GARDEN NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, 17 August 1933, Page 13

GARDEN NOTES

THE WEEK’S WORK, THE FLOWER GARDEN. • Plant trees and shrubs. Prepare new rose beds. Plant roses. Prune hard as soon as planted. Rose pruning should be completed as soon as possible. Plant gladioli. Soak corms in formalin solution before planting. Spade over weedy ground between bulbs, etc. Make sowings of hardy annuals. Plantings of pansies, violas, lobelias, larkspur, stocks can be made. If ground is wet and cold do not hurry planting for a week or so, especially of the more tender annuals such as cinerarias and nemesias. Prune conifers and other evergreens. Now is the time to cut macrpcarpa. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Plant Jerusalem artichokes. Prepare ground for spring crops. Cabbage and cauliflower can be sown. Parsnips require a long season of growth. Sow at once. Broccoli and Brussels sprouts need to be sown early to give the best results. Plant potatoes. Earth up any that are showing above ground. Lift, divide and replant the herb garden. Make a sowing of tomatoes under glass, THE GREENHOUSE. Start begonias, gloxinias. Sow half-hardy annuals. Keep young seedlings as close to tile glass as possible. Ventilate freely, but avoid draughts. Water as required, but avoid an excessively moist atmosphere. Primulas and cyclamen in flower will need liquid manure. Attend to herbaceous calceolarias. Keep moist, avoid wetting foliage too much, and watch closely for aphis. Fumigate the greenhouse every ten days or so. Climbers and permanent plants should be top-dressed, pruned and such things as palms should have leaves sponged. THE FRUIT GARDEN.. Plant trees. Prepare ground as well as possible before planting. ... -. Prime peaches, plums and nectarines, also apples and pears. Peach buds are swelling. Apply a spray to control leaf curl now. Collect all prunings and turn under weeds. Prune outdoor vines. If left much later bleeding will occur. Make a planting of rhubarb. Top-dress existing beds. DESTROYING SCALE INSECTS. Various scale insects are prevalent upon many of our best trees and shrubs,

giving them an unsightly appearance by the black smut on the foliage that invariably denotes the prevalence of scale. Several of our native shrubs are badly affected in this manner, notably puriri, olearias, karakas, Pittosporums, also laurels, camellias, leanders and many others. All should be dressed with kerosene emulsion or other suitable insecticide. Camellia bushes should be pruned as soon as they have done flowering, and thoroughly sprayed to rid the foliage of scale insects. The white oil sprays now offered can be used in place of kerosene emulsion.

GRAFTING CAMELLIAS.

Grafting is a method of propagation that gives the benefit of strong growing stocks to the more weakly varieties, which, as a rule, do not flourish, upon their own roots. This method is also useful for propagating choice varieties quickly, and for the substitution of better and newer kinds on old-established stocks. Various methods of grafting are practised, according to circumstances, but the principal is the same .in all, viz.— to unite the parts exactly, and to see that the bark on both scion and stock join on at least one side. The more expeditiously the operation of grafting is performed the better, in order to prevent the sap from drying up in the scion. Early in spring is the best time for grafting camellias, as the plants are then in full activity, and the buds beginning to swell. The chances of success will be greater if the grafts can be covered with glasses to shut out the external air and prevent evaporation from the leaves. The union will require to be covered with clay or some other material to keep out the air, and should be moistened frequently. Grafted plants will require to be examined every few days, and all shoots from the stock must be rubbed off. When the union Is complete, which may be known by the scion commencing to grow, the ties should be removed. Budding is a method not much practised, except with new or choice kinds which it is desirable to propagate quickly. It may be performed at any time when the current year’s wood is ripening.

CHRYSANTHEMUMS.

NEW PLANTS NECESSARY.

One very often hears amateur gardeners complaining that their chrysanthemums have done no good at all the second year after planting. They do not seem to realise that to be successful with these plants, they must be grown singly each year to do any good at all. When the plants are first set out, they are all single stems, well rooted, but the second year the single stem has died down, and its place is taken by from one to perhaps fifty suckers. The single one might do well enough, but the fifty will be much too overcrowded. The best way, either for garden decoratiqn, cut flowers, or for blooms for show purposes, is to make each of the suckers into cuttings. A cutting is made by taking one of the suckers and cutting it just below the level of the ground with a sharp knife, and putting in a pot or box of some light, sandy soil to root. If pots

are used, five or six cuttings can be put round the edge and the potting material rammed well round each one. The leaves at the top are very big; they can be cut off also, but the top of the crown of the plane must not be injured. Each variety should be labelled separately with its name and colour, and then there will be no trouble of getting too many of one' colour. It is often said that the plants have "gone back,” which is nonsense. They may sport a little, that is to say, a white one may send up a yellow flower or vice versa, but that is not "going back”; it is only sporting, and if this yellow-flowered plant is kept it may continue to give yellow flowers for years to come. Some of our best varieties are from sports. It is time now to begin taking cuttings of chrysanthemums. Those taken now are the best for growing show blooms from, and those taken later will be best for cutting purposes.

INSECT PESTS.

IT PAYS TO SPRAY.

There are several varieties of scale insects that attack fruit trees. They do not move about in search of food, but build a tiny house over themselves where food is plentiful The young are produced from eggs which come out in November or October. The general treatment to get rid of these pests is to spray with some oily material that will form a thin film over the shell and prevent the young from breathing; red oil emulsified is one of the best sprays that can be used for this purpose, when the trees are quite bare of leaves in ti e winter. In bad cases two sprayings are often necessary, but the second dose will amply repay for the application. Mites are another class of blight which, though nearly always present, are very rarely seen. They are really a small species of spider, but they are so small that they cannot be seen except under a microscope or magnifying glass. These mites can both suck and bite, for they are provided with mandibils and hollow beaks, and by this means they eat their way into leaf and fruit. The one known as red spider is the best known and the most feared. They do not confine themselves to fruit trees, but will attack almost any garden plants. The first sign is faint yellow streaks through the natural green; on some plants the leaves curl shrivel and fall, while on others they hang faded and yellow, and their living colour gone. Reproduction is by eggs those laid in summer hatching quickly, while those deposited on the approach of winter remain unaltered until hatched by the hot sun of late spring. These eggs are generally to be found in the folds of the buds, in the hollows of the trunks, and under splinters of dead wood. The smallness and helplessness of most orchard pests makes them an easy prey to their natural enemies and to weather conditions, such as Sand cold, and especially wet. Yet they are not wholly unprotected, for the tiny threads that cover woolly aphis are resinous and sticky and when matted together are waterproof, and only force will make moisture penetrate through. Therefore, when spraying, a considerable force must be used to pene-, trate their shelters. Tim green and] black peach aphis are easier to get at.,

so long as they are sprayed from various angles, so that the spray can get into the places where they are lodged. .

PLANT LILIUM REGALE NOW.

The charming lilium regale deserves to be more extensively grown, in fact, all liliums should be more popular. Lilium regale, at one time expensive, has responded to methods of cultivation so well that the bulbs can be obtained quite cheaply. Prepare the ground by digging out a circular hole at least two feet in diameter and two feet or so in depth. If the ground is poor the addition of some well-rotted manure with the bottom soil is good, but as a general rule it is not necessary. A handful or two of bonedust mixed with the soil is all that is necessary. Plant the bulbs at least six inches deep, with a layer of sand underneath and around the bulb. When replacing the soil after planting, let it fohn a slight mound. In the early summer, when the stem has shown through the soil, mulch with leaf soil. Taken generally the lilies do not call for a lot of trouble during the growing season; most of tire work is done when planting. Planted well, in ground well drained and given a mulching in early summer, they require little else. Staking may be necessary in very exposed position, but as a rule it is not required. Watering in the case of those sorts that are native to swamps or bogs may be necessary, but to the majority artificial watering does but little good.

CLEANING VINE RODS.

Loose bark on vines can harbour innumerable insect pests, therefore it should be rubbed off, but no attempt should be made to scrape away any that is not quite loose. Pay especial attention to the spurs, but be careful not to damage the buds. After cleaning cn this loose bark the rods should be washed with some cleansing solution. The wash mostly used is a strong solution of Gishurst compound.

KEEP THE SOIL WORKING.

No land in the garden should be allowed to remain bare or under weeds through the winter. It should be deeply dug and sown with oats, rye corn, winter barley, vetches, trefoils, or any crop that will grow at this season of the year, and as soon as the crop has reached a moderate size it should be dug under for green manure. Such a procedure, besides keeping the soil free from weeds, will immensely improve the soil.

DELPHINIUMS.

MARVELLOUS SHADES OF BLUE.

The delphinium will succeed in any good garden soil, but prefers a deep moist loam, enriched with decayed manure. One essential is that it must be well drained, and another that in hot dry weather it must not dry out. Planted firmly but not too deeply, care

being exercised to keep the crowns well above the surface of the soil, delphiniums grow freely and soon form large clumps. When planting they should be allowed ample room for development, two feet between the clumps being none too much space. A mulching of rotten manure applied in the spring will be considerable assistance in the production of good flower spikes. Flowering commences early in December, and the spikes must be supported by neat stakes. The flowers will last several weeks, and when they show signs of withering, cutting off the central spikes will cause side shoots to develop and so- considerably prolong the flowering season. The spikes last well in a cut state. The plants are of variable size, some producing their spikes to a height of five or six feet, or even more, while others form dwarf compact plants. This, of course, must determine their position in the herbaceous border. The following list contains some of the best varieties: Amos Perry, sky-blue, with dark eye; Blue Boy, single, 6ft; Beauty of Langport, cream white, with yellow eye; Belladonna, bright blue, with cream, centre; Persimmon, sky-blue, with eye; Sultan, very deep blue, double; Murillo, mauve; Fantome d’Orient, bright blue, white eye, semi-double; Queen Mary, pale blue, cream centre; Bassanio, violet shaded plum, white eye; Smoke of War, semi-double, reddish purple, black eye; The Alake, rich purple; Ustane, light blue, mauve centre; the Rev. E. Lascelles, very deep blue, white eye. The following species are both interesting and beautiful, and can be relied upon to come fairly true from seed: Cardinale, bright scarlet; formosum, deep blue, fine for cuttings; nudicaule, orange scarlet, dwarf; and sulphureum, yellow.

CAMELLIAS.

GROWING SUCCCESSFULLY.

The camellia may be grown successfully in any ordinary garden ground, but it flourishes best in a rich loam with a gravelly. sub-soil. The ground should be worked to a depth of 18 inches at least, and well drained, so that at all times it will be free from stagnant waters, as no plant is more impatient of saturation at the roots. They may be planted singly in miscellaneous borders with very good effect, provided they have not to contend with strong growing trees or shrubs, in which case the result will probably prove unsatisfactory. They are best grown as isolated specimens so that they develop into wellbalanced plants. If planted in beds or borders the inclination is to allow other plants to intrude bn' them, with the xesult that the. plants become lop-sided or one side produces flowers while the other does not. The situation if r possible should be sheltered from the illeffects of cold winds. When circumstances prevent . natural shelter being obtained, hedges should be planted on the more exposed sides. As the plants will in time, if they flourish, attain a considerable size, care should be taken to give sufficient room to those intended for permanent specimens, which ought to stand about ten feet apart. The camellia is a strong-growing plant requiring plenty of nourishment to make it thrive well, and in preparing the ground well-rotted manure or coarse bonedust should be used freely.