GARDEN AND SHRUBBERY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18552, 26 April 1930, Page 11 (Supplement)

GARDEN AND SHRUBBERY

THE AUTUMN GARDEN. Most people, and especially those of us who love a wealth of colour, are fond of the autumn garden, writes ‘Lorna’ in the “Manawatu Daily Times.” A few short weeks of glorious colouring are given us before the late autumn winds begin to blow sadly, though sometimes fiercely, around, and the fact that winter is fast coming on is again and again forced upon us. j Quiet, sunshiny days have beguiled us into thinking that winter is yet a long way off, but a walk through the garden dispels the illusion, where the gorgeous leaves of Virginian creepers enhance the landscape. The spindle trees are good to look upon, their lovely tinted leaves gaining in beauty with each passing day. blending beautifully with the pretty three-cornered berries hanging gracefully from every twig and limb. Attractive too, are the smoke bushes, azalea mollis, malus i (flowering apple), flowering cherries, rhus succedanea, with its large, brilli- ! antly coloured leaves, virburnum 'opulus (guelder rose), end many others gracing the shrubbery. The tips of each branch of the red and scarlet oaks are colouring, while the berried shrubs are among the prettiest sights in the garden. Cotoneasters are beautiful, clothed from top to base with [brightly tinted berries, which have a

pleasing habit of clinging there well on into the winter. Bar-berries, too, are alight with thickly clustering sprays of fruit, one and all overlaid with a lovely bloom, akin to the grape. The leaves of the crab-apple are fast becoming mellow, its sun-kissed fruit, so lavishly produced, becoming more ornamental as the days shorten, until with j the departure of the leaves, a brilliant , scarlet clothes the branches for many months. Cranberries gain in beauty ; with the advancing weeks, masses of quaint purplish-hued fruit hanging thickly pendant over the whole of the compact bushes. Japonicas (Japanese quinces) fill the air with a spicy fragrance, and one is struck with the usefulness of this shrub in the garden. It is one of the first to brighten the border with warm, red flowers in early spring, pretty tinted foliage to follow and its interesting and fragrant fruits for the winter months. Bright berries appeal to all garden lovers, yet it is only during the dull days, yet to come, that we fully realise their value. The beautiful sheen, seen on most berries, combined with their bright tints, cannot fail to bring added interest to the garden. CULTIVATION OF LETTUCES. Two things are necessary in regard | to the cultivation of lettuces if the ibest results are looked for. The first | is the soil in which they are grown. | It should be such as has been liberally j enriched with manure in previous i years, so that their growth may be

rapid and vigorous. The other is to be careful to grow none but the best varieties of both the cos and the cabbage types. With regard to a soil not answering to the above description, much may be done to remedy matters by stimulating growth either by affording suitable artificial manures, but the 1 plot, or plots intended for lettuces should always be well manured. For autumn planting, it is too late to dig in anything but well rotted manure, j failing this, use a tablespoon of blood I and bone fertiliser well mixed with the soil, when planting out. If seed is sown now, the plants will be ready to set in their places when the showery weather is with us. This planting is a most valuable one, as the i crop matures during August and Sepj tember, when greens are greatly in de- | mand. For this planting, it is neces- | sary to have the bed raised, and in a ! well-drained portion of the garden. ! Slugs must be trapped or the plants will rapidly disappear. Another plot may be dug and manured in readiness for the spring planting. One of the most reliable for autumn sowing is Webb's Wonderful, a cabbage variety, which can always be relied on for crispness, and not running to seed. A little nitrate of soda helps to mature the crop quickly, if applied before the plants begin to heart. Keep it well away from the leaves, working it in between the rows.