FREESIAS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20233, 17 February 1934, Page 23 (Supplement)

FREESIAS.

A QUICK-GROWING BULB. Freesias the well known and easily grown, but although they will persist in a garden and every little bulb appears to grow, once left to Nature they give way to other plants, and they are seldom found out of cultivated ground. It is one of the quickest autumn-planted bulbs to start glowing and should be dealt with at once. Lifting and planting should be done as t>oon as possible. This applies whether they are grown in the open ground, as is the case in the warmer parts of the country, or in pots under glass as in colder parts. They require a long season to develop their flower spikes, and are one of the bulbs that will respond to a fairly rich soil, and liquid manure when growing. Old coav manure is the best to use, but failing that use bonedust. They need ample supplies of water and if grown under glass must be given plenty of air ; all the protection

needed is to exclude frost. Where there is a border of freesiae, which has been allowed to remain year after year until it is a thick mass, lift the bulbs, pick out the largest, and replant in new soil. They need lifting every two years to keep them in good order. There are now sqiuc good hybrids offering, some of the best are almost as large as a Primulinus gladioli, and are worth growing. For scent, however, there is none to touch the older sort, and this is still one of the best of spring flowers, and should be found in every garden. When lifting these alb offsets or bulbils should be taken off the old and larger bulbs, and if required they can be sown in drills to grow for a year or so, and then lifted for flowering. Freesias must not be allowed to dry out once they have started to grow, and must be kept moist.