GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16815, 5 June 1926, Page 18 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES.

SEASONABLE WORK. (By “Nikau.") Vegetables and Fruit. —As soon as possible dig all spare ground and either sow it with oats or leave it quite rough. Dig in all rubbish that is likely to rot. Mould up leeks and celery on a dry day. Store marrows and pumpkins in a dry shed and use tho marrows soon or they will lose their flavour and become stringy. Examine fruit once a week. Wrench all trees and busheS that have to be transplanted. Take up kumaras and store them in dry sand in a shed. Flowers —Top-dress old lawns. Trim coniferous hedges (G. iawsoniana, C. macrocarpa, juniper, pinus insignis). Plant trees and shrubs. Stake and train sweet peas. Cut dahlias down to one foot from ground (but do not remove labels). Gut down chrysanthemums almost to ground (again keeping the labels attached to the plants). Remove tender plants to frames or to dry, sheltered corners of the garden. Plant out polyanthus and other primroses. Dig and manure all the borders. Plant roses and shrubs. Prepare ground for new hedges. SPECIAL NOTES. Hedge Plants.—As the next few months are the best for setting out new hedges, intending planters will need to prepare the soil and also make a choice from the many kinds of plants suitable for the purpose. The chief preparation Is naturally some form of deep cultivation, cither trenching or ordinary digging. The subsoil should be loosened with a fork or even with a pick if the ground is stony, but this soil should not be brought to the top. Manuring is not usually necessary, as all hedge plants thrive in ordinary soil, hut natural or artificial manures may be sprinkled along the hedge from time to time If there does not seem to be sufficient strength in the soil. If there are perennial weeds, such as convolvulus or couch-grass (twitch) growing along the fence line, it will pay to spend hours or even days in clearing the ground, otherwise trouble will arise as long as the hedge lasts. This is because Die weeds arc quite as hardy as the hedge plants, and the use of a weed-killer will he fatal to friend and foe alike. Blackberry and bracken are two other weeds that are likely to give unending trouble when they once get a hold in a hedge. The kinds of hedge plants arc always being added to, and the list is likely to go on lengthening. Tho essentials of a hedge plant are perhaps the following: (1) Health and vigour, Implying at. least a fair amount of growth and considerable freedom from attacks by insects and disease; (2) beauty, generally of foliage but sometimes of flower (as ,with the Auckland Tccoma and our Escallonias and Abelia); (3) power to stand clipping, a very important matter in the case of town hedges.

At this stage it Is well to note that certain plants which are suitable for farm hedges are too vigorous for town hedges; on the other hand the latter must stand heavy trimming and perhaps hard cutting. The farm hedge should also be of a stiff nature, with cow-slopping qualities. In this last respect, African box-thorn is very suitable, but it is too thorny; the Waikato seedless barberry is much less dangerous, and yet makes a cattle-proof fence. This is also better than the hawthorn, which is subject to flreblight, and better than the false acacia, which is inclined to spread too much.' For beauty and shelter, C. lawsoniana Is the best plant for farm hedges; it grows fairly fast, especially when the soil around It Is cultivated a little for the first year or two. Pinus insignis may also be used, but it is too vigorous for a hedge and severe “topping” is necessary- . For small sections we must choose different plants which will take up less room and will steal less food from the garden. In the last respect privet is found wanting, for it is a hungry feeder; it is extremely healthy and rather handsome, especially the largeleaved land, but it is too vigorous. The same remarks apply to elcagnus, except that the cutting has to he still more frequent. The Olcarias (forstcrii and traversii) arc good, but are often taken by scale insects in this province. The escallonias arc better, macranlha having fine red flowers and dark foliage and being very healthy; E. ingramii, with small leaves, Is almost as beautiful and quite as good with regard to clipping, denseness and health. The evergreen thorn is also good, but it is subject to attacks of red spider, and it is at least theoretically subject to flreblight. This brings us to Dio best of all—Abelia fioribunda. It. is worth special mention. Tho Perfect Hedge Plant, Abelia.— In this world of imperfections, it is a delight to come across anything perfect, whether it be a song, a gem, or even a hedge plant. As a representative of hedge plants, Abelia is perfccl. for it has wonderful health, considerable vigour, beautiful glossy dark green foliage, dainty flowers and handsome brown bracts which show up when the flowers fall. There arc now many good hedges of this plant in Hamilton; one of them often passed by the writer is over ten years old. and yet it has been kept to almost the same height of about four feet for all that time. There is only one objection lo making this the one kind of hedge plant for town sections, and that is monotony. Fancy this dead level, though It be a level of perfection !

Lato Chrysanthemums.—June being the poorest month of the year as far ns cut flowers arc concerned, any kinds of chrysanthemums that can be persuaded In bloom on into that month arc especially valuable. There is one fairly common kind, a very tall-grow-ing, deep yellow variety which is still (lowering well. Pockelt’s Rale Bronze is still later; indeed it is often so late, as to have difllcuity in flowering at all! Where, severe frosts may bo expected, as in Hie Waikato, this variety is useless unless it can bo grown under cover. A method tried and proved useful by Hie writer is litis: When I lie flower buds are well developed, remove, from a few’ shoots ail the largo buds, leaving only the small ones growing lltree inches and more below the, lop of the stem. This plan works particularly well in the ease of a large single yellow, somelimes called Alice Shugg, with white, bronze, dark maroon, and oilier colours, and is probably of almost universal application. To got the full benefit of Ihose late (lowers, i! is necessary lo give them overhead proled ion from frost and rain: for example, some kind of material stretched over a sfroug framework. Cutting Down Chrysanthemums,—

When the last flowers have been pulled, the plants may bo cut down close to the ground. If this is not done, the bed will be unsightly, and -worse than that, the new basal growths will be made tall and sappy, wbercali they should be short and hardy. If the plants are in a wet situation, or if they are being ravaged by slugs and other ground pests, they should be taken up and planted in boxes or tins provided with plenty of drainage holes. Though Ihe proper transplanting season for chrysanthemums is November, Ihcy may be divided and rc-plant-cd long before that. Worthless varieties should bn pulled up now, while our memories of them are still fresh. The Planting Season. —Though every month in the year is to some extent a suitable time for sotting out some or other kinds of plants, the months of May, June, July and August are preeminently the planting season. At that time the plants arc resting, having received their hint from the strengthening cold of autumn, and the work of transplanting will then cause ihe ptahts the slightest check. In all cases it is well to dig the soil deeply some weeks before the planting is to he done, for it must be remembered that trees are perennial plants, but arc not so accommodating as the perennial herbs and lesser shrubs. Tho Waikato Winter Show. —An account of this will appear in next week’s notes, when we hope to be able to report an Increase In the quality and the number of the exhibits in the horticultural section. Indications on the eve of the opening are distinctly promising. ,: . 1;..,. i