Looking forward to spring

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 392, 25 June 1991, Page 9

Looking forward to spring

HIGH COONTRY GARDENER

by

Bea

Bames

I think everyone has had just about enough of the doom and gloom which has surrounded us lately and to add insult to injury the weather has decided to join in. How can one say it is time to dig over the vege garden to allow the winter frosts and rain to penetrate the soil when all you are likely to get when throwing a spade into the soil is a mudbath? Or to advise that some attention be given to the ties that secure the climbers to their supports and the trees to their stakes to ensure they are firm and in good condition, unlikely to disintegrate under pressure of high winds when the reward for your concern is a shower of icy droplets down your neck! I think I'll give that a miss and turn attention to brighter prospects. The shortest day and the longest night are behind us as we now head towards the summer solstice. Let not the continuous rain, hail sleet and snow (or even the government) depress you, spring is just around the corner. Leaf buds on the trees are quite well formed, un-

deterred by winter weather, getting ready to burst into bright green leaf in the spring while at ground level the green shoots of the spring bulbs are appearing. One sure thing in an unsure world is that the trees will leaf and the flowers will flower at their given time. So, think positive as they say and plan a bright border for spring and summer colour. Plant stock sweet william, calendula, wallflower, viola and giant pansy for an early display. The individual coloured violas flowering profusely over a very long period can always be relied on to make a colourful show. I think it is a great pity that they are not more widely planted. The new strains of large flowered pansies have proved very popular, 'Imperial pink' being a winner with masses of large lavender pink stripey blooms which almost hide the foliage from late spring or early summer, right through until late autumn.

Give yourself a treat, plant up an old bucket (not forgetting to drill some drainage holes in the bottom) with a few plants of calendula, the good old fashioned marigold. The modern strains give a wealth of large shoWy blooms in brilliant oranges, golds, and yellows guaranteed to lift your spirits on the dullest day. The large flowered polyanthus available now in a range of beautiful colours are perfect for a long flowering brilliant border. Bring a little spring indoors, plant one or two in 15cm pots and put them on the kitchen window sill. They will flower away quite happily and make even washing the dishes a pleasure. When flowering has finished put them outside in the garden. The beautiful white potted chrysanthemum Dorothy gave me for mother's day has just finished its first flush of flowers with more buds

to open. Removal of the spent flowers will encourage the buds to flower for a little while yet. As the foilage begins to die down a little tidy up and gentle watering over the winter period will keep the plants going until they can be planted out in the spring. There's not an awful lot of colour in the garden at the moment but the astartia is still in flower and has been for a long time and the red Grevillia rosmarinus 'Jenkinsii" still has the last few sprays of bloom. The Garrya elliptiea is getting it's long grey catkins better this year than it has since we planted it. These shrubs seem to take a while to settle down here so if you have one that does not appear too robust and drops it's catkins for the first year or so don't despair, it will overcome the initial problems once it forms a good root system. Garryas are quite slow growing.