WORK FOR THE WEEK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7667, 28 March 1903, Page 2

WORK FOR THE WEEK.

To Gardeners. Flower Garden.— As the summer-bedding plants are removed from the beds and border** other subjects should be planted. Cantcrbury Bells, wallflowers, silene and any sprincr' flowering plants the gardener may have° should' bs planted in bold groups rather than in lines, interspersed with clumps of narcissi, tulips, hyacinths, ar.emones, aubreiia, etc. Another advantage of planting in groups is that as one variety goes past it? best, it can be cleared and some summer-flowering plant put in its place-. As .one kind will finish flowering seme time before others, and some sumnjeriiowering plants are ready and require planting out before others are sufficiently hardened off, the gardener is able to do his bedding out gradually, and the borders are never altogether bare of plants. The spaces where wallflowers are to be planted should be heavily manured, as these plants are gross feeders and give much finer trusses of flowers when fed liberally. Greenhouse. — All greenhouse plants that have been standing in open quarters must be removed to some place where they are safe from, frosts. Seeing that one severe frost may destroy all the past season's work, the reason for putting them in a place of safety is- clear. Avoid overcrowding, especially with azaleas. These are just forming their flower bud^ and if deprived of light, air ami moisture they will fail to mature. It is a. good plan to remove the azaleas to the shelter. -of large trees or high fences — if these offer sufficient protection' against frosts — during the jie:it sis weeks. Many tuberous begonias will be fast going out of bloom, and must make way for other subjects" ready to take their place, but great care is needed to- thoroughly ripen the tubers off. Very gradually they should be placed in cold frames or a cool vinery, where they can .get plenty of air and light. They should be watered as long as there are green leaves on the plants, but immediately the terminal loliage turns brown, water should be withheld and the soil allowed to get quite dry It would be. well to go over the plants before they go out of bloom, to make sura they are correctly named and the labels in good order and condition. The value of each variety should be noted on the labels, as now tha-t there are so many first-class kinds the older varieties are not worth' the-space they occupy. Streplocarpus that have been flowering during the past summer and are to be saved for nsacc season will need a little attention. All the, seed-pods should be removed, and the. plants treated much the same as advised for tuberous begonias. This class of plant has been so much' improved during the past few' years that it has become one of the- best for conservatory decoration during the summer months. The new strain of hybrids raised by Messrs J. Veitch and Sous is a great improvement on the old rex variety, and when tli© cultural requirements are ft little better understood they will be grown in much larger numbers. . One mistake frequently made is that too much heat and too. little light and ventilation are given. ..Tie jilants should be treated similarly to tuber-ous-footed begonias, plenty of root-space, good soil, rather on the heavy side, and constant supplies of liquid manure. They can also be grown with the greatest success,; treated as window plants. Herbaceous calceolarias are growing very fast, and those that were put in thumb and 3in pots some weeks ago will now require larger pots. In potting "give pots about, two sizes larger than fhose'they are now in. Thus, plants in thumbs should be re-potted into 4in, those that are in Sin pots shoujd-have sin! ■The sfttne rule should be observed until' .the I plants «are in the pots in whichjthey are to flower. Calceolarias, like pelargoniums, are often" troubled with green fly. On this account many have given up growing them, but wa think this a great mistakOi as by ,

fumigating the plants once a month they can be kept quite, clean. It is better to fmnigato them regularly and keep the fly away than to leave the green aphis until it has established itself and poisoned tho plants. When the plants are shifted into large pots care .must be taken to ensure good drainage, so that all surplus water can escape easily. Where chrysanthemums are grown in quantity for cutblooms, and it is wished to retard Iheir flowering, they should be kept outside as long as possible. With frosty nights so. frequent, however, some temporary shelter should be given — a covering of the thinnest scrim would be sufficient for this purpose — nnd this can be used in another way, that is, to shade the plantirfrom a very hot sunshine, which often succeeds a sharp frost. Another good result of shading is that their development is retarded. Plants grown to produce large blooms must soon be got under cover, especially those that have begun to show the colour of their petals. When these first petals are allowed to get frosted the size of the flower is seriously reduced, because the outside petals are generally tho longest and also show their colour first. Pelargoniums of the show, decorative and fanoy section will need attention.- Those that were cufc hard back a few weeks ago will be ready for repotting. Shake all the soil from the roots, cut these back, and ro-pbt the plants in as small pots as they can be. got in, using 1 rather light soil, wit'h plenty of sharp rand in it. Zonales for winter blooming snust) be got into their, winter quarters ; but r.ry shading on the glass should be removed,, as these plants like a clear tjlass roof and plenty of air. A sharp look-nut must bo kept for decaying leaves. If these are left on the plants a iew days and the weather is dull or damp a serious loss may result, as they not only destroy any good leaves they touch but will even cause a. stem to decay if left against it several days.