GARDEN NOTES

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 48, 20 November 1926, Page 26

GARDEN NOTES

(By

"Kowhai. " )

AQUILEGIAS. For several weeks now i.quilegias have been a great delight to the gardener, especially the new long-spurred hybrids, for a good strain contains flowers of the loveliest and daintiest cf colours. They are most useful plants for semishaded parts of the garden, though it seems to be immaterial to them whether they are grown in sun or shade. Any flowers that will do well in shade are especially valuable, for so many flowers insist on a sunny position.

Among the older class of aquilegias is one that deserves mention. This is aquilegia chrysantha. a beautiful goldenflowered, long-spurred variety. The plants last for many years each year becoming mere beautilul. It is as well to raise fresh seedlings every year, however. as sometimes the eld plants go off quite suddenly. Save the seed of those flowers that arc the largest, and have the purest colours. Seeds should be sown in seed tins during this month, to have seedlings ready for planting out in the borders at the end of the autumn. Plant them in groups of from three to six or seven plants, having the plants at least eighteen inches apart each way. Plants that arc in flower at present should be examined frequently for any appearance of green-fly, for the young flowering shoots are often attacked. Keep dead flowers picked off to prolong the flowering season. LUPINS. Herbaceous lupins are just beginning to be very attractive, for the plants are sending up tall flowering stems that give promise of fine spikes of bloom. From a good packet of mixed seed one gets many beautiful colours, including pink, deep purple, and almost every shade of blue. It the seed is sown early in the autumn, the plants flower their first summer, but. it is not until their second snminer that they develop into magnificent clumps that give such charm to the November garden. The strains of herbaceous lupins have been so very much improved of late vears that no one need give room to a plant of undesirable colour. Among blue shades one may have plants ranging from pale blue to the deepest navy, and without any trace of red in the colour. Even pink lupins have been so much improved that one may now have them with flowers that do not turn magenta as they fade.

Lupins do well in any garden soil that has been deeply dug. and is therefore well drained. In sandy soils it is advisable to bury some well-rotted vegetable rubbish where the lupins are to be planted. An open position that is shaded from midday sun is suitable for them, though not absolutely necessary. Plants are easily propagated by division of the clumps, but the best way of obtaining a good collection is to sow a packet of seed from a firm specialising in lupins. GLADIOLI.

By planting early-flowering gla’dioli, priinulinus hybrids, and the summerflowering varieties, one may have gladioli in bloom in the garden from October until well into the autumn.

Gladioli are very showy border plants, and. as their upright habit of growth demands little room, they are well suited to small as well as to large gardens. Indeed, it is not difficult to find room for a good number of these delightful flowers.

The primalinus hybrids are attracting more attention every season, for the strain is being steadily improved. The flowers are well spaced and daintily set on long slender stems, and this makes them ideal for cut flowers. In the garden. too, these hybrids may be massed in separate colours, and they have a much more graceful and pleasing effect than is produced by massing the largeflowered, massive-stemmed varieties. These latter are indeed handsome when grown in groups of about six plants, but for dainty effect the priinulinus hybrids are unrivalled. Gladioli like a rich, well-drained soil, but dislike strong unrotted manure. The soil should therefore be very deeply dug, and should have worked into it some thoroughly decayed garden rubbish, and some sand. When the corms are beingplanted, they should be surrounded if possible with coarse sand. At the present time a mulch of thoroughly rotted manure or garden rubbish should be spread about the plants. A weekly watering with weak soot water, or very weak liquid manure, is also advisable. The tall, slender stems should be loosely confined to inconspicuous stakes. Corms of summer-flowering gladioli ma.y still be planted for a late show of bloom. PLANTING OUT. The foliage of many cf the springflowering bulbs Is at last dying down, and gardeners are anxious to fill in quickly these bare-looking spaces with something that will flower during summer and early autumn. Nothing can be nicer than violas for filling up at this time of the year, for seedling plants soon spread and flower, and keep bright for many weeks. By the time the bulbs are beginning to peep above ground again the viola plants arc looking shabby, and the gardener has no hesitation in cutting them hard back to encourage the new growth from which he is to get his next batch of plants. Antirrhinums, stocks, pansies, phlox drummondii, nemesia, calliopsis, and asters are all useful for filling in these spaces. If gardeners would “water in” their seedling plants, even if the soil is quite damp at planting time, the plants would ibe given a good start. By “watering in we mean pouring water into the hole with the plant, so that the roots become embedded in wet soil. This should be done with utmost care, especially where a ball of soil is attached to the roots. If the plant is held in place with one hand, water so poured from a can without a rose as to wash more earth gently round the roots. As soon as the water has drained away, the top soil may be firmly pressed into place. Plants stand far less chance of flagging when they are planted out in this way. VEGETABLES. Growth is so rapid just now that one seems to be always thinning out carrots, beet, etc., or pulling out weeds. Weeds grow with amazing rapidity. Broad beaus and peas seem to be affected by the general desire to grow rapidly to a great height, and staking has become quite a serious item of garden routine. Potatoes must be earthed up as they grow and the hoe must be kept at work among the crops. Seeds that may be sown are:—Peas, French and butter beaus, beet, lettuces, radishes, mustard and cress, pumpkins, marrows. , . . Plant out tomato, pumpkin, and marrow plants, and celery plants if they are ready.