IN THE GARDEN

Taranaki Daily News, 17 January 1931, Page 10 (Supplement)

IN THE GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK.

THE FLOWER GARDEN.

The dry weather has rendered hoeing necessary bqth as a weed-killer and to produce a dust mulch. Mulching in- some form is important just now to conserve moisture. There are often a number of different materials aibout that can be used. Almost any kind of old vegetable matter, such as leaves, weeds, grass cuttings, and manure is good. A dust mulch consists of two or three inches of fine loose dust-like soil, and can be produced by means of hoe or hand scarifier. Complete the chrysanthemum planting. Those planted earlier and which are showing buds should be stopped. Dahlia planting can be continued. A few planted in January give some nice late blooms. Any further plantings to fill beds or borders should be done at once. RhizomAteous iris can be divided once the flowering season is over. Commence lifting bulbs. Freesias, lachenalias and nerines should be lifted and replanted at once. Tick spent blooms from roses, sweet peas and other flowering plants. Do not allow seed pods to form on the rhododendrons or azaleas. Tut stakes to dahlias at the time of planting. Early planted ones will ,-need tying up. If the plants are inclined to run up before branching out cut the top and force the growth of side shoots. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Tomato plants can. be planted. Spray and disbud those planted earlier. ■Prepare celery trenches at once. Planting can be done during. the next few weeks. Tomato plants that have set fruit should be sprayed with arsenate of lead to catch the .first caterpillars. Pinch out the points of the leading growths of melons, pumpkins, etc. Further sowings of dwarf beans can be made. Sowings of haricot beans to give dried beans for winter use can be made now. Treat the same as dwarf beans, except that the pods must be allowed to ripen. Thin out seedling crops so as to give them, every chance to develop quickly. Lettuce and radish should be sown on well manured ground. Ample supplies of water are necessary to give succulent crops. Spray apple and pear trees for codlin moth, arsenate of lead one ounce to’ two gallons of water. This can also be used for caterpillars on dahlias, asters and other plants. GARDEN PEAS. A lot of attention is given to the various varieties and new introductions of sweet peas, but many gardeners have very little time for the common, garden or culinary pea unless it is when served on a plate with lamb and mint sauce. It may be news to many that quite a large amount of work is being done in the way of selection of improved stocks and the raising,of new varieties. Some of the English seed firms devote large areas to the growing of these trial plots iso as to enable them to keep their istocks clean, and to test new sorts. One firm had trials of one thousand different strain#, whilst another had 1600. New varieties well spoken of are Monster, not a heavy cropper, but with fat, round, square-ended pods of enormous size; Rearguard, later than Gladstone; Plentiful, a round-seeded Gladstone which crops heavily and succeeds where conditions are not ideal; Velocity, an improved Eclipse; Aviator will displace British Lion; Thomas' Laxton, an old variety, but a very' good cropper if from a selected stock; Admiral Beatty, a main-crop of excellent flavour; Onward, a heavy-croppiug dwarf pea; one of the best was Prince Edward,_ an improved form of Aiderman, which had long, straight pods, level haulms, and a wonderful crop; Early Bird and Blue Bird are very early sorts; !Primo-iStella and El Dorado all carry good pods and heavy crops, and are all improvements on the old variety Pilot; Meteor, an early dwarf variety; President has dark green pods and crops very heavily* Marathon was very good; The Victor, a heavy cropper, coming in just before Aiderman," has larger individual seeds than any other variety. Some of these varieties are quite new. and may not be available for a year or so, but one or more of them should be marked out for ■a, trial as ’soon as they are available.

RANUNCULUS LYALLH.

I i Ranunculus Lyallii is not new to British gardens, for specimens were exhibited 'by Messrs. James Veitch and Sons'at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society in I®SO. The plant is known as the mountain lily in New (Zealand; and was first collected by Dr. Lyall when on a surveying voyage in H.M.s. Acheron (1847-9). In a wild state it is'confined to the mountains of the Middle Island, being found chiefly in Canterbury and Otago at elevations ranging from 1000 ft. to 4000 ft. Some find a considerable difficulty in growing the plant, and apparently it is best suited for the moraine, as Mr. Armstrong, writing in Gardeners’ Chronicle. March 21, 1885, p. 370, states “that it grows on mountain slopes below the enow fields, where the ground is usually moist during summer from the trickling downwards of the melting snow.” This writer also states that “the drainage of the slopes is rendered perfect by the large masses of rock debris which have beeii worn away by the frosts of ages, and' these are generally nearly or quite covered up w’ith peat, formed by the decay of the countless plants which have grown upon them.” It is on this natural rockery that the mountain lily flourishes best, though it is sometimes found in sand or even in shingle, with scarcely any peat. It is also usually found in situations shaded from the ■midday sun—such, for instance, as the southern face of a defile or gorge. On mountains facing the south in New Zealand the plant covers the ground for hundreds of acres with one huge sheet of white, but more usually it grows in patches of a ecore or thirty plants, nestling amongst straggling plants of olearias, veronicas, or other shrubs. A peaty soil, with a fair proportion of sand, is best as a rooting medium; a constant supply of moisture, both in the soil and atmosphere, and perfect drainage are also necessary. The flowers are usually white, but they are sometimes tinged with pink. MECONOPSIS BAILEYII. This beautiful poppywort, which many have tried to grow and flower, but with which few have succeeded, is one of. those plants that need just a little extra attention to that afforded to the majority of plants. Meconopsis is one of that section of plants that requires a slight shade and yet it does not need a shady position; perhaps it would be more correct to say, it needs the rays of the sun tempered down. One of the best methods of growing

this and many other plants of similar requirements is ’by building a shade house. Not the usual structure built of tea-tree, etc., that is nothing more or less than a temporary home for elugs, etc., but a skeleton structure with a roof of laths running lengthwise, not up and down, with the laths about an inch wide and an inch space between them. This will make a roof that will give a fair shade without being too dark. The sides should be covered with similar laths just down as far as is necessary to keep the outer plants in the shade. A house built with low eaves would hardly require any side curtain. The laths ■should be to temper the sun, not to shut out air or create draughts; therefore, do not use more than is necessary. All woodwork should be painted with creosote or some wood preservative, especially any parts that are touching the soil or below the ground level. Above all, do not be led into the way of planting climbers to cover the roof and make the structure artistic. The result will be that the laths will soon commence to decay, and as the roof will not carry such a weight of foliage, especially when wet, collapse is certain. As well train climbers over a glasshouse to save shading. Climbers trained.up the standards or along the rafters inside is a different matter, but even there, care must be taken that it is not overdone so as to be detrimental to the plants underneath. Meconopsis Baileyii and many of the new primulas from China and Tibet should do well under these circumstances. WATER IRISES.

I have told you a, little about the Barbata irises that like to live in a hot, dry situation; also a little about the early spring flowering irises, that, as a general rule, like a little more moisture ; and humus, and now, I have come to the various irises that live in water altogether, or at least require moist ■ situations to thrive properly. Perhaps for the general run of smallholders, the i water irises (with the exception of the 'Spanish and Dutch) are the most useful members of the family to grow, as providing, of course, you have the necessary water, practically all. their flowers make good cut flowers and would, therefore, materially assist anyone wishing , to add to their income. They require to be gathered in the bud stage if they are to be sent any distance to market, but, of course, that usually applies to any cut flowers that are grown some distance from where they will eventually be sold. Anyone can understand that folded flowers will suffer less in transit ' than flowers that are left to open fully before being cut. Although the Siberian, irises will grow and flower in the garden, their growth will be very much more luxuriant, and the quantity and quality of their flowers increased as well, if they are planted by the side of a pond or stream. There Are several varieties of the iris Siberia, but the gentian blue type, Perry IBlue (sky) and White Queen are the three most distinct colours. Their dainty flowers on thin wiry stems are very useful for cutting. Iris Wilsoui is similar in growth, but the flowers are yellow, with light brown veins. Crysographs are a richly coloured reddish purple with yellow veins. Pseudacorous grows wild in many of the south of England waterways. Its pale yellow flowers are very dainty, but il find they do not last very long when brought inside, although I must say young buds keep on opening till the stem is. finished. Iris ochrocuca is, I think, the tallest member of the iris family. Its white and gold flowers are particularly effective when reflected in a sheet of water. For indoor use they must be cut in the bud stage, as, having very sweet nectar, they attract many flies, which soon disfigure ochroleuca’s •snowy whiteness. Mounieri, which is ■similar in growth, although not quite so ■tail, is a pretty primrose colour. Tliey •will both, thrive in the ordinary garden providing it is inclined to be damp. Then we come to the beautiful Japanese irises (Kaempferi) with their truly gorgeous colouring. Snow white, royal purple, light and dark blues, ruby,.greys and mauves, their colour schemes are endless and all very ..beautiful. They last, particularly well when cut, and should, I think, with the Siberian irises before mentioned, make quite a good paying proposition to the smallholder who has a stream or pond he could plant them - by. All the water irises mentioned increase very rapidly, and require the minimum attention, only asking to be placed in full sun, and then left alone .till'it is time to pick their flowers. —(M. H. Drew, in the New Zealand •Smallholder.) BULBS THE ROMANS PLANTED. Are tulips brought over by the Romans still flowering in Great Britain? One of the most intriguing problems of archaeology has been revived by the reappearance of small red tulips on a number of Roman camp sites in this country. These unusual flowers groxy from bulbs lying some five feet under the ground. How they come to be there is a mystery, for such a depth is unusual, even for wild plants. These tawny flowers, compared to the gargantuan tulips of the shops, are inconspicuous, and they might have passed unnoticed did they not grow solely on. Roman camp sites. Not every Roman camp had its tulips, but in the south of England, where life was more settled, it is likely that the civil population of Roman Britain enjoyed gardening. Many exotic plants were brought to England during the Roman occupation, and, though tulips are not generally supposed to have been introduced until the great Holland tulip boom of the seventeenth century, the depth at which these particular bulbs are found seems to make them contemporary with the Roman camps. Botanists maintain that our Roman flowers are a species distinct from the florists’ tulip to-day. The flowers which Helena, Constantine's mother, cultivated during her stay in England bear a close resemblance to the tulips which modern alpine gardeners collect from the southern slopes of the Caucasus! ■Possibly a quick-witted Levantine trader realised there was money in 'the bulbs which grew wild near his home in Asia Minor; or it may be that wealthy Roman citizens carried these bulbs from their gardens in Italy, CAMELLIA CULTURE. Camellias are most conspicuous when the bushes are in vigorous qondition and laden with a profusion of large, : showy blossoms, as at present. The ' semi-doubled hollyhock flowered variet- 1 ies are well worth growing. Camellia 1 bushes require annual attention just as < the new growth is starting, to judiciously thin out . some of the branches. They i are subject to attacks of scale insects. 1 When the leaves present a, black sooty ; appearance, this invariably denotes the 1 presence of scale. When in this condi- s tion, liberally prune and thoroughly ’ syringe with kerosene emulsion or red c oil immediately after the flowering sea- c son. e