Colour in Flower Borders.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 15, 13 April 1910, Page 41

Colour in Flower Borders.

Inexperienced gardeners are often in doubt how to arrange the plants in borders so as to introduce all the bright Colours into a limited space without creating a garish effect. Of course, it can always be successfully achieved by planting large masses of foliage subjects or white bloomers between the others, but for this there is not always room. Hie accompanying figures suggest how a harmony can be gained without any Waste of ground. CREAM, LEMON AND GOLD have a wonderful power of softening violent contrasts, a fact which Japanese garden artists know’ and make fine use of. Tn Fig. 1 royal blue, which is the colour of the cornflower, gentian, and bedding lobelia, also of the stately delphinium, is the centre mass of a border, ■while the antagonistic shades of lavender and violet are led up to by inter-

mediate hues. By Jilae is meant the tint of the old-fashioned sweet rocket, or of many a Michaelmas daisy. When this is separated by cream and gold from royal blue, the appearance is soft and pleasing. Pink is the natural outcome of lilac; this deepens into carmine, and wherever carmine looks well lavender and violet can follow. On the other side of the border royal blue is judiciously separated from azure blue, with which it generally clashes, and by us<_ of terracotta, the hue of many bronze red chrysanthemums, blush or pale pink becomes possible. SCARLET IS DIFFICULT TO PLACE because so many flowers are pink, carmine, mauve, or purple, but with plenty of cream, yellow, orange, or flesh it is always pleasing, and the shades of blue and violet, or indigo purple, are well shown off by it. In one end of the border shown in Fig. 2 royal blue and scarlet are actually juxtaposed, but if the bronze foliage, the cream, and the gold are placed also as marked, there will be no crude effect. Rodgers* (Bronze Leaf, or Rodgersia podopbylla, is one of the loveliest and most useful of hardy perennials, and w ill thrive at the back of most borders; its palmate foliage is bronze, its florescence cream, and it grows more than three feet - high. Bocconia cordata is a beautiful cream coloured flower. There are also cream phloxes, paeonies, spiraeas, violas, carnations. and chrysanthemums.. VIOLET AND PURPLE should be clearly understood. The first is the blue purple if the ordinary violet, of Campanula glomerata, the common Iris Germaniea, and countless pansies and violas; the latter is the red purple of Hie stock, of the violet named Amiral Avellan, and of purple tulips. Violet is lavender in its youth, while purple is mauve in childhood; to combine a mauve flower with a violet, or a lavender with a purple, is to create a discord. If both these shades have to lie placed near in a border, there is a means of remedying their rivalry; place a vivid mass of orange ami gold between them.

GOLDEN SCARLET AND ROSE PINK can be rendered tolerable together if a quantity of gold blossom separates them. The effect of this may be tried by planting scarlet geums, then gold coreopsis, and chrysanthemums for succession, around some rose pink late phloxes. The result will not be admirable, but it will not pain the eye, and seen from a short distance the whole piece of border will look quite well. PLANTS WITH MUCH FOLIAGE and but little white blossom, such as the spiraeas, astilbes, etc., are exceedingly useful for separating colours in borders, but they are not sufficiently showy to make two opposing colours blend as palp lemon yellow or deep gold can do. Fortunately, there are vast numbers of yellow flowers that bloom profusely during the three floral seasons of spring, summer and autumn. M.H.

A NEW WAT TO TIE.

The following cutting from the weekly Florists’ Review” is deserving of the attention of those who grow chrysanthemums on a large scale:—Joseph Volz and Son, the growers at Cincinnati, have been experimenting with the various ways of tying up such crops as the chrysanthemums, considering that all the generally followed methods have consumed a Large amount of time, which might be employed to advantage in other directions. As a result of their trials they have hit upon a plan which they say reduces the time required by at least one-third. Their method, say with chry-

santhemums. or any similar plants, is to string one wire over each row of plants, putting it high enough so that it will at all times be well up toward the top of the plants. Qn this wire they hang little hooks of their own invention, putting a hook over each plant. The hook is shaped like a letter S, except that the top loop is bent down so that it just slips over the wire easily, the lower loop being bent up until it is almost closed throughout its length, with a tight squeeze at its extreme end. Then a string or thread of any character is cut in pieces which will reach from the plants to the hook. A loop is tied alanit the plant, and the free end is then passed over the hook attached to the wire. The lower loop, being so nearly closed, grasps the thread when it is pulled down into the loop, and holds it firmly. As the grower passes along later and finds the plant again needs bringing up to the perpendicular, all he has to do is to slip tin* string out of the loop, draw’ it up until he has the plant where he wants it. and then draw the string down into the loop again, where it sticks firmly until lifted once again. Quite a number of growers who have visited the Volz establishment will try this device next season. THE FUTURE OF THE SWEET PEA. The ever enterprising firm of W. Allee Burpee and Co. has purchased a 40-aerc farm near Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, California, one of the principal crops on which is to be sweet peas. Air. Edwin Lonsdale has been engaged to control if. It is evident that Mr. Burpee believes in the future of sweet peas DOVEDALE HORTICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION. We have received a schedule of this Society’s autumn show, which take-, place on the 22nd inst. The schedule is an exceedingly interesting one, introducing some new features, such, for instance, as a bachelor’s bouquet, a display of autumn leaves, display of foliage, dish of six baked apples, etc. We trust the Society may have favourable weather, keen com petition and crowds of visitors. HOW TO CURE CHRYSANTHEMUM RUST. Having had rust in my chrys.inthr. mums for several years through iniroduc ing it with a plant variety, Mr. \V. 11. Fox. it grewjv orse every year in spite of all my remedies. Last year I looked

the plants over at all three pollings, touching the fungus spots with para flin. This did no good—the rust wa- so bad after the plants wore housed that the stage beneath them in November was red

—the spores, and, of course, tin* blooms were not so good. Now for the simple remedy with which any gardener can ri I his chrysanthemums of fungus and her year.

Take the cuttings in December (Jun* or July in Zealand), sooner or later as convenient, tiim the leaves off the cuttings, and do not leave more foliage than is absolutely necessary; do not cut the bases off, label each lot of cuttings, and bury them in sulphur in a close lilting box - a biscuit box would do. Use plenty of -ulphur so as to cover the cuttings. Leave them in the box for twenty-four hours, then take out, cut oil t lie bases, and in-ert in the usual way. The cuttings will Hag a little, but wdi soon pick up after being put in the cutting box. If possible strike them in another house, apart from the house in which they flowered, or even in a cold frame. The result of this treatment is that not the least rust is visible in my collection of plant-' now.