THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23161, 10 April 1937, Page 24

THE GARDEN

Answers to Correspondents “L. 5.,” Oamaru.—'There are a number of plants which are poisonous, but you would be liable to pay damages if you planted them within reach, of your neighbour’s cows. It is better to erect a higher fence. “A. J. W.,” Hakataramea.—The names ,of the plants are Throny plant with pea-like flowers, and Acacia pseudoacacia. The yellow-flowered one is a hypericum and the other a French clover. The Greenhouse and Nursery Continue to put in cuttings of geraniums, pansies and violas, pentstemons, and half-ripened woody plants. The latter should be put into a sand frame, which is kept closed in all weather. . „ Pot on cinerarias to their flowering pots, and pot up seedlings of Primula sinensis, and greenhouse calceolarias. Sow seeds of schizanthus, godetias, clarkias, mignonette, salpiglossis and any other hardy annual to be grown for the greenhouse. • Chrysanthemum buds should be developing rapidly now, and those which show colour should be placed under cover In case of an early frost. Plants growing in the borders or in special beds in the vegetable garden can be lifted and potted up. Keep them close for a few days and syringe overhead to prevent the foliage from wilting. Arrangements should be made for covering those growing in skeleton houses to provide cut flowers during the winter. Tulips, hyacinths, freesias, and other bulbs can still be potted up for flowering in the house or greenhouse in early spring. Daffodils can be boxed up for forcing to provide cut flowers during winter or eaVly spring. Vineries from which the fruit has been cut can be opened right up t 0 f free admission of fresh air to assist in ripening the wood. Tomatoes will now be nearing the end of their season, and if the house is required for the chrysanthemums the bunches of fruit can be cut and hung up to ripen m a sunny window. Green fruit can be used in many ways for making phutney, etc, THE FLOWER GARDEN The sunny weather experienced lately has given flowering Plants a new lease of life, and dahlias, michaelmas daisies, tuberous begonias, and antirrhinums are still very bright. The scarlet salvia which we almost despaired of flowering this season, is now having a chance, and promises to provide colour until frost comes. Dahlias should be picked over regularly to remove seed pods and old flowers, and all old flowers on berbaceous perennials should be cut off. Annuals and biennials which are past their best should be removed, and spring-flowering plants such as primrose polyanthus, myosotis, wallflowers, double daisies, spring-flowering bulbs, and tubers can also be planted yet. Arrangements should be, made for any replanting and top-dressing, in the rock garden. A number of the rock plants become overgrown, and are better when lifted and divided. Others grow up out of the ground if the soil is washed away from the roots. This is a good time to add new species and varieties to the collection; but before planting it is better to remove the old soil from the pockets to a depth of a foot, and to see that the drainage is satisfactory. Plant rock plants flrmlv. Top-dress old lawns, and sow down new ones. . . Trench and manure new rose beds and borders in preparation for planting in the autumn as soon as the plants can be obtained from the nurserymen. THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GARDEN The main crop of celery can now be earthed up, but this will not be the final earthing. Leeks can also -be earthed up to increase the length of the white stem. . , A sowing can be made of broad beans, and a dwarf round seeded pea, to stand through the winter and provide pods in spring or early summer. A sowing of lettuce can also be made, and cabbage and cauliflower can be sown to provide plants early next spring. Cabbage and late broccoli can still be planted. , Remove all spent crops and dig and store main-crop potatoes. Ail vacant ground should be manured and dug or trenched, leaving the surface as rough as possible. . . Collect and burn all disease-attacked leaves and fruit, and collect and store late varieties of apples and pears. Prepare by trenching ground for new plantations of fruit trees and bushes. autumn-flowering bulbs and TUBEROUS-ROOTED PLANTS One is inclined to think that spring is the time of the flowering bulbs, but there are a number which flower In the autumn, and these are useful, especially in a dry, hot year when the summer and autumn-flowering plan'# go off early. They require welldrained. sunny positions, and some are batter grown on the rock garden.

WORK FOR THE WEEK!

NOTES BY Tf»D.TANNOCK, AHR.H.S.Ws

Probably one of the most striking of the autumn-flowering bulbs is the belladonna lily (Amaryllis belladonna), a noble plant, native of the Cape of Good Hope, which sends up flower stems one foot and a-half to three feet high, and bears flowers as large as the white lily of a delicate silvery rose. The plants begin to push forth their leaves early in spring and upon the strength of the growth of these will depend the freedom with which the flowers appear in the autumn. During growth they have to be encouraged in every way, watered if the weather is dry, and given two or three applications of liquid manure. The position for these bulbs should be an open, sunny one, and as drainage is so important the soil should be taken out to a depth of three feet, six inches of broken bricks or clinkers put in, and over these a layer of half-rotted manure or leaves to keep the drainage open. The soil should be a light,'open one, and if the natural soil is at all heavy it is better to replace it with light, turfy loam to which a few barrow loads of leafmould and lime rubble have been added. Tread the soil firmly and Plant the bulbs just under the surface about a foot apart, in groups or in rows. Place a handful or so of sharp sand round each bulb to prevent rotting. The best time to plant is just before or after flowering, and, once established, they should not be disturbed for some years. They can be raised from seed quite easily, Nerine, the Guernsey Lily.—This is a most useful genus of hardy bulb plants, natives of the Cape of Good Hope, requiring very similar treatment to the Belladonna lily, for, like it, the flowers appear in the autumn and the foliage the following spring. They, therefore, require water and liquid manure when growing and a- complete rest when they ripen off. They are successful when planted at the foot of a wall or fence with a northerly aspect, and are very satisfactory as cut flowers. Nerine Bowdeni is a fine species producing large umbels of flowers Sin to 4in across. It is pink, with a rose-coloured line down each petal. N, Fothergill major has also Targe umbels of salmon-red flowers shaded scarlet. There are a large number of hybrids, and the colour range is from dark red, vivid crimson, cerise, and salmon through pink and blush to white. Zephyranthes (Zephyr flower) is sometimes called the crocus of America. There are about 14 species, but the best known is Z, Candida. It has rush-like evergreen leaves and glistening white flowers with golden anthers, which open flat in the sunshine. The buds are prettily shaded with rose on the outside. It likes a warm, sunny position similar to the Belladonna lily, and is very satisfactory planted as an edging for a border of these bulbs. It is also satisfactory on the rock garden. Sternbergia Lily of the Field is a charming, hardy, bulbous plant with flowers of a texture better able to withstand bad weather than the autumn crocus. Like the bulbs already mentioned, they like a well-drained, warm, sunny position, and are suitable for sunny pockets on the rock garden, and, like the plants already described, flowering depends on thorough ripening of the bulbs in summer and autumn. S. lutea, the great autumn daffodil of Parkinson, is supposed by some writers to be the lily of the field mentioned in Scriptures, because it grows abundantly in the vales in Palestine. The colour is yellow. Hardy cyclamen (sowbread), or cyclamen Persicum, is well known as a greenhouse plant, but though smaller, there are a number of hardy species which flower in the autumn, winter, or spring, and are useful for naturalising in semi-shade under deciduous trees or bushes, among ferns, or on the rock garden. Like the plants already described, they like good drainage, and to do them well if the soil is at all heavy, take it out to a depth of two feet. Put in nine inches of broken bricks, and over this lay some turves, with the grassy side downwards, to keep the soil from blocking up the drainage. The soil in which they are planted should consist of one part loam, one leafmould, one well-rotted cow manure, and one of lime rubble. Plant one and a-half to two inches deep, and every year soon after the leaves die down, mulch with leafmould or well-rotted manure. The best known of the autumn flowering kinds is C. neapolitinum (herdarefclium). The ivy-leaved cyclamen is worth growing for its foliage alone. The leaves are variously marked. The greater portion appear after the flowers and continue in beauty during the winter and early spring. The flowers which are produced in abundance are rosy-pink. C. europeum has crimson sweet-scented flowers; C. africanum has blush leaves, silvery zoned with purple under-surface, and fleshwhite flowers with a carmine eye. The hardy cyclamen are easily raised from seed, which ripens regularly. This

should be sown In pots or boxes of light soil as soon as ripe. To retain moisture the surface soil can be covered with damp moss, which is removed as soon as germination, which may take from a month to six weeks. When large enough to handle prick out into boxes of rich, light soil, and grow on steadily in a cold frame, and encourage to grow as long as possible. When the leaves ripen off the tubers can be planted out m their permanent positions. Winter and spring flowering species are C. coum, with its varieties album and roseum, and C. ibericum, with its varieties album, roseum, and rubrum. AUTUMN FLOWERING CROCUS The best known of the autumn flowering crocus are the Colchicums (meadow saffron). These are very hardy plants which, unlike the plants already described, thrive in ordinary borders. They are often planted in grass. The individual flowers do not as a rule last long, but as they are produced in succession there is a long season of bloom. C. autumnale is the commonest species, and of it there are several varieties, a single and double rosy mauve, a single and double white, and striped rose-lilac. C. speciosum from the Caucasus Is a much better garden plant than the meadow saffron, with large handsome flowers varying from light to bright rosy carmine, the petals being of great substance. The flowers, which are cup-shaped, rise nearly a foot above the ground and they are very effective on the rock garden and on the margin of shrubberies. C. s. album is a grand variety with very large snowy-white flowers of perfect form. Var. illyricum is a beautiful variety from Salonika, bearing an abundance of large soft rosy carmine flowers with a white centre and golder* anthers. Var. Ruby Queen is the richest coloured of all Colchicums, the flowers and stem being deep wine or almost ruby colour with white centre. In addition to the well-known spring flowering kinds, there are a number of true crocus which flower in the autumn and one suitable for warm, sunny pockets on the rock garden. They are also useful for providing colour at a season which is usually rather dull in this section of the garden. Crocus zonatus is a reliable species with rose-lilac flowers, the centre being yellow with an orange zone. Other autumn flowering species are C. ochroleucus, C. longiflorus, and C. sativus. The species of crocus are not difficult to import, and they can also be raised from seed quite easily.