DECORATIVE SPECIMEN PLANTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23014, 17 October 1936, Page 22

DECORATIVE SPECIMEN PLANTS

FOR HOUSE AND CONSERVATORY The accommodating nature of chrysanthemums allows of considerable diversity in cultural methods. One full of interest is that of blooming them in pots five inches to seven inches in diameter. Some of the | finest blooms are grown in thjs manner, while for home decoration the system carries its own recommendation since large pots and tall plants usually are out of place in rooms. Most of the popular varieties succeed under this plan, and, if good cuttings can be inserted at once, the best possible start may be said to have been made. They soon root at this season in a glass-covered box in the frame. It should be the aim of the grower afterwards to keep them under the coolest conditions. A glass covering to keep off heavy rains is all they need in most seasons from the commencement of May. Exhibition varieties, such as Majestic, Remus, Candeur, or any of the dwarier kinds, may be chosen. The plants should be nicely established in three-inch pots early in November, at which time the growing points should be nipped out. That is all the stopping these will need. Decoratives and single? should also be stopped then, but in their case the operation will need repeating again during the second week in June. NO SHORT CUTS Beyond these technicalities, Ihc rest is straightforward growing, with emohasis on reguar attention to watering. Do not. however, attempt a short cut by omitting the first potting. This is definitely essential to full success. Another detail is not to be too anxious to get the final potting over. As long as the smaller pots remain unfilled leave the plants undisturbed. At the final shift use a minimum of drainage, but arrange it carefully for water to gel away easily. The compost should bo prepared with a mixture of four parts loam to one of old manure, with enough old mortar to lighten it. Mix these together, and dust the heap over with bonemeal and some apnroved chrysanthemum fertiliser. Firm potting is a necessity Care must be taken to leave ample space for watering, otherwise the rootball failswith ordinary watering to get soaked through as the season advances, and that very often is the cause of un-

satisfactory results. But whatever else happens, avoid over-doing the quantity until the roots have had time to penetrate freely into the new compost, for to do this sets up root decay, and a stoppage of growth is the result. During the summer the smaller size? are most satisfactory if the pots can be plunged to the rims in ashes, the bottom of the pots resting on slates to prevent the entrance of worms. If this course cannot be adopted, it is best to set planks on edge along the rows to 1 keep the sun from the pots. The need for either of these measures will be apparent as the season advances, as the demand for water as the pots fill with roots may be incessant in a heat wave. Watering cannot be neglected without the plant suffering, both at the time in loss of lower leaves and at the flowering stage in inferior blooms. The middle of January should see a start in feeding, and, once begun, it must be continued to the end. Weak liquid manure to begin with is best, i but later on the diet may be'' varied with any good fertiliser made into liquid form. For want of room, topdressing plays no part in rejuvenating root action in small pots, and practically all support, beyond a litle artificial on the surface soil, has to be given in liquid form. On account of the leaves of exhibition varieties practically hanging over the pot sides, thus excluding all natural rainfall from the soil, examination for water can only be effectually carried out by means of tapping the pots for the clear ring. It is a peculiarity of exhibition chrysanthemums in small pots that they can take more and richer food than those in roomier quarters without showing any signs of damping in the blooms. Moreover, these open more rapidly, which accounts for later stopping, and allows of the plants remaining in the open a few days after the main batch. The best decoratives for small pots are the April and May flowering varieties. Bronze Marcus, Dorothy Wilson (yellow) and Fifi (pink) make a neat bush in spray form. Caprice du Printemps is also free in this style, and makes a pretty table plant in a five-inch pot. Kathleen Thompson, Market Red and Jean Pattison. the well-known bronze, are always good. Pink Profusion. Pink Delight. Cranford Yellow, Blanche Poitevine (the best white for this purpose), Uxbridge Bronze and Pink Marcus are a few others with a naturally dwarf habit that fits them admirably for late rooting and handy-sized pots. Although many growers are well acquainted with the foregoing methods of producing dwarf specimens in small pots, few realise that really massive specimens about the same height can be raised from late-struck cuttings. The method is simply that of planting several plants in one large pot. and then training them carefully. This is a much better procedure than attempting to grow big specimens from secondyear stools, for these invariably grow tall and straggling. To the busy gardener it has also much to commend it, as compared with growing

show specimens from cuttings struck in late April or May, for the work entailed in bringing the plants through the winter is fairly considerable. Cultural methods are identical with those already outlined. Four, five pr even six plants can be potted up in a 10-inch pot, and training should commence from a very early stage. AN ESSENTIAL . The first essential is to get the lower growths started in the direction in which they are to develop. It • will not be possible to insert horizontal canes securely into the. soil, so an al-, ternative method of support must be adopted. For a start, one good stout stake should be inserted in the centre of. the pot; three canes are often fixed horizontally to this central stake, and a wire ring tied to them. This should provide solid support. Although it entails a good deal of work, tying must never be neglected, for, if once the plants get out of hand, it will prove an almost impossible task to disentangle the young growths. It is obvious that watering will require very careful attention, with so many plants established in one single pot, for root growth will be more than usually ac-'| tive. Feeding, too* can be on rather a more generous scale than usual. As growth proceeds, further wire rings can be tied to the horizontal stakes, while the upright members can be individually staked. It is really surprising what can be done by care and attention, coupled with intelligent skill. Magnificent specimens are exhibited from time to time at the May shows, though the best of modern examples, good though they are, do not excel the trained plants that were entered two generations ago, when incurves were more to the fore, and the big Japanese type in infancy. To-day the decorative type used for big plants entails less skilled effort in dressing the blooms than was called for four or five decades ago.—F. C. T., in Amateur Gardening. •