HOME GARDENS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 28, 1 May 1950, Page 3

HOME GARDENS

/By J. S. Yeates, Massey Agricultural College)

DELPHINIUMS The modern delphinium is without doubt one of the aristocrats of perennial flowering plants. The main planting season for them will commence ih a very few weeks, and this is a good time to deal with the preparation of ground and the growing of these plants.

s There are several ways of procuring a stock of delphinium plants. You can, if you are inclined, buy seed and grow it. Make sure it is quite fresh, and if possible pick it -off some particularly good plants. The average home gardener will find it best to sow seed in the early spring, either in boxes, or in a piece of good, fine soil in a warm, well-drained spot. The seedlings should be left in place the whole of the first season, or picked out if necessary, to give them more room. At the end of the first growing season they should be ready for planting out in their final places. In the early spring, delphiniums may be increased in two ways from old plants. The whole clump may be dug up and divided so that several pieces are obtained, each with some root and a part of the crown bearing one or more buds. s The nurseryman’s way of increasing them in the spring is to cut off the young shoots when they are from a half-inch to two inches long, and root them in sandy soil in a glasshouse or a cool frame. The cut i.s made right at the base of the young shoot, taking a little of the crown with the shoot in many cases. The home gardener will find it convenient to put these cuttings into small pots of very sandy soil, and keep them just moist in a sheltered and not too sunny spot until they commence to grow. Once they are well) established they can be planted out in the garden. Anyone intending to buy new plants should order them in the next month if he intends to plant in the autumn. The best all-round plants to buy are seedlings of good type which have flowered in the nursery over this autumn.

Soil and Situation for Delphiniums Delphiniums grow best in a deep, rich, moist, but well-drained soil. That is true of most plants, and for delphiniums the most important things appear to be ample moisture in the dry season, and a rich soil to a depth of a foot or more. The silt soils around Palmerston North suit them well. The addition of organic matter such as compost or rotted animal manure will always be of value.

The importance of lime for delphiniums is generally emphasised,. That is a mistake. The most suitable soil is a slightly acid one. Lime will be of value only on more acid soils and provided only sufficient is used to leave the soil still slightly acid. No doubt the use of lime is .often advocated merely as a means’ of keeping down slugs by this means. For slugs one of the best methods is to have coarse, sharp sand in and around the crown of the plant to a depth of up to one inch. With the use 'of meta-fuel killing slugs in addition, there should be no need to use lime for that purpose. Being fairly tall and fragile, delphiniums' need fair protection from wind, yet they need to be in a fainly open and sunny place to avoid attacks of mildew disease. Bamboo stakes, one to each flower stem are the best answer, and if inconspiciously placed behind the shoot they need not be unsightly. One idea with bamboo which I have recently read, is to use a short stake standing about four feet out of tne ground, and tall enough early in the year. When the flower heads grow above that height, take slender tips of bamboo which can be fitted as extensions into the hollow ends of the four-foot high stakes.

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