THE GARDEN

Southland Times, Issue 22731, 6 November 1935, Page 12

THE GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK

(By

J. A. McPherson.)

The Greenhouse.

The rush of raising annuals is now over and growers have room to start raising seedlings of the many herbaceous plants and alpines. Always remember that once the seedlings are well through the soil, they must not be coddled and early in their life should be placed out in cool frames or some sheltered corner.

Continue to pot on begonias, streptocarpus and gloxinias, the last named requiring a little more heat than the two former types of plants. Sow seeds of asparagus and pot on any. seedling ferns and foliage plants that have filled their present pots with roots.

Keep hydrangeas supplied with plenty of water and give them liquid manure at least twice a week.

Dahlias from Cuttings.

Readers who wish to increase any special variety of dahlia may do so now by taking off and rooting every available cutting. The correct procedure is to place the old tubers in boxes and fill in between the roots with a little soil. Place the boxes in a greenhouse or sheltered frame and as each cutting becomes three inches in length, cut it off with a sharp knife just where it joins the neck of the tuber, and insert in a box or pot of sandy soil. Keep the atmosphere round the cuttings rather warm and humid to prevent excessive flagging of the foliage, and in three weeks time they should be well rooted. Pot them singly into small pots and towards the middle of December, plant them out into their permanent quarters. Dahlias grow very readily from seed, but do not come true. The dwarf bedding type such as Unwin’s hybrids give a wide range of colour and come true as far as their dwarf habit is concerned. These should make a good late summer display if the seed is sown immediately. The resultant tubers can be stored during next winter and planted out the following season. Flowering Brooms. Of recent years there has been a great development in the flower colour of the ordinary broom (Cytisus), so much so that the new varieties rank among the best of present day flowering shrubs. They are perfectly hardy and will grow both in good garden soil and also on dry stony ground. To produce the best results the plants should be cut fairly hard back as soon as they have done flowering in order to produce the maximum amount of new wood before next flowering season. Some of the best varieties are praecon (cream), Dorothy Walpole (reddish-wir.e), Lilac Time (pale lilac), Donard Seedling (deep lilac). Lord Lamboume (red and buff) and Burkwoodi (red and cream). Those varieties grown as standards are grafted on to the common laburnum. Removing Flower-heads. One is often reminded throughout the growing season to remove all spent blooms from plants. This is particularly important when it comes to three classes of shrubs namely, lilacs, azaleas and rhododendrons. Should the flower heads be left to seed there is a distinct weakening of the bushes and furthermore the young growth which usually springs from near the base of the old flowering stems is much retarded in development. Roses. Roses in most districts are doing very well this season. Soon it will be necessary to disbud in order to produce good show blooms. Flowering stems usually have a terminal bud 'and one to two smaller buds situated at its base. The latter should be removed and every encouragement given the terminal bud to develop. Sometimes, especially in January, rose buds are badly nibbled during the night by the beetle of the grass-grub. To prevent this, spray the buds with a little arsenate of lead. It is not necessary to spray the entire bushes and besides, the arsenate of lead is rather unsightly on the foliage. Rose beds should be given a topdressing of sulphate of potash at the rate of one ounce to the square yard. It has been proved that this manure greatly assists the plants to resist mildew. See that the sulphate is lightly worked in by means of a hoe or fork. Should greenfly make its appearance, then spray with Black Leaf 40 at the rate of one teaspoonful to the gallon of warm water. The Flower Garden. With the exception of geraniums, zinnias, salvias and marigolds all annuals and bedding plants may now be bedded out. See that the soil is well firmed round their roots and should the weather be warm and dry a good watering will be necessary. Bear in mind one point already discussed, that is, not to put short lined plants in the main beds; but just use them as a catch crop or as an underplanting to perennials. After the second year of flowering it does not pay to keep anemones and ranunculus. Of recent years the tubers appear to be losing their vitality and the surest way of keeping up good healthy stocks is to raise a batch of young seedlings each year. Seeds of anemones should be sown now, and if grown on will provide plants for blooming in late winter and early spring. Ranunculus is best sown in early spring on slightly raised beds out of doors. The seedlings will grow and an occasional bloom comes the first season. When the foliage has died down the young tubers can be lifted and stored. These one year old tubers always give the best results. Tomatoes. Readers should now have the work of preparing the ground for outside tomatoes well in hand. The plants love a well drained and rather open soil, sheltered from all prevaling winds and lying to the sun. The soil should be manured with well rotted, but not rank, stable manure and a dressing of sulphate of potash and superphosphate worked into the top soil at the rate of one ounce of each to the square yard. The former artificial manure is essential fbr the production of well and evenly ripened fruits. Place the plants two feet apart and three feet between the rows. Always train to one leader on each plant and rub out all the side shoots. The Vegetable Garden. No time should be lost in preparing trenches for celery; it permits of the soil being thoroughly sweetened before the plants are set out. Continue with the sowing of all main crop vegetables and start with the sowing of French and runner beans. Give this type of bean the best of conditions otherwise crops will be poor and slow in coming to maturity. Heavy rains quickly pack the soil, and at this period of the year, especially with germinating seeds, the position should be watched and the light hand fork brought into use on frequent occasions. THE LOVELY TORCH LILIES Kniphofias, commonly known as Torch Lilies or Red-hot Pokers, are very effective in bold groups in an isolated position. They are particularly

beautiful when grouped in front of coniferous trees. Beds planted with one variety are more striking than a mixed planting or a few odd plants in the flower border.

They make tufts of broad, grass-like foliage from which stately spikes or orange and red flowers, from 2 to 5 or 6ft. high, emerge. There are smaller Kniphofias belonging to the gracilis group, of comparatively recent introduction. These grow frojn three to four feet high and flower from July to late autumn. They are well adapted for the perennial border and display a wide range of colours. The torch lilies grow well in deep, well-drained rich loam, which has been deeply dug and enriched with rotted manure, and can be planted in autumn or spring. Once established they are plants which dislike disturbance. They should be soaked with water occasionally during hot dry weather, and benefit from a mulch of strawy manure or lawn mowings. They may be propagated by division of the roots in spring. Some of the best varieties are: Caulescens, with glaucaus green leaves and reddish salmon flowers, about sft. high, September; Tuckii, bright red flowers which open in June and continue until late August; Russel’s Gold, bright yellow; Royal Standard, scarlet and yellow; and Nobilis, brilliant crimson-scarlet flower spikes, six to eight feet. BEARDED IRISES Writing recently in the London Observer, “G.C.T.” says:—“Only comparatively few gardeners as yet seem to have realized the remarkable possibilities of tire beared irises, iris germanica, for decorative effect in the early summer garden. This year, it is true, in common with many other plants, like the lilies, they suffered severely from the devastating frosts of mid-May, and the displays in most places were disappointing. But such dire visitations are fortunately rare, and, in most seasons, the gardener has few better or more trustworthy plants for colour and flower effects in borders and elsewhere through May and June (November-December) than this group of irises, descended in the main from iris pallida, and I. variegata. The patient labours of such early pioneers as the late Sir Michael Foster and W. R. Dykes have borne ample fruit. It is not too much to say that their efforts have provided the foundations upon which many other raisers who have succeeded them have rapidly built up the present race of hybrid irises, which are far superior in every way to the old varieties. There has been marked improvement in the habit of growth and constitution of the plants in the form of the flowers, and in the range of colouring. Fragrance, too, has not been neglected, and some of the modern varieties have the quality of scent well developed, but it is the range and colour that has been most improved. The choice of shades is large enough to satisfy the most critical, and though there is possibly an excess nowadays of those bizarre colourings in which brown, copper, bronze, and purple are blended together, there is no lack of the pure, self-coloured blooms, which are never likely to lose their appeal. “Apart from their virtues of flower and foliage, which alone entitle them to a place in the front line of every border, where their handsome, swordlike leaves are indispensable for giving variety and contrast in the texture of the front line planting, they are amongst the easiest of plants to please. They are tolerant of any conditions, except dense shade and a badly drained soil, and can be trusted to flourish as well in chalk as in gravel, in full sun as well as in light shade, and in the town garden as well as in the country. An open and sunny situation, free from, the entangling growths of groundwork plants which shade their rhizomes from the summer sunshine, so necessary to give them a thorough baking, and build up their vitality for next year’s flowering, suits them best. Good drainage is essential to success, and if the ground is naturally free from lime, a dressing should be applied in some form or other, for there is nothing that the bearded irises appreciate better than lime in their diet.

“To plant the fleshy rhizomes too deep is to invite failure, especially where the ground is on the heavy side, and it is sufficient to cover them with a thin film of roil, but, at the same time, making certain that they are perfectly firm. Authorities differ as to the best season for planting, but it is now generally agreed that the most favourable time is soon after flowering, or, failing that, during August and September—early autumn. They are an accommodating group of plants, however, and can be moved with safety at almost any season, except the dead of winter, but, if the gardener wishes to get flowers next summer, he will be wise to plant during early autumn, when the plants are making fresh roots. “There are a hundred ways of using these plants. Invaluable in the herbaceous border, where they can have as their companions the lupins, anchusas, pryethrums, the cool grey clouds of catmint, the green-grey foliage of the artemisias, and the grey cushions of the lavender cotton, they are equally useful set in colonies at the edge of a shrub border, where their handsome leaves are always attractive. In less disciplined places, too, and in beds on a lawn, they provide a fine display, if, massed in generous colonies, and, if varieties are carefully chosen, the flowering season will last for five or six weeks, while, by interplanting them.with gladioli, which are admirable for the purpose, a further succession of bloom can be obtained in the later summer.”