COTTAGE GARDEN

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144668, 30 April 1915, Page 5

COTTAGE GARDEN

HORTICULTURAL NOTES.—No. S. (By "Rowarcwaf”) THE SHRUBBERY. Tilt present is perhaps the easiest time in the garden, therefore a very good opportunity lor the selection of plants required lor planting during the ninter. In cases where gardens aro very exposed, the most important item m shelter. . , For town gardens where one does not desire a hedge more than five or six feet, the best shelter and ornamental hedge is olearia forsterii (golden ake ake). This plant is very hardy, cheap, and if planted one loot apart should, in two years, give quite good sheltei. One point must be remembered when planting a hedge: Put in a little manure with the plants and keep them tree from weeds for two yours. For large gardens good shelter trees are euprosMJ.s, lawsoniatui. escailnnia. mucrant.ha. and cleagnus. The tormor should he planted throe feet apart; the ot.hor varieties one foot apart.

In selecting shrubs, pick varieties that nre hardy, of easy culture, and irce flowering.' For a small garden the undermentioned dwarf shrubs should not he omitted: Daphne, diosraa. adenandra, hornnia, eriostemon, azalea, grevillou dallaehiaua long-tube heath, ehoisya. knlmia. Irish heath, and prnstlaiitliern. For a large garden shrubs of larger growth may be used, viz., lelopia (waralr.h', clethra arhorea (lily of the valley iree). cherry (double flowering). rhododendrons. flowering gum. magnolia, protea. pearl hush, arbutus tine IK rural tree, escallnnia montevediensis. 'and lasiaudra grandiflorn. These are all very free flowering, rhoice shrub.,. A .splendid shrub fnr an exposed position is the rare and beautiful native red beech Tfagus fuseai. This charming plant is covered during the whole of the winter with i|iianlities of red-dish-brown foliage, very useful for cutting, WHAT CAIVES THE- A ("IT MX tints:-

I Wltv do leaves change their colour-ill I the autumn;- is a question very often | asked this time of the year. Another | question also asked is. Why are those i autumnal tints so prominent in certain j localities, whereas in others they are 1 but seldom seen f it will bo noticed I by tlm ol servant that nearly all the , autrnrial-tinted plants are deciduous, hut it does not tollow that all deciduous trees and plants display autumnal tones. During the spring and summer months most trees and plants are busy building up their systems with the materials necessary for their development. These materials make use of the leaves of the plant to. do tho work of building up. ft is in and through their cellular system that the organic and inorganic substances so necessary to plant life set up their temporary laboratory. Tho period of activity continues generally till tho autumn, when the substances’ .which have played so important, a part in the structural development of the plant receive notice to quit their workshop. This notice comes either from a sudden cold snap, an early frost, or 'an acute drought. The withdrawal may he slow and gradual. or it may be hasty. It all depends on the active condition of the above substances. In (he transmission of the above substances, considerable waste would take place if Xalttre did not. carefully guard against loss through the action of the light rays, which are peculiarly destructive to them when they are travelling. So soon ns they commence to recede, or. as in tho spring time, to ascend, then Xalttre must defend her building forces against destruction. To do so another properly or substance appeals, which is known ns nnthocyaiiiti. Iks function is to act as a screen. This anthocyanin is the substance which gives such exquisite tones to our trees and shrubs this time of the year. The variation of the lottos is caused through the presence-of acids in the leaves. Trees that have foliage covered witli a hairy formation do not colour, as the hairs act as a protection from the sun. Climatic conditions tire the usual causes of autumn tints being local.