GARDEN NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume 93, Issue 14540, 11 December 1920, Page 13 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES

(By Nikau.)

" finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.” —Shakespeare. SEASONABLE WORK. Vegetables and Fruit.— Hoeing, thinning, and weeding are now tiie most important garden operations. Sowings should be made to provide a succession of peas, lettuce, etc., or to replace the plants damaged by slugs and other pests. Plant cabbage, early leeks and celery, tomatoes, kumaras, passion fruit. Make a late sowing of sweet corn; transplant silver beet, red beet, and similar plants. Slake and train tomatoes, peas and climbing beans. Spray with arsenate of lead for codlin moth and alf kinds cf chewing pests. Use lime-sulphur or Bordeaux for fungoid diseases, including onion mildew, potato blight, leaf spot on tomatoes and on roses. (Mildew on roses and other plants may also be killed by lime sulphur, using I—so or even a weaker solution). Use “Black Leaf 40," or some other insecticide for aphis on fruit trees, shrubs and herbs.

Flowers.—As soon as possible complete the planting out of most kinds of bedding-plants, but dry weather subjects like petunias, zinnias, salvias, celosias, French and African marigolds may be put out any time this month. Complete the planting of charysanthemums, and continue with dahlias. Spray roses for aphis, search for caterpillars, and mulch the hod with any kind of natural manure. Save seeds of columbine (arpiilcgia), gerbera, ranunculus, and Sweet William. Trim hedges lightly, but do not touch conifers such as cupressus lawsonia.

tended for the asparagus : any weeds that may already be growing amongst the asparagus stems should be carefully removed by hand. The next thing .to do is to mulch the bed with rotted stable manure, or even with short lawn-trimmings, the mulch will keep the ground much cooler and moister than it would otherwise be, while the nourishment provided will also be beneficial. Liberal waterings and a light sprinkling of artificial manure should also be given every few weeks. If the beds are exposed to strong winds, something should be done to enable the stems to stand up; when they are blown about in every direction many of the stems will necessarily be damaged if not actually broken offKumaras. —These plants prefer a rich, open soil that has been deeply cultivated and brought to a fine tilth. They should be planted in early December to give the best results. When properly established they will stand a great deal of heat and drought, but they should have plenty of moisture for a week or two after planting out. They may be planted m rows or on little “hills": in the former case each plant should be two and ahalf to three feet away from its neighbour. If “hills” are used the plants may be set out like cucumbers or melons, three to each mound. Care should be taken to plant rather deeply, as the tubers form on underground stems that come out from the main stem, or axis of the plant. Two Orchard Pests— Pear Slug and Small Bronze Beetle.— Local gardens are now suffering from the ravages of these two pests. The slug is really the larva of a small fly which ipay at present be seen on the leaves of peartrees and cherries. This fly is smaller than the common house-fly, yet it has, comparatively, huge larva, whose size is equalled by its greedy appetite. The eggs are laid on the leaves, and afterwards hatch out into this evil-smelling larva whose chief business in life seems to be to reduce leaves to a mero network. Fortunately, there are two good i’emedies to apply; Arsenate of lead as for codlln moth, and hellebore powder (1 oz to 5T gallons of water). As the hellebore is not readily soluble, it should be made up a day or two before using. The small bronze beetle is not so well known. It may be confused with the familiar brown beetle which swarms round at nightfall; the colour, however, is characteristic, while the size is little more than that of a ladybird; it is therefore qujte dis. tinct from the brown beetle. If the young shoots of pear trees or rose bushes are carefully examined, some of these brorze beetles may be found on the under surface of a curled leaf. Like all the chewing insects it may be killed by poisoning its food with arsenate of lead; this may be sprayed on as for codlin-molh or pear-slug.

Delphiniums and Larkspurs.—These are really all delphiniums, but this title is now commonly reserved for the giant perennial kinds. They are oldfashioned flowers, yet few species of plants have advanced as much as these have In recent years. There are now many varieties of annual and perennial delphiniums, whose beauty rivals that of the larkspur blue. Doubling too, has become common; in a few 'years indeed we may look upon larkspurs as we do upon stocks, and consider the doubling as essential. Besides those varieties which resemble double stocks there are others like hyacinths. The annual delphiniums thrive in any well-drained soil, however dry and sandy it may be, but the perennial kinds revel in a rich, cool soil. Plants grown under suitable conditions will grow over six feet high, the spikes of flowers being equalled in length by foxgloves only. Gardeners in search of novelties should try the newer kinds of delphiniums, including as they do such colours as scarlet, sulphur yellow and pale blue. Dahlias. —Before the planting season has passed, we should see if there is still room for a few dahlia plants. The old kinds are completely outdistanced by the newer strains, and much of the stiffness of the flower has been removed. The result is that we may now obtain dahlia blooms almost as dainty as cosmeas or as clematis of the Jackmanii type. In addition to the old double and single kinds we now have the striking collarettes, and the immense paeonies. It is not generally known that dahlias grow well from short cuttings taken from any part oi the plant, but especially those cuttings which have a piece of the tuber attached, as a kind of a “heel.” Clumps of dahlias may be divided, but we should be careful to leave a part of the old stem on eacli tuber as we pull it away from the clump. The shoots spring from this part, while the rest of t'.e tuber simply provides food until roots have formed. . Coreopsis.—The writer may perhaps he pardoned for so frequently mentioning this flower, as it is amongst the most beautiful and useful flowers in the garden. For cutting it is the equal of the sweet pea, though it lacks the uerfume and the variety of colours that the latter possesses. The annual kinds of coreopsis (often known as calliopsis) are good, but the outstanding kind is the large flowered, perennial C. grandiflora). It grows readily from seed or from young shoots coming from the base of the plant. From a seedling of last year the writer has now twenty sturdy young plants grown from cuttings this spring, and the “parent” is still an exceptionally large plant. The beautiful yellow flowers, borne on long stems, arc excellent for cutting, as they last well in water, and they have naturally a slight droop that makes for easy arranging. National Rose Show (England).— From accounts recently received n appears that horticulture is fast recovering from the set-back It suffered in war-time. The only two gold medals were won by the world-famous growers, McGredy and Sons, of Portadown, for two varieties named Una Wallace and Courtney Page. The former is described as a grand addition to the hybrid tea section, the colour being a rich warm cerise throughout, the colour being maintained from bud state to full-grown flowers In the list of winning varetlies these familiar names occur time after lime: Frau Karl Druschki, Caroline Tcstout, Hugh Dickson, George Dickson, While Maman Cochet; Jess commonly occur: Augustus Hartmann, Gladys Harkncss, Margaret D. Hamm, Mrne, Ed. Herriot, Red Letter Day, Lady Hillingdon, Coronation, General McArthur, Lady Pierrie. Ophelia and Queen Alexandra Hose come in foe perhaps the greatest praise of all; the former is described as "perhaps the most successful exhibition deenralive rose we have at the present lime,” while the latter is said to he the most wonderful of all roses. A remark in connection with the decorated tables should he noted: “The lablc decorations this year showed appreciation of the fact that a dinner tabic is used for other purposes besides the displaying of flowers, and spares should be allowed for such purposes."