GARDEN & ORCHARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3613, 12 June 1923, Page 11

GARDEN & ORCHARD.

By

D. Tannock.

WORK FOR THE WEEK. [Aix Rights Reserved.] THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. As the chrysanthemums pass out of bloom they should be cut over and placed in a cold -frame, or a sheltered place outside, until sulßcient cuttings have been rooted, when they can be thrown out. Primulas, cyclamen and cinerarias will be coming on to take the place of the chrysanthemums, and these will have to be kept growing steadily. Water carefully, and give them a little weak liquid manure once a week. Sehizarithus should be potted on, and as growth begins as soon as we pass the shortest day, preparations should be made for boxing or potting on the first lot of the bedding geraniums. Bulbs which were potted or boxed for forcing, can now be removed from the ashes or other covering and brought into the cool greenhouse, and those which were brought in a week or so ago can be put into the warmhouse to hasten on the growth. Continue to put in cuttings of hardwooded plants and to line out those which were put in last j’ear. THE FLOWER GARDEN Continue to plant out trees, shrubs, and roses, to rake up leaves and to prune shrubs and rambler roses. Trench new beds and borders, and carry cut alterations to paths and lawns while the other maintenance work is a bit slack. Christmas roses are flowering now and these are quite useful for decorative work when covered with a sheet of glass or a handlight, to prevent the dirt from spoiling them. They can be lifted and flowered inside, but they do not like to be disturbed, and lifting them puts them back for a year or more. Narcissi are now coming through the ground, and in cultivated borders it is desirable to fork over the soil, and where it is poor a dressing of basic superphosphate or basic slag can be dusted on the surface and worked in while forking.

Ceimisias. —Though all our native plants are most interesting, they are not all alike decorative, and the genus Ceimisias probably contains as many real good garden species as any. They are closely related to the olearias or daisy trees, and differ from them chiefly in habit and distribution. They are called mountain daisies, and this is a most appropriate name, for with few exceptions they are found at altitudes of 3,000 ft and over. Celmisia longifolia is one of the exceptions, and it is found on part 3 of the Town Belt and the grassy hills round Dunedin ; C. verbascifolia is found on the Horse Ranges, and can be seen on the railway cuttings near Palmerston, and C. Lindsayi is found on the cliffs neathe Nuggets. Though a number are more or less woody, with creeping stems which enable them to carpet large areas on the high mountains, such as the Rock and Pillar, the best known have their leaves in rosettes, often stiff and covered with silvery, brown, or gold-coloured tementum, which gives them a very distinctive appearance. I have heard them called cotton plants on account of the hairy covering of the leaves, but this is not a very useful or descriptive common name. Though they are usually found in moist places on the mountains, growing in a soil composed chiefly of pieces of rock and organic matter, they are not at all particular as to soil, pro\ r ided it is not too light and does not become too dry and hot during the winter. At one time I considered that rock garden cultivation was essential, and we have grown them very successfully on the rock garden in the Botanic Gardens, where some species collected about 19 years ago are still thriving, but we have also grown them on an ordinary well-drained border, where the soil has a tendency towards clay. After seeing the way they thrive with Mr S-peden. of Gore, 1 am convinced that ordinary border cultivation is all that is required, and that they will thrive in a fairly heavy soil, provided it is well drained and well cultivated. A few pieces of rock sunk in among and round them helps drainage and is an advantage for tlie dwarf creeping kinds. Though one of the best methods of obtaining supplies is to collect them'on the mountains, they are quite easy to prorogate either by means of seeds or cuttings. The spreading kinds, such as Holosericec, Lindsayi prorepens, ramulosa, and viscosa, can be pulled to pieces, and if each piece has a few roots, there is no doubt about ther growing, but they can also be put in as cuttings, when they soon form roots. It is really an advantage to lift and divide them up a bit from time to time, for they grow out of the ground and the stems crowd one another. The rosette kinds, such as verbascifolia and coriacea, are quite easily raised from seed, provided the heads with the stalks attached are collected just before the seed is ripe, and sown as soon as they fall off the stalk, in a well-drained bed in a cool, moist part of the garden. Shade with a piece of scrim or scrub and remove the shading as soon as the seedlings come through the ground, which will not be very long. If the germination is to</ prolific the seedlings can be thinned a bit as soon as they are large enough to handle, and a sash placed over the seedlings to keep off the winter rains is an advantage. They can be transplanted to their permanent quarters when a little over a year old. When the species are doing well the self-sown seedlings come up all round the parent plants, and I have collected splendid seedlings in an interesting garden in Ravensboume, where they had come up in thousands on a moist clay bank. Some of the commoner and easier to grow of the species areCelmisia verbascifolia (Vorbascnm like). It is a large, handsome plant, with large leaves, smooth, or slightly cottony above, with woolly margins underneath clothed with soft white or buff tomentum. The flower stalks are often 18 inches to 2 feet in length and the flower head four or more inches in diameter. There is a variety with branching flower stems, and where verbascifolia and eoriaceae are growing together, the seedlings merge into one another. It will thrive in an ordinary border. Celmisia Coriacoae (the leathery celmisia). —This is the finest of all the mountain daisies, its beautiful silvery foliage being quite decorative, and is well worthy

of cultivation in our gardens for this purpose alone. The leaves, which are from 9 to 24 inches or more in length, are densely clothed with silvery tomentum, and the strong flower scapes, which are from lft to 3ft in length, are also covered with the silvery tomentum. The colour of the tomentum varies a bit, a/fd in some districts it is more or less golden. The flower heads are from 2 to 3 inches and more across, the ray florets being pure white and the disc ones golden yellow. In cultivation it also produces branched scapes, but Mr Cheesman states that he has never observed branching in the wild state. This plant will thrive in the border or on the rock garden and likes full sun.

C. Holosericea is one of the most useful for providing cut flowers. Its flower scape is not so thick and clumsy as the species already mentioned, and the flower heads are quite as large, with very long ligulate florets. _ It is more or less of a spreading habit, is easily increased by division, and likes a partly shaded and damp bank to spread over. It will also do well on the shady side of the rockery, and is very suitable for growing on rocky edgings alongside paths. C. Lindsayi is also a good spreader, easily increased by division, and will thrive in a drier and more sunny position than holosericea, which it resembles. Other decorative species in our collection are C. viscosa. C. subalpina, C. ramulosa, C. densiflora, C. Monroi, C. argentea, C. Lyallii, C. Sinclairii, C. liniaris. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN There is not much to do in this department at the present, except to dig and trench vacant land and to prune and spray fruit trees and bushes. As so much useful green stuff, such as cabbage, savoys, and broccoli was destroyed by the flood waters, there is sure to be a scarcity of green vegetables in the spring and early summer, and all those who have a farm should fill it with fermenting material, such as leaves and strawy stable manure, to force things on a bit. Seakale can be forced either by putting a pot or box over the crowns where they are growalld building a hot-bed oi'er them, or lifting and dressing the roots, packing them close together in pots or boxes and placing them under the stage in the warm greenhouse, with a box or pot over them to keep the light away from the shoots. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS Shrub.’ Dunedin.—The shrub with the r ® a ,, ri 2?. s 19 Cotoneaster Sirr.onsii, a native of the Khasi Mountains, and a very desirable p.ant for the shrubbery. It is more or less deciduous, its leaves” take on bright autumn tints and the berries are always attractive. It can be grown from cuttings put m as advised for hardwooded plants and it is quite easy to grow from seed; in’ fact seedlings frequently come up where the oirds have dropped the seed. The other is Spiraea Ihunbergi, a native of China. It -forms a twiggy, bushy shrub about 3ft to . !n WH and is one of the first spiraea to flower in spring, when it is simply smothered with small, white flowers <‘Ti f>RSy to S TOV ' from cuttings. H.b. Oamaru.—The plant sent is >Aolanum nigrum, commonly called the bound l 13 ,°^ en f° un d growing on rubP, . . h^P 9 waste places, and I do not 'trunk the fruits are poisonous. It is an annual and a native of Britain