees up to 20ft In height. It is not at all particular qs to soil, but must be sheltered from the cold H.VV. winds. Like the fruiting peach some of tho varieties are liable to be attacked by leaf curl when we have a succession of cold, wet seasons, and we have had to cut out the double white and double crimson, but the pink is quite clean and still going strong. Like their fruiting cousins, the double flower flowering kinds are liable to bo attacked by the usual blights, and should be sprayed regularly. Prunes trilobs is r shrub or small tree from 12ft to loft in height. Though not yet out with us it is an enriy flowering kind, and ofleu forced for greenhouse decoration. Tho double variety lias flowers U.iu across of a drdienre rose, and very double. Tills plant is a unlive of Chinn, and was Introduced to English gardens by Fortune about 70 years ago. Though it makes quite a good hush or wall shrub it is often worked on the plum stock to form standards. It can only he grown from cuttings or layered. When pruning is necessary most of the trees mentioned are better attended to as noon as the flowers wither, or. better still, when in flower to provide material for house decoration.