GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18874, 18 February 1933, Page 19 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES.

SEASONABLE WORK. SPECIALLY COMPILED TO SUIT CONDITIONS IN WAIKATO. (By "Nikau.”)

PROTECTING GRAPES.

Now that some grapes are ripening, attention must be paid to protecting them from blackbirds, thrushes and white-eyes. If small-meshed flsh-net or wire netting is not available, scrim will have to be used. This has the disadvantage of shading the fruit and the foliage too much, and in wet weather it is inclined to stay too close to the fruit. Care is therefore necesrasy to keep the scrim away from the fruit by means of blunt-headed stakes and battens. As a result of the reoent changeable and cold weather a good deal of mildew is to be expected. A good remedy is flowers of sulphur dusted or blown over the grapes while they are still damp with dew in the morning. If these precautions against birds and mildew are not taken, growers of outdoor grapes can expect to lose bucketfuls of fruit.

FASCIATED GROWTHS,

SEEDLING PEACHES.

In many gardens there are seedling peach trees which are bearing line fruit. It is strange that such a large proportion of peach and nectarine seedlings are really good, while so few apple and cheery seedlings are worth growing. In this respect plums seem to be half-and-half, a fair proportion of seedlings being of good quality. Poor need not be thrown away, for they can be budded and thus turned into good trees. Apple trees are different, for all should be grown on Northern Spy or some other kind of blight-proof stock. Seedling lemon and orange trees are not worth having unless budded with good varieties; in some cases seedlings may be ten years old or more and yet not flower.

PHORIUM COOKIANUM.

The following note on a New Zealand plant Is taken from “Amateur Gardening," an English periodical. "The New Zealand flax, P'horium Tenax, is a fairly well-known and popular plant, and those who admire its hold and handsome proportions may like to grow its relative of more compact and smaller habit, P. cookianum, also known as P. colensol. It is very free-flowering, and the writer has had blooms with the greatest regularity from plants growing in the rock garden, where they enjoy a fairly high, somewhat sheltered and well-drained position. The brownishyellow and green flowers are not unattractive, and add a decidedly novel feature to the rock garden of considerable size. This Phormium is also a fine border plant, and grows especially well at the base of a warm wall, whore Its foliage is always attractive. A deep and somewhat rich, loamy soil will grow phormiums to perfection. They are easily propagated from divisions of the roots and by seeds, although the latter method is somewhat slow. These plants are useful when grown in pots, for cool greenhouse decoration and for sub-tropical gardening; they would probably not be hardy in the colder districts, but have survived many winters In Gloucestershire.”

The peris of this variety are long and twisted and they point downwards. The leaves are thinner than those of P. tenax, and the flow.ers aro yellow, not a lurid red. Dr. Cockayne regards P. cooldanmn as a form of P. tenax, and calls the smaller one (described above) P. colensol. It is strange to find the smaller one noticed Ihus in Hnginiid. ns IU is so commonly neglected in New Zealand. For small gardens it Is preferable to P. tenax, and like the latter, it has variegated and other forms.

HYDRANGEA CUTTINQB.

When selecting cuttings for rooting take short, unflowered stems. These make the best young plants and come early into bloom. (Most of the small stock sold by the traders Is grown from stubby stems instead of from the thick stalks left after the (lowers have fallen. The best way to root cuttings is to bed the young slock out in the open, in a mixture that is more than half sharp sand. Pieces not longer Ilian one’s linger will do heller than any ofliers, for they root more quickly, and come into (lower sooner. The best time lo slai'l striking cuttings is as soon as (lie llowcring wood or any other stem is linn and hard; so we can now begin cutting Hie short sections for rooting in readiness for Hie next year's dowering. The earlier this work is done the heller. PANSY OR VIOLA? A few Inca I fanciers have grown one of the IhiOsl violas or pansies omt raised Arkwright's Hub,'. This i 0 a bright mb}-bronze, of Jlne habit

Vegetables and Fruit. —Use marrows, cuoumbers and beans as soon as they mature. Plant leeks, celery, cabbage and cauliflower. Sow' lettuce thinly and allow the plants plenty -of room afterwards. Sow carrots, turnip, winter spinach and sliver beet (except on sandy soils and in warm positions It is not advisable to sow parsnip and beetroot now). Use both Bordeaux and arsenate spray for tomatoes. Burn diseased fruit. Bud fruit trees, as tliey are now in perfect condition for this work.

Flowers,—Make a frame for raising seedlings and for propagating certain plants from cuttings; geranium, fuchsia, pentstemon, carnation and rookery plants. Keep the seed-heads picked from dahlias, roses and zinnias. Sow winter-flowering sweet peas. Plant bulbs, ixias, freesias, anemones, ranunculi, eto. Sow lawns next month and in the meantime work the soil and rid It of weeds. Stake tall plarits, especially dahlias, cosmos and chrysanthemums, layer carnations, bud roses. Sow pansies, violas, mignonette (In permanent quarters), primroses in boxes), Iceland Poppy, eto.

of growth and very free-flowering. Though sent out first as a viola, It is now classed by the Viola and Pansy Society as a pansy because of the blotch in the flower. It Is not as large as many pansies and violas, but its colour Is unique.

A week or two ago the writer was called along to see an antirrhinum which had developed the phenomenon known as fasciation. In such a case the stem is greatly flattened, as if two stems had joined together, and the whole of the spike Is covered with buds. Tills habit of growth occurs frequently with Lilium auratum, giving rise to a flattened stem with upwards of one hundred and fifty blooms. Generally fasciation is a nuisance, and ■spoils plants. The following plants have been observed by the writer to be. fascial,ed: polyanthus, lily, sinister daisy, cockscomb, daphnae, cucumber and Cape broom.