THE GARDEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20691, 13 April 1929, Page 3

THE GARDEN.

gggmgjfgWORKFORTHE WEEKg» NOTES BY *NW®4£»b. TANNOCK, RRJIgPWK*

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “ Margaret,'’ Dunedin.-—Two climbing roses not likely to mildew are American Pillar and Paul's Scarlet Climber. The best plants to grow in a dry border in front of the house would be geraniums or pelargoniums. Antirrhinums come true to name from seed, but your own seed is not likely to be true. Tt would be better to root some, cuttings. “D.M.A.,” Dunedin.—Xou could cut away the old flower stems on your carnations and thin out the young growth to three or five, according to the vigour of the plants. It is too late to layer now, and cuttings do not root readily so late in the season- “ Begonia,” Matanra.—Xou had better put your begonias in a box of dry soil and place tin i in a greenhouse from which "rost is excluded. They will probably remain at rest until the spring, when they can bo watered, and after growth is started planted in boxes of rich soil. When all danger of frost is .past they can he bedded out in the usual way. The main thing at present is to keep them at rest without allowing the tubers to shrivel up. THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. Now that the sun is not so strong and the days arc getting shorter, it is necessary to reduce the shading on the glass of the greenhouse and the propagating houses, and before housing the chrysanthemums it is also necessary to prune back the climbers a bit to admit more light. Fuchsias, which make such excellent climbers during the summer, can be cut right back, like vines, the wood cleaned, and the borders in which they arc growing top-dressod with new soil to which a liberal amount of bone meal has been added. The boiler and pipes should also bo ovcrha.iled, for though we may not have much frost for some time yet, it-will be, necessary to put on a little heat at nights to keep the flowers from damping, and to maintain growth. Those who contemplate putting in a heating apparatus in a greenhouse or vinery should try the newer method of raising the water to its highest point direct from the boiler, and then allowing it to flow back from there to the boiler. By this method it is possible to heat a house with screwed two-inch pipes instead of four-inch jointed ones —a great advantage to an amateur, who can easily do all the work himself. Continue to house the chrysanthemums as they show colour, put in geranium, viola, pansy, and other cuttings, and pot on the greenhouse calceolarias from boxes to threc-inch pots. Cinerarias, cyclamen, and primulas will now he making rapid growth, and a little liquid manure once a week will help the plants which are becoming potbound.

dressing of lime and allow it to settle for a few weeks before planting. Whore the soil is suitable it can be trenched to a depth of two and a-half feet, a liberal dressing of farmyard manure being worked into the bottom 15 inches. Give a top-dressing of lime and allow it to settle before planting. Should the soil be heavy, sticky clay, it may be necessary to renew it altogether, but as roses like a good heavy soil the clay can usually be modified to suit them: If not 100 heavy and wet, ordinary trenching and a good heavy dressing of fresh farmyard manure with a liberal dressing of lime will be. sufficient, but if very wet it may be necessary to throw out the clay to a depth of two feet, to put in a layer of elinkcrs'or gravel, with a drainpipe or other suitable outlet to provide drainage and thou to mix lime rubble, sand, or burnt day with the soil as it is returned to the bed or border. Burnt day is very effective, and if a bonfire is covered with dry (not wet) day and the whole lot (day, wood ashes, and charcoal) is mixed with the original day, it will have a very beneficial effect on its texture. It is ranch better to prepare the bods and borders thoroughly, and to manure them liberally in the first place, than to try to dig in farmyard manure later on. Though wc may not bo ready to plant our roses until next month, it is an advantage to get the order away, so that wc may get the varieties wc wish and the pick of the nursery. The glowing descriptions wc get with the new roses make them very tempting, but unless one is an exhibitor or has plenty of money to spend on the garden, it is better to wait until the second year. One can then see them growing in a public garden or a nursery, note their colour and their habit of growth, and determine which one likes. It is not quite safe to condemn a variety on its first year’s performance: many arc weak and unsatisfactory at first, - but gradually improve as time goes oh. Six of last year’s novelties which have proved satisfactory with us are:—Desmond Johnstone, a brilliant scarlet, flushed with orange and claret, with a deep orange base; Joyous Cavalier, crimson buds, gradually expanding to glowing scarlet; Margaret M'Gredy, probably best described as orange scarlet; Marion Cran, deep buttercup yellow, margined and flushed cerise and rosy scarlet; Oliver Mee, deep salmon pink; Mabel Lynas, dark crimson, with yellow base. Six good roses of recent introduction, but now listed at the ordinary price, are:—John Henry, rosy scarlet to rich pink; Billy Boy, sunflower yellow; Ville de Paris, sunflower yellow, shaded with orange; Mrs Murray Allison, rose pink and carmine; Lady Helen Maglona, bright crimson; Dr J. G. Fraser, salmon apricot, suffused vermilion pink. _ Twenty-five real good, well-tried varieties are:—Shot Silk, Madam-Butterfly, Gwyneth Jones, Annie Laurie, Betty Uprichard, Souv. dc Georges Pernet, Golden Emblem, Constance, Covent Garden, America, Capt. Kilbee Stewart, Caroline Testout, C. V. Haworth, General Macarthur, K. of K., Hawlmark Crimson, Sunny South, Lady Ashlown, Margaret Dickson Ha mil, Souv. de Madam Boullet, The Queen Alexander, Mrs Herbert Stevens, Mrs Henry Morse, Isobel, and W. E. Wallace. Six good climbers suitable for low rustic fences or for pegging down arc:—Hugh Dickson, Climbing Golden Ophelia, Climbing Irish Fireflame, Climbing Caroline Testout, Black Boy, Gwen Nash. Six dwarf polyanthus roses suitable for bedding are:—Borderer, Ellen Poulson, Edith Cavell, Orleans, Jessie, and. Alice Amos.

is in autumn. They will then germinate in spring, and a season is saved. If seed is sown in spring, it will lie dormant for a year. I would suggest to those who wish to try this method of raising liliums from seed to begin in a small way. In the past wc have been far too fond of coddling our seedling liliums, and it is certain that they resent such treatment. This is, certainly a method of raising healthy liliums that is worthy of trial, and one that will bring every success, as I have discovered. There is no necessity for using glass for the raising of these hardy species.

THE FLOWER GARDEN. As the more tender plants in the flower garden may be cut down at any time now, it is not worth whilp doing any maintenance work beyond keeping the old flowers and seed pods picked off, and the lawns tidy. It is time that all spring flowering bulbs and tubers were in the ground, and where the beds are still bright with geraniums, dahlias, and tuberous begonias they can he planted in amongst them. polyanthus and wallflowers can be planted out quite well later on -when the beds and borders arc cleared. Devote as much time as possible to the formation of new beds and borders while the soil is in good working order, so that they may be planted before winter seta in, and continue to build new rock gardens and top-dress and overhaul old ones. The Lion’s Tail (Leonotis Leonorus) is a bright and very distinct sub-shrub, a little tender in some districts, but quite hardy with us. It belongs to the salvia family, and is a native of South Africa. It sends up flower stems to a height of from four to six feet. .These bear whorls of distinct orange-scarlet flowers. It is easily propagated by means of cuttings taken off with a heel, put in small pots, and plunged in gentle bottom heat in spring. The autumn flowering crocus are very decorative plants. They send up their flowers in the autumn and their foliage leaves and seed stalks in the spring. Oolchicum autumnale is the common Meadow Saffron, and in addition to the ordinary rosy-purple variety there are kinds with rose-lilac striped'with white, pale rose, and white flowers. Colchicmn speciosum, from Ihe Caucasus, is a much larger and finer species than C. autumnale, its large rosy-purple flower rising nearly a foot above the •ground. The Colchiciuns like a cool, moist position, and should if possible be planted with a carpeting of some creeping plant., or in thin grass to prevent the flpwers from becoming spattered with dirt. They are suitable for moist, shady places in the rock garden. Crocus Zonatus, a native of the mountains of Silicia, has bright, vinous-lilac flowers, golden at the base. This is a very hardy, bright, free flowering crocus of easy culture, suitable, for the rock garden or the margins of a shrubbery. There are several other autumn flowering species of crocus, all suitable for a raised, well-drained bulb border or the rock garden, and all can be grown from seed or imported bulbs.

The hardy cyclamen arc also very attractive at present, and arc very useful for brightening up the rock garden at what is a rather dull and uninteresting season. C. coum, the round-leaved cyclamen, flowers in winter or early spring, but C. hederaefolium, the ivy-leaved cyclamen, flowers in the autumn. The eorma grow to an enormous size. The leaves are variously marked and are also ornamental, and the neat little flowers arc produced in great abundance. THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN. Continue to harvest , vegetables of various kinds, to gather apples and pears, and to clear away spent crops. Prepare for planting fruit trees and hushes. PLANTING ROSES. Now that the nurserymen’s catalogues arc arriving, containing glowing descriptions of the new roses, and as autumn planting is to bo preferred, we should get busy, preparing new hods and borders and renovating old ones. In time all roses become old and stunted, and the old varieties have to give way to the newer ones which are introduced from year to year. When it is not possible to extend the rose garden it is a good idea to renew a portion of about a sixth or move, and if the old plants are lifted carefully, pruned back very hard and all the old wood cut out, some of them can be' replanted, and they will renew their youth and continue satisfactorily for another six years. When the plants are lifted wc have an excellent opportunity for trenching, manuring, and draining the beds and borders and renewing the soil if this is necessary. When the soil is-very light, either sand or gravel, it is better to excavate it to a depth of, say, two and a-hal£ feet, to put in a layer of about 12 indies of good clay, then about six inches of farmyard manure, which can be worked into the clay, and then finish off with la to IS inches of good loam, turfy if possible. After levelling over the top soil, give a