FOLIAGE PLANTS FOR WINTER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21906, 18 March 1933, Page 7

FOLIAGE PLANTS FOR WINTER

ELEGANCE AND CHARM FOR GREENHOUSE AND HOME. In a warm greenhouse, maintaining a temperature ranging from 45 to 55 degrees, a judicious selection of ornamental foliage plants will greatly enhance the effect of the flowering subjects, and will also provide useful specimens for room decoration. All the plants named in this article will withstand with impunity reasonable sojourns in the house, and, with intervals for rest and recuperation, allied with sensible cultivation, they may be made to render long and valuable service. Foliage plants are, for the most part, permanent, and will provide the background and foil for a host of floral subjects. There are two palms which, at any rate in the warmer districts of these islands, are hardy, and for a cool or a cold greenhouse they are admirable. They are Chamterops excelsa and C. humilis. Both are very handsome, and are scarcely surpassed for service. The former is, perhaps, the best, and is often met with under the older name of Chamterops Fortune!. They will do well out of doors'in the summer, and during winter may be utilised for long spells in rooms, with intervals for recuperation in the greenhouse. They like a good loam soil, with a third part of peat and sand, and they must not be overpotted. Good drainage is essential, and, after the plants are well rooted, frequent doses of manure water will be highly beneficial. Sponging of the leaves must bo regularly attended to, and, on bright, days, the use of the syringe will keep them clean and healthy.

Fatsia japonica, or Aralia Sieboldi is one of the indispensables; its fresh greeu leaves are always cheerful, and the plant is easily grown in pots from five inches in diameter up to large specimens. Sponge it frequently, and grow it in a mixture of three parts loam to one part leaf soil and sand. It is easily raised from seed. There is a very handsome variegated form of this popular plant, which is bright and cheerful at all times, and never more so than in winter. It is easily grown as is the well-known green type. Dracaena Bruanti and D. B. variegata are splendid plants, and are especially serviceable for house decorations. They will grow in a cool House, as also will Dracaena indivisa. Botanists insist on the name Cordyline, being used, but dracaena is the more familiar. Such delightful dracaenas as the silvery Sanderiana, the bright Victoria, Prince Manouk Bey, alba marginata, and His Majesty will appreciate a minimum temperature of COdeg. 'lhey will thrive in a mixture of loam and leaf soil, in equal proportions, and should be regularly sponged to keep their colours bright, and the foliage healthy. The true aralias, with their elegant growth and finely-divided leaves, are. always attractive. The class to which A Voitchi belongs is quite distinct from the well-known A. Sieboldi, previously mentioned. The bronzy-green and graceful leaves are disposed along an erect, slender stem, and the plant has always been a great favourite as a room ami table ornament. Other good varieties are A. Veitchi gracillima and A. elegantissima. A minimum temperature of 50dcg. and a mixture of peat and loam are important cultural requirements. The Indiarnbber plant, Ficus elastica, its variegated variety, and the Norfolk Island Pine, Araucaria oxcelsa, are good, hard-wearing subjects which should find a place in every greenhouse. Small, wellgrown examples of the araucaria are difficult to beat, and are particularly

happy as room plants. Specimens in 5-inch and 6-inch pots are sufficiently large, and will do well in good yellow loam and sand.

The ficus grows easily, and will, in time, betray a , disposition to straggly or leggy growth. Then the top may be taken off and rooted as a cutting to form a dwarf and sturdy plant. Give this plat any, amount of sponging, A weak solution of an insecticide, or of soft soap should be used for all these smooth-leaved plants, which may be easily cleansed in this way. This will eradicate insect pests, and' it must be fully realised that the best effect of foliage plants cannot be obtained unless they are maintained in scrupulously clean condition and in good health. A plant not nearly sufficiently grown is the Australian gum, Eucalyptus globulus. This rapid-growing and aromatic plant, with bluc-grcen stems and leaves, will strike a particularly cheery note in the dull days, and it is so easily grown and such a good companion and foil for other plants as to render it most desirable for a. cool greenhouse. It will, of course, in time grow into a huge specimen, but it is as a small or moderatesized plant that it will beautify greenhouse and room. Loam and leaf mould will grow it well, and, in the summer, it will be quite happy in the open air. Eurya latifolia varigata is a good, hardy plant, and one distinctly attractive. Its leaves somewhat resemble those of the orange, but are rather smaller, white and green in colour, and, when young, suffused with red. Foliage plants are particularly happy in the small conservatory or greenhouse, which so often adjoins the dwelling house or opens out from it. It is here that something of a permanent character is so urgently needed, and some flowering plants may he introduced as occasion demands or permits. Some small fruiting oranges will introduce a little vivid colour. They scarcely fall into the category of foliage plants, though, when in ' good condition, their leaves are hardly less pleasing than their brilliant fruits. The popular Grevillea robusta should be freely used. It can be grown from seeds. Ventilate the plants well whenever outside conditions permit, for it must be remembered that they must be hard and fit if they are to be satisfactory as permanent room plants. Carefully avoid cold draughts and an arid atmosphere; the latter should he buoyant, and sufficient moisture may be promoted by occasionally damping the floors of the greenhouse and by careful watering. Smooth-leaves subjects may be syringed on bright days, but never when it is dull or cold in winter. Any repotting operations which may become necessary may be carried out in spring. This will allow the plants to make good growth without a period of dormancy in the new soil. During summer the plants must be shaded and carefully tended in the matter of watering and and ventilation. Any which may be safely placed in the open air will derive untold advantage from such a holiday, Carefully guard, however, against drought and the effects of strong sunshine. —R. B. A., in Amateur Gardening.