GARDEN NOTES.

Shannon News, 21 August 1925, Page 3

GARDEN NOTES.

! Work for the Week. i The weather is still changeable, and 1 gardening operations are continued j spasmodically. Continue? planting j roses and shrubs; also plantation trees las conditions of the soil permit. After pruning roses the beds should be I well manured. Well rotted manure is J best, if not obtainable, use superphosphate, as it is rather late for slag, at ! the rate of four ounces to the square yard. Plant gerbera daisies, but not I too deeply, the crowns should he kept just above the surface of the soil. The 1 anemones and ranunculus will also respond to a dressing of manure. Plant pansies, lobelia antirrhinums, mimulas ten week and beauty stocks, cornflower, primula malacoides, cineraria, godetia, and ciarltia. Sow seeds of all hardy annuals and perennials. The Vegetable Garden. Plant eschallots, potatoes and tree onions. Prepare the ground for the main c.rop of onions. Cucumber and tomato .seed should be sown under glass to produce plants for early planting. Continue plantings of potatoes wherever dry enough, and protect the peas as soon as they appear from birds, cotton stretched along the rows two inches above the ground answers very well. Sow broad beans, cabbage, early maturing cauliflowers, spinach, early turnip, carrot and lettuce seed. . Colour in tlie Garden. The early varieties of the narcissi family are now at their best, blooming equally well, in border, woodland among grass, or under deciduous trees filling the. air with delicious fragrance A few violets and primroses are to be’ seen, but are not yet at their best The charming helebories, or Christmas roses, are smothered with blooms. A few anemones are lifting their heads, disclosing entrancing colours, whenever the sun peeps forth. The c’ver-fragrant wallflowers are bloom,ing, while .the violas, stocks, and primula are now making quite a splash of colours in the borders. In the shrubbery the early rhododendrons are a beautiful sight toning well with the graceful branches of the rose pink flowering currant and the early ericas. Soft pink blooms are commencing to open on the almond trees ( while the early varieties >of prunus will shortly be making a lovely display. Stately camellia trees are gradually opening their wax-like blooms. The Arrangement of flowers for Room or Window. The times have changed, and we change with them. No longer are we content with a display of insignificant vases filled with a varied selec- 1 tion of blooms, such" as were usually j to be found dotted about the Victorjan , drawing room. In days gone by, We were apt to choose bright coloured vases, those offering usually ranged through all the shades of red, green pinlc and. yellow. . How beautiful we thought them and how horridly crude they were. Now-a-days we can make a happier choice, and our taste has improved accordingly. As a genera, rule, the less ornate the receptacle, the better, for the flowers themselves ought ta attract our attenion before anything else, also the shape of the vase is an important consideration. The old lustre ware with its gorgeous copper, blue and pinky mauve colourings form wonderfully artistic settings, which only need to be tried to prove their merits. A jug or vase in these colourings filled with deep mauve lilac, blue lupins, or delphiniums, and branches of prunus standing against a background of an oak panelled room is delightful, or a large vase of blue and copper, containing bronze coloured flowers, and so placed that it catches the sunshine streaming through the room, is charming. A golden rule in the arrangement of flowers is to consider tlie prevailing colour scheme cl'* the room for which they are intended. ,To do the vases first and then select a .suitable site for each is to rob oneself of much pleasure, and also to minimise their decorative possibilities. It is an added joy, when • roaming round the garden, to devise schemes fpr decoration not only (as many do) for the dinner table, but for the various rooms that we take so much trouble to furnish, without always realising that no furniture can surpass the beauty of flowers, and nothing in the garden is too humble for our needs, if used in the right way. Even the yellow flowers of the cabbage maye be used as an artistic support for a medley of cornflowers and flaming poppies. These placed in a blue and white bowi, with perhaps a few orange eschscoltzias, make a brilliant decoration. The present fashion of the “floating bowl” is a beautiful and an economical one os well. When flowers are scarce they ate a great boon to the town dweller. A charming method is the “chintz” pattern which consists in filling a bowl with the heads of various small flowers such as violas, primroses, etc The bowl requires to be filled nearly to the brim with water, and the flowers, floating on the surface very close together, recall to one’s mind the pattern of an old-fashioned chintz. A delightful design in summer may be made by using alternate blooms of the Crimson Rambler and Dorothy Per* kins roses placed so as to form a simu. lated garland in a black fiowl, with a lattice work of green spikes across the centre cut to the dimensions of the bowl, with the ends hidden beneath the roses. The green of the montbretia. or . ribbon grass will be equally effective for the purpose. There is no end to the schemes that may be suggested, and any extra time they may take in these busy days is surely justified by the extra pleasure, combined with the rest to tired nerves, which concentration on the beauties of nature is bound to give to others as well as to ourselves. Deciduous Trees and Bulbs. If you happen to have a spare corner, plant a few deciduous trees such as oak, beautiful weeping elms, prunus pendula and others. Underneath these trees, the bulbs bloom to perfection, and usuallly a week in ad-

vance of those in other positions. They give no end of pleasure witli a very small outlay of labour, and later on these same trees, provide ideal shady spots, through the heat of summer.