THE GARDEN

Southland Times, Issue 22487, 23 January 1935, Page 12

THE GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK (By J. A. McPherson.) The Greenhouse. Fuchsias rapidly fill their pots with roots and soon exhaust the soil. This is shown in a yellowing of the foliage and a lessening in the number of bloom buds. They can be greatly assisted, however, by liberal feeding with liquid manure and if space is available at the top of the pots for a light topdressing of very rich soil so much the better. Plants required for use as standards for next year, should be regularly attended to by pinching out all side shoots and training the leading shoots to a single stake. When the plants start to rest towards winter, store these plants, still in their pots, in an airy shed just giving sufficient water to stop the roots from shrivelling. Next spring they can be brought out and potted up into larger pots and will give a wonderful display as strong standards. Though spring is as yet a long way off, still it is necessary to prepare those subjects that will provide plenty of colour under glass. Primulas require potting into three inch pots and Cylclamen corms that have been drying off must be brought forward and started into growth. Later they can be repotted into clean pots of fresh soil. Secure a supply of Freesia bulbs and place ten in a five inch pot. Stand them outside till late autumn and then bring them into a cool airy house for flowering. The Flower Garden. Stocks for blooming in winter and early spring should be shifted from their seed beds and lined out six inches apart in a comer of the reserve garden. Here they will make strong sturdy growth by the late autumn when they can be planted out into their permanent positions. Hoe between rows of growing Wallflower and see that the plants become sturdy but not too tall. Should they be growing too quickly, wrench at the roots after a good shower of rain. Medium sized plants are the best for setting out in the late autumn for winter display. The first bulbs to consider planting are the Grape Hyacinths. These have a very short resting period and should be in the ground again during the month of February. They make splendid borders when planted four abreast and are excellent for planting as a ground work under flowering Cherries, Magnolias and Azaleas. Even in grassland, provided the grasses are not too coarse, they make a splendid show. A very interesting annual at present in bloom is the Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia). It grows to a height of three feet and produces single flowers after the manner of a single French Marigold; but the colour is a beautiful orange-scarlet. The leaves are like small sunflower leaves and the plant is an excellent subject for the back of a warm border. Try it out next season and give the plants good soil and plenty of bright sunshine. Antirrhinums will give a second crop of bloom if the old flower spikes are removed as soon as they have done flowering. Asters will require staking to prevent the weight of the opening blooms from bending the plants on to the soil. If many of the plants die off just as they commence to bloom this is a sure sign of aster wilt and new ground should be found for next season’s plants. There is no known cure for the above disease though some recent varieties are/airly immune especially one called Californian Giant (a beautiful pink variety). Hydrangeas. Soil conditions in Soouthland are excellent for the general growth of Hydrangeas. The reason why they do not flower in cold districts is the fact that the tips of the shoots have become frosted during the whiter. If the plants can be covered with some temporary shelter till all hard frosts have disappeared then they will produce a mass of bloom. . For indoor decoration at Christmas time there is nothing finer than a single plant with one large head of flower growing in a five inch' pot. To do this the cuttings must be rooted during this month and later potted singly into three or four inch pots and stood outside in a cool frame. Protect them from frost during the winter and do not water except to keep the plants alive. In the early spring repot the plants into five inch pots, keep them to one leading shoot and bring under cover of a warm frame or glasshouse. The flower head on each plant will slowly develop and can be increased in size if liquid manure is given. There are whites, creams and pink varieties of Hydrangeas. Blue is not a natural colour though many people desire it. Most varieties can be turned to a blue colour if the plants are watered with a little alum water during the second half of their growth (spring onwards) or if iron filings are mixed with the potting soil. If on the other hand you wish to keep the pink varieties in their true colour, see that the soil contains plenty of lime. The peaty soils met with in many parts of Southland should grow good blue, flowered plants. Some of the best varieties are. for blue flowers, Blue Prince, La Marne Domotoi, Goliath, and Child’s Red Stem. For pink and red varieties, Lancelot, Loreley, Triumph, Peer Gynt, Parsifal, Mrs H. J. Jones, and Rubis. I inspected a group of these red and pink varieties the other day, all growing on acid soil and every one of them was heavily sparked with blue and purple tints, showing it is just a question of soil when trying to obtain the blue colour and also in keeping the varieties to their true colour. White varieties that keep very true to colour are Mme. E. Mouillere, Neige Orleanise, and Paniculata grandiflora. Grown in tubs they make splendid subjects for standing about the garden and during .winter the tubs can be removed to an airy shed to protect the plants from frosts. Strawberries. The present is a good time to layer young strawberry runners. Loosen up the soil a little and peg down the best of the runners leaving only the first two young plantlets on each runner. The rest can be cut off so that all the feeding may be diverted into those pegged down. If they can be rooted early and then planted out into their permanent positions in autumn, they will build up strong plants from which can be expected a few bunches of fruit. This is not so with those plants set out in the springtime for these latter have all their work cut out to build themselves up, and cannot be expected to fruit. The Vegetable Garden. Cut and tie herbs into convenient bundles for drying. Sow a row of parsley for winter use and should it be difficult to obtain supplies of leaves, put up a .few young seedlings in the autumn and bring under cover of a frame or sunny porch. Pinch out the leading shoot on all marrow plants to force the lateral growths. It is on these lateral growths that the best fruits are borne.

Harvest shallots and garlic as the leaves turn yellow. Do not store till they have been thoroughly dried in the sun.

GARDENS OF ROME CULT AMONG WEALTHY. The cult for gardens and a country life was dominant among the wealthy in the days of ancient Rome. The most splendid gardens were apparently those made by the Emperor Nero, The gardens of his Golden House . stretched from above the baths of Trojan to the valley of the Coliseum. The most interesting relic of garden interest still to be seen in, * or rather just outside, Rome is the garden room of the Empress Livia, wife of Caesar Augustus, who ordered all the world to be taxed. The room is barrel vaulted, and the walls are adorned with frescoes. so painted that standing in the room gives the impression of being in a garden. Though painted 1900 years ago, this fresco is in a remarkable state. of Preservation. The garden is depicted in two parts—in the foreground a part planted with low-growing flowers, fenced in front with trellis work and behind with a stonework screen. Beyond is a garden planted with orange trees, oleanders, olive trees, palms, roses, and carnations. Numerous birds and butterflies are also depicted. The descriptions given by Pliny, of his own villas are famous in classical literature. One of the most famous gardens made in Rome in imperial times was the Emperor Caligula s floating garden. This was a ship manned with ten rows of oars, the ship itself being studded with precious stones and the decks covered with vines, fruit trees, and flowers in tubs. The great flower nurseries were out in the Campagna, where enormous quantities of blooms were grown for sale to supply the needs of the city oi Rome. Topiary work was a conspicuous feature of Roman gardens, and PJiny ascribes the invention of this art to Cnaeus Martius, a friend of the Emperor Augustus. Cicero only once uses the word toparius, and it is noteworthy that Cato Varro and Columnella make no mention of the art. The Pompeian frescoes afford us a vivid picture of the types of gardens made there, and they are of peculiar interest, for they depict the s » n P l e r type of gardening probably made by Roman colonists in Britain. In imperial times the gardens made in Rome were famed for their magnificence. Bota roses and lilies were made to flower in winter by growing them in.houses protected with mica. And this all happened nearly 2000 years ago.

A POPULAR FLOWER SHIPPED 6000 MILES. A PEST OF AFRICA. The season for the flower that tra' vels 6000 miles to be sold by England s florists has started again (said a London cablegram of October 25). It is the chincherinchee, white veldt flower of South Africa, which until recently was regarded by the farmers on whose land it grew as a pest and a weed. Now its trade is the most romantic in the Empire. It is unique in long-distance flower shipments. list week the liner Arundel Castle arrived with the first of this year s shipment-thirty-two large boxes for wholesale florists m London. This week the Kenilworth Castle arrived with 526 packages, weighing three tons. South Africans scarcely give the chincherinchee a second glance but buyers in the big cities m England look on it as very lovely with its slow unfolding velvet beauty and its lasting P It is being used more and ™°. r ®/ or decorations, especially at Christmas time. Twenty Tons. Last season it proved so popular that in one shipment alone twenty tons arrived in London. The season lasts from October until Christmas. When the flowers first began arriving in this country, some women mistook them for fruit and boiled them. But now, a regular system has been evolved whereby full instructions are given for the proper handling of the flowers in every package. They are sent in cold storage and are as fresh when they come out of their boxes in London as the day they are P>cke dmiles in the centre of the wide veldt.

NASTURTIUM, GOLDEN

GLEAM

HYBRIDS APPEARING.

The fine golden-yellow and partially double nasturtium, which so quickly attained popularity, seems to be creating some fresh excitement by sporting rather freely. Some amateurs are highly delighted to find that among their batches of seedlings they have a bright scarlet, a fiery orange, or car-mine-red, and where these, breaks are retaining the semi-double formation of flowers, together with the pleasingly sweet perfume, there is good reason to be well pleased. In a few cases disappointments have been encountered, because in a bed or border which should have been an unbroken mass of golden flowers a few plants have thrown single blossoms of quite ordinary nasturtium form and colourings. It may be, of course, that, this has arisen through accidental mixing of seeds, but it is not at all improbable that without any mishap of that kind seedlings from a true Golden Gleam stock may revert to normal type. One should be prompt to remove such plants, particularly so if the flowers appear to have lost the sweet scent and have fallen back upon the pungent odour of ordinary nasturtiums. When reversion to type begins it is difficult to stop, and the wise couree is to discard the offending plants without delay. Any new break that, is good enough to merit preservation should be marked and closely watched. Save the seed separately. It may not all come true, but there is a possibility of getting the distinctive character fixed in a proportion of the seedlings. Another good plan is to pinch out the points of main growth to induce young shoots to break from the joints. When these have produced a few small leaves, cut them off below the lowest joint, and insert them as cuttings in tiny pots of sandy soil. Place in a shady position where there is fresh air but no draughts, and they will, soon root. Pot on as necessary to maintain growth, pinch the points of shoots that begin to run, and keep the plants safe from frost through the winter. These will make splendid early flowering plants for hanging baskets, window boxes, or tubs on verandahs.—"Mac.” in Amateur Gardening.