THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23885, 12 August 1939, Page 21

THE GARDEN

FOR THE WEEKt^S

NOTES BY AURHS's

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ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS •‘Native,” Oamaru.—The specimen sent is Metrosideros lucida, the southern rata, a very desirable flowering tree. It flowers in January. **J. H.,” Roslyn.—The weed sent can be killed by spraying with sulphate of ammonia—loz dissolved in two gallons of water. It can also be dusted with a mixture of sulphate of ammonia, one part to two parts sea sand applied at .the rate of 4oz to the square yard. Its name is schizalema inifaliata. THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY Continue to prick out seedlings as they become large enough to handle and make further sowings of halfhardy annuals. Sow sweet peas either singly, in small pots or cardboard containers, or in small squares of turf. Use a light soil mixture to, which some lime rubble has been added and after sowing stand on ■the'bench in the warm greenhouse, or in a frame until germination takes place. When sowing in turf, which is quite successful, fit a turf into a, box in which drainage has been provided as usual and cut it into 25 sections. Punch a hole in the centre of each piece about two inches deep, put in an inch of the seed-sowing soil, then one or two peas, and fill up with soil, making it firm. When planting out each plant is lifted in its piece of turf, with its roots intact, and it receives very little check. Put in cuttings of chrysanthemums, pot on hydrangeas and repot fuchsias. THE FLOWER GARDEN Prune the bush roses and hydrangeas, dig shrubbery and herbaceous borders, repair turf and plant out roses, trees and shrubs as soon as the soil is sufficiently dry. Fortunately the recent snowistorm did littles damage to trees and shrubs. THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GARDEN Continue to clear of! spent crops, lift and store in soil or sand, carrots, beetroot and parsnips, and dig or trench all vacant ground. As soon as the soil is in a workable condition, plant shallots, garlic, and chives, and make a sowing of broad beans and dwarf early peas, such as English. Wonder, and make a small planting of early potatoes. Plant fruit trees and bushes, and complete the pruning as soon as possible,, , ROSE PRUNING August is the month for pruning the bush, roses, and as soon as the soil is dry enough to this operation should be ; carried out Pruning is an interesting operation, and one not at all difficult,to carry out, provided that one understands the principles underlying it. In the first place one should examine the plants, smd it will be rioted that last season’s flowers were borne on young wood,' that. its. shoots developed from dormant buds the same season. On further examination it will be seen that there are many dormant buds on the plant, and it is easy to understand that, if all were left to develop there would be far too many shoots for each to develop flowers, and that many would be weak and develop only leaves forming a thicket of foliage which it would be impossible to spray, and keep clean. Pruning is necessary to reduce the number of dormant buds to just such as can reasonably be expected to fonri flowers, of reasonable size and form, and this is the reason why a weak grower is pruned hard and a strong grower lightly. A strong grower can develop a number of flowering shoots, whereas a weak

grower is limited in its ability and we should not expect too much from it, ’ Having thoroughly understood these two important points—that the flowers are produced on young shoots which develop from dormant buds on the previous season’s ripened wood, and that the number of these buds which we will leave when pruning will depend on the vigour of the plant. The tools necessary for pruning are a pair of good, clean, sharp secateurs, a sharp pruning knife to trim any large cuts which may be made a small saw to cut through large old shoots too tough for the secateurs, a pair of good strong leather gloves of the gauntlet type, and a pad to kneel on.

can be maintained. R. Buchanani is a more difficult plant to accommodate, and is almost as beauitfui as Lyallii. R. Mathewsii is a hybrid between the two, and it is possible to collect seedlings showing all stages between the entire leaf of R. Lyallii and the much-cut leaf of R. Buchanani. R. nivicola from Mount Egmont is a strong growing species with yellow flowers, and R. Godleyanus from Franz Josef is also a strong grower with yellow flowers. R. insignis grows to a height of three feet and has yellow flowers. There are a number of small species suitable for the scree or rock garden, all of which have yellow flowers. Leucogens grandiceps (the South Island Edelweiss) is a plant worthy of .a place on the scree; in fact, it is a far more decorative plant than the European edelweiss both in its flowers and foliage It likes a crack between two large rocks, or a similar position. L. Leontopodium (the North Island Edelweiss) is an even more beautiful plant and quite as easy to grow. AN EARLY FLOWERING PRIMROSE We always look forward with special interest for the early flowering rock plants, and one of the first to appear is Primula Wanda. It is a hybrid of which Primula Juliae is one of the parents, and it resembles the British primrose very much both in habit and freedom of flowering. Its flowers are a rich claret colour, more red than the parent, and it should be propagated by division to keep the variety true. It soon becomes overcrowded and should be lifted and divided up (in autumn) once in three years. It prefers a damp or semi-shaded position on the rock garden.

The first operation is to cut right out all dead or decaying wood, for such usually harbours spores of fun gold pests, or eggs of insect ones, and it is of no use to the plant. The next operation is to cut out any old wood which can be spared, and on which the shoots are becoming weaker and weaker each year. If possible, it would be desirable to eliminate all except the young shoots which spring from the ground, or near it, but this is not always possible, for many of the weaker plants do .not make sufficient young wood. Next, any stout pithy unripened shoots should be cut out, and those which are well ripened and about as thick as the little finger left. The next point is to reduce the young growths, should there be more than the plant should have, and wheri this has to be done, those in the centre of the bush should be cut out. Though the shape of a rose bush is not very' important, it is desirable to have the shoots evenly distributed, so that growth will be all about the same strength, and that there will be an even distribution of the sap. The length of the young ' shoots will depend on the. strength of the growth of the variety, and a rough guide would be a foot for such strong growers as Betty Uprichard, and Covent Garden, nine inches for Mrs Henry Bowles, six inches for Mrs Sam McGredy, four to six inches for Earl Haig, and three to four inches for weak growers. Instead of inches we could calculate in number of good prominent buds, and a good shoot should be able to develop three to four, a medium one, two to three, and a weak one, one to two. In every case it is irriportant to cut to a bud pointing away from the centre of the bush or in the direction in which we want the strongest shoot to grow, for the top bud invariably produces the strongest, growth. ' I am assuming that you are growing roses for a display in the garden or to provide cut flowers for house decoration. If you want a few large flowers for exhibition purposes, pruning will have to be more severe, or disbudding afterwards will be carried out, to limit the number of shoots and flowers. - In the case of the polyanthus kinds, which ptoduce quantities of growths, pruning is mainly a matter of thinning out. First remove the thin and weak shoots altogether, and then shorten back the stronger ones by about- a third of their length. Im, the case of luxurious growers of the Hugh Dickson or Climbing Shot Silk type, it is better to cut ‘out all the old wood, to thin out the young shoots a bit, and to cut away about a foot or more of the unripened tip, and then to peg them down, tieing them firmly to wooden pogs driven into the ground. This places all the buds along the entire length of the shoot on about the same level, ensuring an even distribution of the sap, and they will grow out and produce wreaths of good flowers all along the shoot. It is better to plant these strong growers in separate beds rather than to tie them down among the otherbushes.

After pruning, rake up the twigs and bum them, scattering the ashes over the surface of the beds and borders, and then spray them with lime sulphur at from 1 in 20 to 1 in 30 to destroy any spores for mildew or black spot, which may be lurking about As this spray will stain the labels, they should be taken out and laid face downwards beside the plant they belong to. The next job is to manure and dig the beds and borders, and if cow or well-rotted stable manure is available, and there are no bulbs planted among the bushes, a good dressing can be spread and dug in. If animal manure is not available, give a good dressing of bonedust—about three ounces to the square yard, and one ounce of oyster grit. Do not dig deeply immediately round the plant. Scrape away any weedy soil from round them, and replace it with clean soil dug from between the bushes, where there are few or no roots. The surface should be left fairly rough in the meantime, to expose as much of the soil as possible to the action of frost and other useful agencies. NATIVE HERBACEOUS PLANTS To many people native plants mean bush, but there is a large number of beautiful native herbaceous plants well worthy of a place in our gardens. These are usually found above the bush line, and extending to the limit of vegetation and consequently are in many cases difficult to accommodate. Many thrive under ordinary border conditions, however, provided that the soil is of an open texture, rich in organic matter (but not manure), and well drained. For the more difficult kinds, scree conditions are necessary, but as the description of the formation of a scree would require considerable space I will leave it until another week.

The buttercup, ranunculus, family is well represented among the herbaceous plants; in fact, it is considered that Ranunculus Lyallii is the finest buttercup in existence, It is certainly a remarkable looking plant with large round peltate leaves up to 12in in diameter, on stalks 2ft to 3ft long. The white flowers, which are 2in to 3in in diameter, are borne in panicles of from 10 to 60 on stalks 2ft to 3ft high. This plant is most satisfactory when grown from seed, which should be sown on an open border, as soon as it is ripe, and shaded until it germinates. Seedlings will flower in the second or third year Plants are usually collected on the mountains when in growth, which is not the most suitable time; they are better when dormant. Planted on a well-drained border in semi-shade, they flower well, and by raising seedlings every year a supply of flowering plants