Life in the Garden

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 5, 3 February 1909, Page 39

Life in the Garden

Practical Advice for Amateurs

GARDEN NOTES. Cosmos are making strong growth. It not already staked, they should have immediate attention, otherwise they are very apt to be knocked about by winds. These plants require a lot of room; four to five feet each way is not too much; they are very handsome when well grown, and give enormous quantities of flowers. Roses have this season done remarkably well. All spent blooms should .be picked off to prevent seeding, .which greatly weakens the plants. Syringe any plants showing greenfly, and keep a look out for mildew’, and any plants, which show the slightest attack of the fungus dust with flowers of sulphur. Petunias are now making a fine display. Where a good strain of these has been secured, they are well worth good culture. The trouble we find is to get them good. The ordinary plain edged varieties are easily obtained, but the fringed sorts are very shy seeders, ami consequently the seed is expensive and difficult to secure; an extra selected stock will generally produce from 50 to 70 per cent of true fringed varieties. The Layias. Although old garden annuals do not appear to be made so much of as might lx> supposed, considering their very showy flowers, free habit, and usefulness during the summer and early months, some of the species, for instance. L>. platy gl ossa and L. Douglasi, and better known under the old name of Callichroa, but later introductions, such as glandulosa, heterotricha, elegans, and others, are much showier, with a dwarfer and neater habit of growth, and altogether better adapted for the Hower garden These are the kinds of annuals that always show best in large groups. When sown in small patches and allowed to grow up too closely together, they look weedy, are always lying down, and never flower so well as when each plant is given plenty of space to develop its branches as well as its roots. It is more satisfactory in every way to see a wellgrown specimen than a weakly straggling one with few, and usually badly-coloured.

tloweis. (Jive plenty of light and air to all the annuals, feed them well, and you will be well repaid for your trouble. Ihe l.ayias are very suitable for cutting. lasting as they do for a considerable time in good condition. LILAC TREES. Lilacs .ire so well known for their troublesome habit of producing suckers, that tin* notice of the Rumpcnheim Lilacs in the current number of the “Kew Bulletin” is of some interest. Foi many years a pair of Lilacs grew in the gardens at Cambridge Cottage (the residence at Kew of the two last Dukes of •Cambridge), which formed clean trunks and produced no suckers. The larger trunk was four feet two inches high, and two feet in girth. It is suggested that the plants. which were brought from Rum-penheim-on-th< - Main, near Frankfort, were originally raise I from seed, and not from cuttings, as is more commonly the case, and that th? lack of suckers may possibly be attributed to the circumstances. -Since the death of the late Duke in 1904 the trees have been moved, one of them to Wind sor, the other to the lawn in front of Kew Palace. THE JUBILEE EXHIBITION AT HAARLEM, 1910

The Dutch Bulb Growers’ Society has hitherto held an exhibition in the month of March every fifth year. The last show was held in 1905. and. although the quality of the exhibits was acknowledged to be good, the limited interest shown by cultivators in tin* function proved that such . exhibitions no longer fulfilled the requirements of the (lav. The visitors, and especially the foreign judges, were unanimously of the opinion that in future such shows should be held at the natural flowering season in the open. At the last general meeting of the society, it was decided to adopt the suggestion, taiready mentioned in these columns, to hold the next exhibition during the natural (lowering season of the bulbs in 1910. the society’s jubilee

Cianothus Gloire de Versailles. Most lovers of plants, especially open air plants, seek the blue flower.*, and often complain that they arc so m irce. We begin to think it is not true; there are so nvany beautiful bulbs and otlu r plants that really blue plants for the garden are numerous. Among the shrub* blue flowers are. perhaps, not so numerous. although the shrubby Solanum and the blue Buddleias help a little. The queen of all blue-flowering shrubs, however. is that variety of a Californian plant called Ceanothus Gloire de Versailles. For the southern and warmer

counties it would be difficult to name anything so constant, so pretty in colour, so easily grown, either as a shrub or against a wall in cool districts. In the garden in which our photograph was taken this shrub Howers the whole sum mer and autumn, and in different positions—sometimes against walls and sometimes on exposed banks. A* PEA, THE GLADSTONE. Gardeners who experience a dilticulty in maintaining a supply of culinary pea> late in the season should give this variety a trial. During reasons of drought, even when planted in light, shallow, or gravel ly soils, it has proved one of the most reliable varieties. The plant is remark ably strong in constitution, and the foli age resists- attacks of mildew when many other varieties are infested with the fungus. A long succession of pods is maintained. whilst another desirable point is that the shoots seldom exceed 4 feet in height, although they furnish as many pods as taller-growing varieties. Being comparatively dwarf they do not require tall sticks, ami can be easily pro teeted from the depredations of bird* which in many gardens are troublesome amongst late peas. In addition to tingood qualities mentioned may be added the size < f pod (often a pod contains 10 peas) and excellence of flavour. I his pea is often seen in the prize collections of vegetables at many of the leading ex hibitions throughout the country. Al though the Gladstone is a late pea ami is generally one <»f the latest sown, it does well as a mid-season variety. Although this variety is longer in coming into bearing than many others, the crop is of such excellence that it is well worthy of a place in all gardens where peas of good quality are valued, more especially in those where mid-season and late varieties have proved difficult to cultivate with success.

A GARDENERS SON WHO HAS EARNED OVER £IOO,OOO. Kubelik, the violinist, who, by the time he was 26, had earned over f lOU.tMHI by his playing, writes a correspdonent, is the -on of a gardener it Prague. He has inherited his lather's h<>rtieultnr al tastes, and on his rcce nt world’s tour took the opportunity to collect specimens of tropical tree-, roots, and plants to embellish his own beautiful garden at Kolin, where* he lives, within a few miles of his birth-place. He says Colombo is the loveliest place* he* has ever visiteel, hut no one could conceive

the floral beauties of the Sandwich Islands, blowers are so abundant there that they grow even on the roofs of the houses. On leaving his concert at Honolulu, the populace accompanied him in procession back to his ship. Each of the processionists carried a wreath of Howers. These wreaths they presented to him, and they were piled up on the deck. As the ship left the island Ihe \ isitor had to throw some of the wreaths over his shoulder into the sea. This is a native custom betokening a “farewell to Elower Island.” Kubelik is at present touring the chief English and Scotti-h towns, and appearing nightly on the con cert platform, but lie says’he longs for his garden at Kolin, where his wife j. with his four little girls. Ili- castle ut Kolin is built in the midst of a forest. THE BALANCE OF NATURE. 'i’ll the evils against which the gardener has to contend, the most per si-lent, mo-t implacable, are tin* number less varieties of insect fungus pests which are an ever present menace to fruits and crops. Thanks to the scientitie methods of the modern horticulturist. these pestare. as a rule, kept within reasonahi' bounds, though it may happen at, time-, as in the ease of the recent outbreaks of American Gooseberry mildew, that sonic mysterious malady makes its appearance in the gardens of the country, ba tiling f<»i a time all the science and skill of tin- | hint doctor. Much ha- been done in recent years in Ihe matter of providing means Io cope with the attacks of plant pesti- of all kinds, (hough, perhaps, the most remarkable and most successful de xelopment has been tin* enlisting of the forces of Nature herself for this purpose. Plant pet-ts are not by any mean- (he monarchs of all they survey. Just as “big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ’em,” so the parasites of plant life are preyed upon by equally voracious insect foes. AFembers of the ichneumon family of insects work terrible

havoc among the destructive caterpil- 1 lars; in fact, it is said that a ichneumon will destroy more caterpillars £ than a man could kill in his lifetime. The modu- operandi is barbarously simple, p’ The slender-bodied ichneumon calmly V settles upon its victim, thrusts its keen-’ sting like ovipositor or egg-tube time and again into the unresisting body of the caterpillar, each time depositing an < egg, and then Hies away in search oft other prey. W hen the young ichneumons £ hatch out the caterpillar serves as their > food and feeding grounds, with somewhat " disastrous results to the host. The J' bright-coloured. dumpy little beetles known as ladybirds are also most determined foes of plant parasites, devouring ? vast numbers of green ily. scale insects. **’ mites, etc. Each species of ladybird • prevs upon its own particular foe. and it is by taking advantage of this circumstance that the ravages of scale insects may be restricted, providing the opposing ladybird is known. In this way the laying waste of the French vineyards by the phylloxera might be stayed if the proper ladybird could be introduced and cultivated as a kind of antidote. The saving of the orange groves of California by these insects some twenty years ago reads like a romance. A most destruc five scale insect appeared on the orange trees, ami in a short time tin* fruii • •lowers were faced with ruin. By great good fortune it was then di-covered t ha in West Australia a particular species of ladybird kept the orange scale in check. After much trouble, two of the* insects were conveved safely across the Pacific and let loose. Ihe alien ladybirds throve on their natural food, and were soon swarming in California. The orange trad-' was saved. HINTS ON GROWING ASTERS (ierman alters for ihe last lew years have been a total failure in many parts of England. Many amateurs have given up th ii culture as hopid 'ss. and have turned their attention to early (lowering chrysanthemums instead. Although the best prices have been paid for seed, the same result accrues; not 50 per cent, of the seed germinates. and many of the seedlings that do appear, damp off before they attain any size. At the time of flowering, many apparently healthy plants drop off a little brown ring around the stem at the soil surface shows that, decay has permeated the whole support of the plant. It should never be atempted to grow’ .asters in cold, wet, heavy soils, or in a

draughty, shaded, or smoky situation. 'lhe position which suits them best is an open one and sunny, and should not he wind-swept. The soil should be of a porous nature, especially the surface soil, so as to allow quick drainage. A fairly rich soil is essential for strong, sturdy plants. A very good compost is turfy loam, leaf mould, well-decayed manure, silver sand, and a little soot and lime ineorpor- . ated. The hoe is a very useful implement for their well-being, and should be freely used among the plants, loosening the surface and aerating the soil. Weak liquid manure should be applied at the flower-

ing period, to give lustre and beauty to the blooms, as well as to increase their The seeds should be sown on a hotbed, or in a heated greenhouse, the abovenamed compost being admirably suited for the purpose, afterwards sprinkling the surface over with a mist composed of silver sand, crushed mortar rubble, and ashes, which will prevent a large perc ntag? of them from damping off. When the seedlings have made their first two leaves, air should be admitted very carefully, a little to begin with, gradually increasing it as the seedlings grow. They can afterwards be pricked out into frames and shaded for a few days, a little ventilation being necessary. They should be gradually and thoroughly hardened off before planting in the (lowering beds. and showery weather chosen for this operation to assist establishment. JOSEPH FEOYD. & & MIGNONETTE GROWN IN POTS. This well-known plant can be grown with comparative ease in pots, and when in flower will be found to be most useful for cutting to arrange with other flowers. Six-inch pots are the best for general culture. These should be well

drained, and if a little poultry manure is available, a slight sprinkling should be put upon the drainage. The soil should be loam of good quality, with either sand or road grit added to it, and if a little old mortar rubble is to be had, this should be added also. After this soil has been well mixed together, the pots should be filled up to within a little less than an inch of the rim, using a rammer to make it as firm as possible, this being most essential in mignonette culture. About a dozen seeds should be sown on this surface in each pot, afterwards sprinkling a little more fine soil upon the top, and pressing that dowin with the hands. A good watering should be given, and the pots either placed in a cold frame or near the glass in a greenhouse. Heat fe not needed, but merely protection. When the seeds are up and growing freely, the weakest ones should be thinned out where there are more than six good plants, that number being quite sufficient. After this, let them have plenty of ventilation. If in a frame, the light may be left off during the if in a greenhouse, a shelf is the best place for them. The chief point afterwards to be observed is that of watering. They should never be allowed to get dry, neither should the soil, on the other hand, be sodden with water excess. If two or three sowings are made at intervals of about one month from the

middle of February, a succession will be obtained that will last into the spring. The best kinds to grow in pots are IMac het, a new variety of French origin, of very dwarf growth, and with large dense spikes of dark red flowers. Miles’ Hybrid Spiral has very long spikes, and is reliable as a hardy kind. As the planta increase in strength, sotne slight support with sticks will be necessary.