THE GARDEN. WORK FOR THE WEEK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21538, 9 January 1932, Page 3

THE GARDEN. WORK FOR THE WEEK

NOTES BY t>.TANNOCK, A.H.R.H.S.

THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY Tuberous begonias, which so far have been prevented from developing their flowers, can be allowed to do so now, and they will soon be ready to take the place of the pelargoniums and geraniums, which can be placed out into a frame to ripen off, with a view to taking cuttings later on. Geraniums are, however, very useful during the winter and it may be considered advisable simply to dress them and put them into a cold frame to grow on. Seedlings of cinerarias and primulas can be potted up into three-inch pots and stood on a bed of ashes in the cool greenhouse or out in a cold frame where they will be kept as cool as possible.

THE FLOWER GARDEN Attend to staking and hoeing, cut the old flower stalks off the delphiniums, iris, and other hardy perennials which are past their best, but do not remove any of the foliage yet. Lift and store spring flowering bulbs of all kinds, and prepare ground for lining out the wallflower seedlings. This means breaking up and working in a good dressing of lime. Though the rock garden is not so bright or so interesting during the summer as during the spring, it should not be neglected, and must be kept weeded and watered should the weather continue to bo dry. Cut off all old seed stalks and clear out any pockets which are unsatisfactory. THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GARDEN Make small sowings of carrots of the stump rooted varieties and onions, lettuce, spinach, radish, mustard and cress to keep up a succession. CALIFORNIA ANNUALS In many respects the climate of California is very like that of South Africa, and from this country .we also get many very valuable hardy annuals. They are quite different from the South African plants in their botanical affinities, although they are practically the same in their horticultural requirements. They do not get away so quickly as the South African plants, and consequently are not so suitable for an early catch crop, but they are very valuable for providing a display in late summer and autumn. Like some of the South Africans they stand drought and sunshine very well, and are very suitable for covering dry, sunny rough banka where they will seed themselves and provide colour year after year. Most have been in cultivation for a long time, and the garden varieties which - are now available are very different from the original wild species. Abronia umbellata (Sand Verbena) is an elegant trailing plant with verbenalike flowers, admirably adapted for a dry rock garden, a group on a dry border, and for covering a rough bank. Though this is a perennial it is better when treated as an annual. Bartonia aurea is a free flowering and showy hardy annual, with large bright golden yellow flowers as large as half-a-crown. Height 18in. Collinsia bicolour is a very pretty hardy annual with a branching inflorescence and bicolour flowers, the upper lip and tube of the corolla being white, and the lower lip rosy-purple. C. candidissima is pure white. Eschsdholtzia (Californian Poppy) is really a perennial, but once established it seeds itself so freely that it is better to treat it as a hardy annual and to sow seed where it is to grow, every spring. Once established on a dry bank it will come up year after year among gorse, long grass, or any kind of Weeds and provide masses of colour on sunny days. Like some of the South Africans it comes up in the late afternoons and on dull days. During recent years great attention has been given to the raising of new varieties of this plant, and there are now 22 varieties listed in Sutton’s catalogue. These vary from pure white through cream, yellow, orange, and pink to orange-crimson, and a collection of the best varieties makes a fine display on a sunny day. Godetias are of great value both for garden and house decoration, the long sprays of the tall growing varieties being very decorative and lasting well when cut. There are also free -flowering dwarf kinds, which are more useful for bedding and groups in the mixed border. Sutton’s list 27 varieties with a wonderful range of colour, all perfectly hardy and very free flowering. They are also very useful for growing in pots for greenhouse decoration in spring and early summer. Gilia tricolour is a dainty little annual with corymbs of six flowers, the corolla having an orange yellow tube and centre, and a light purple or white margin, separated by a ring of deep purple. G. tricolor roses is an improvement on the type .with highly tinted flowers. The gilias are better treated as half-hardy annuals. Layia is a hardy annual with large yellow flowers edged with white. Leptsoyne Still mania is one of the quickest of the Californian annuals, blooming in six weeks from the date of sowing in the open ground. The golden yellow flowers, which continue in perfection for a long time, are very useful for cutting. L. maritima has large lemon yellow marguerite-like flowers. It is really a perennial, but is best treated as an annual. Limnanthus Douglasii is free flowering and delicately fragrant, with annual floAvers white, yellow and pink. This plant is valuable for spring gardening, Avhen seed is sown in the autumn to

stand through the Aviuter. Phacelia campanularis is a shoAvy annual with bright blue bell-shaped flowers. It is from six to eight inches high, one of the earliest to bloom, and one which lasts well, Clarkias have been enormously improved during recent years, and C. elegans can noAV be obtained in a great many beautiful art shades, such as salmon scarlet, vivid rose crimson, and salmon pinkThe long graceful arching sprays bear numbers of full double floAvers and are very useful for cutting for house decoration. This plant is perfectly hardy, and can be soavii in the open borders, but it is better to treat the delicate shades as half hardy annuals and to raise the seedling under glass. Clarkias are also very useful for grOAving in pots for greenhouse decoration in spring and early summer, and the long arching sprays associate very well with the delicate pink hydrangeas. Clarkia pulchella is also a good annual, but not so valuable as the varieties of elegans. Gardening with hardy annuals is very satisfactory. They can be sown in the open Avhere they are to floAver, or they can be raised in a cool greenhouse or cold frame, and after being pricked out planted to follow on spring flowering bulbs or other spring floAvering plants. When soavu in the open the most important operation, that of thinning, is often neglected or not done severely enough, and instead of the plants forming spreading side branches which continue in the flowering season, they arc drawn up as a single stem with a feAV flowers on the ends, Avhich soon pass. NATIVE FLOWERING SHRUBS In last week’s notes I mentioned some of the native flowering shrubs which belong to the Olearia family, but there are still some other of equal importance in flower about this time. In the seaside gardens they may be nearly over, but in their native haunts in the bush or on the mountains they are usually a little later. The Senecios (shrubby groundsels) are not quite so varied in the colour of their daisy flowers as the Olearias, being mainly white and yellow, but they arc valuable nevertheless. Senecio lexifolius, S. Greyii, and a plant of garden origin, S. Crustii, are all spreading shrubs, the foliage being covered Avith white tomentum on the margins and underneath. The daisy flowers, which are golden yellow, are produced in great abundance, and the plants are specially suitable for covering banks in dry sunny gardens. Senecio Hectori Is more upright in growth, and will reach a height of 12ft, with broad lanceolate leaves up to 12 inches long. This plant produces panicles of marquirite-like flowers, with white ray florets and a yelloAv disc, and as it comes from the West Coast it is a little tender and has to be sheltered from the cold winds and the morning sun.

The ratas are bright showy plants, and though they grow into trees in Nature they are usually seen in gardens in the form of shapely rounded bushes with many branches. They are evergreen, and are well Avorth grOAving for their bright glossy foliage, which is cheerful at all times. The common rata, Metrosideros lucids, is a very hardy plant and will stand up to all kinds of weather in very exposed places. When it flowers freely, as it is doing this season, a well grown plant is very striking, the colour being obtained mainly from the bright crimson stamens with black anthers; There is a. yellow variety which, though not bright, is interesting. The pohutukawa, Metrosideros tomemtosa (the Christmas tree of North Auckland) is much hardier than many consider, and when once established will stand up to all the frosts we are likely to have near the sea, flowing freely, with greater regularity than the common rata. It has larger leaves, covered on the undersides Avith white tomentum, and the flowers, which are produced in such abundance as to completely cover the tree, are dark crimson, and not quite so bright as the southern rata. M. robusta (the northern rata) is also hardy, and so also is the Kermedic Island one, M. villosa. Ratas can be groAvn from cuttings of halfripened wood put in in early autumn, and they can also be grown from seed, but they are plants which transplant easily, and it is quite easy to obtain plants from the open bush and transfer them to your gardens at this season. For the rock garden or the very small toAvn garden, there is a number of the dwarf veronicas which flower very freely and are beautiful in summer. _ V. macrantlm, which grows to a height of a foot, is a very fine little bush, with pure white waxy flowers, the largest of any of the veronicas. It is Avell Avorth a place on the rock garden or near the front of the shrubbery. For covering rocky edgings or hanging over a bank V. cataracta in its many forms is very suitable. It has thin, prostrate rooting stems, and the flowers are white to rose, or light purple or there are various combinations of these colours.

bright pink, flushed with white. Yet another variety with the eame origin is Electra, in colour a clear violet-rose, quite unique in this section. Boule de Niegc, with its large paeony-like flowers, is still the best of the pure whitcs._ The early single varieties provide a slightly larger choice of colour. In height and habit, however, they are practically identical to the doubles, and can be bedded with them with every confidence. The yellow and red Kiezerskroon is probably the best-known of these varieties, and, being slightly taller than the great majority, it can be most effectively used as a centrepiece in large beds, or for the back row of a border. Vermilion Brilliant is the brightest of the scarlets in this section, and the yellow blooms of either Chrysolora or Montresor make a magnificent foil for its really dazzling colour. Orange is another shade which is particularly strong. Lady Moore, an improvement on the old Fred Moore, General de Wet, and Prince of Austria are all strong growing, bright orange varieties, and can be relied upon to make a cheering show. Cottage Maid, a beautiful shade of pearly-pink, is another which is still very largely grown, but Pink Beauty, one of the newer varieties, should be given a trial. Its deep rose flowers arc distinctly above the average in size, and the outer petals pale in part to a snowy whiteness. A white in this section should be chosen from the pure Lady Boreel, or La Heine, the flowers of which develop a pale pink flush before fading. Other good Varieties are Proserpine, large car-mine-rose, white-centred flowers; President Lincoln, rosy-purple, edged with white; Van der Neer, brilliant violetpurple ; and Cullinan, rosy-pink, with white-centred petals. Retroflexa, is a species, and repre r sents a November-flowering type which is steadily gaining in popularity. The long, pointed, reflexing petals are their chief distinction, but it should also be noted that most of these varieties are slightly dwarfer than the majority of November-flowering tulips. Dwarf varieties, in addition to the yellow Retroflexa, arc Picotee, white, edged with deep pink; La Merveille, orange-scarlet; Mrs Kerrell, a beautiful combination of salmon-pink and amber shades; and Golden Crown, golden yellow, edged and flushed with orange-red. For border planting or for bedding where the beds are large enough to warrant their use, the tall-growing Novem-ber-flowering and Darwin varieties are supreme. In these sections is to be found an almost endless selection of colour. Scarlet, crimson, bronze, yellow, white, and almost every conceivable shade of pink to nearly black, are fully represented. The Darwins are the first to flower, and in the following list will be found some of the best of the more moderately-priced varieties suitable for bedding: Baronne de la Tonnaye, bright rose; Bartigon, fiery-crimson; Clara Butt, the ever popular salmon-pink; Dream, lilac; Mr Farncombe Sanders, rosy-scarlet; Faust, deep crimson-purple; King Harold, blood-crimson; Mrs Potter Palmer, violet-purple; Petrus Hondius, carmine-rose; Pride of Haarlem, carmine, and a massive flower with magnificent stems; Afterglow, apricot-orange, edged salmon; and La Tulipe Noire, the black tulip. All the yellow varieties are confined to the Cottage or November-flowering section. Two good forms, with flowers similar in shape to T. retroflexa, but tall enough to be bedded with the Darwins, are Avis Kennicot, bright yellow, and Ellen Willmott, canary-yellow. That old favourite Inglescombe Yellow, sometimes known as the yellow Darwin, is a tall, cup-shaped flower of good substance, and Walter T. Ware has the distinction of being the only true goldenyellow. It is, however, slightly dwarfer than the foregoing varieties. Other good November-flowering tulips are Amber, pale salmon and fawn shades; Carrara, white; Inglescombe Pink, salmon-rose; John Ruskin, a wonderful combination of salmon-rose and lilac shades; Orange King, bright orange; Rosabella, a white-edged rose-pink; and Striped Beauty, rose, flaked crimson and white. Mention must also be made of the breeders. This section comprises the majority of the terra-cotta, bronze, and maroon shades. They are, without exception, huge-flowered varieties with long, stiff stems, and have been described as the aristocrats of the tulip family. A few of the best sorts are Bacchus, violetpurple; Cardinal Manning, bronzypurple; Don Pedro, coffee-brown; Louis XIV, violet, with a tawny margin; and Prince Albert, mahogany-brown. Lastly, there are the striped and flamed old English tulips, more grown for exhibition than bedding, but withal very striking grouped in, say, a small lawn or front garden bed. Sam Barlow, mahogany on gold; Sir Joseph Paxton, maroon on lemon; Mrs Collier, scarlet and rose on white; Kate Connor, rose on white; George Hayward, crimson, cherry, and gold.—D. T. M., in Amateur Gardening.