IN THE GARDEN.

Shannon News, 30 March 1926, Page 4

IN THE GARDEN.

Flower borders are not demanding much attention at present. Flowering annuals have spread and covered all space allotted to them; only an occasional weed nejeds pulling, and spent blooms plucking off. There is, however, plenty to do in spare moments with the Planting of all bulbous subjects for spring display, sowing seeds, and putting out plants of the earlier sown varieties. Chrysanthemums generally have not budded as early as usual. Some varieties, even at the present time, are not at that stage, when the "bud" may be taken a term which is used when the central bud is prominent enough to have/ all the side ones removed. • Add a top dressing of rich soil to plants which are intended for exhibition purposes dahlias are at their zenith, needing copious supplies of weak liquid manure in order to keep the size and quality of the blooms up to the mark. Continue sowing sweet peas. The Vegetable Garden. Tomatoes are ripening rapidly, and the plants will benefit by weekly applications of liquid manure. .Continue plantings of cabbage, cauliflower ai>d other varieties for spring use. Make a sowing of lettuce, 'a good hardy variety such as Webb's Wpnderful, that will stand the frost well and heart up in the very early Spring. Sow the autumn crop of onion seed. Clear- up spare plots in the garden, burning all rubbish, and if not needed until spring, sow with some green crop such as rape or oats for digging in purposes. Pinch out the ends of all runners on marrows and pumpkins, to encourage^ruiting from the side shoots. Runner and dwarf beans are cropping freely, and where there is a surplus supply, should be preserved for winter use. This is very easily done if the be,ans are cut up and placed in a stone jar with a layer of salt. The secret of success lies in the fact of pressing the beans very tightly, they make their own liquid and the jar can be filled as ' provided pressure is used to keep the moisture on a level wit hthe beans.

Fragrant Trees and Shrubs. Gardeners generally, might with advantage pay more attention to the many! and varied fragrant shruhfe. Upon the turf or in drives by streams or woodland walk, we might have fragrant shrubs in masses, and they would pour out odours rich and variable. Lavender is one of the sweetest of dwarf hardy shrubs, but hardly anyone thinks of planting it when making a shrubbery. It is beautiful when in bloom, as everyone knows, also when out of flower, as the eye finds repose in and never tires of looking upon its soft cushioned masses of silver grey foliage. This is one of the things that might be boldly used in the foreground of the shrubbery between the taller shrubs and the turf; and morever planting shrubbery margins with such things as these would render digging unnecessary. Another sweet thing of the grey colour is the Lavender Cotton (Santolina). Then there is the Rosemary beloved of our grandmothers, which no garden should be without. It always looks fresh in its dark green dress of richly scented leaves. Probably these three things are the most accommodating of all the scented shrubs, for they will flourish anywhere, even upon hot, dry stony soils, where little else would grow. Equally as sweet and hardy are the different forms of the Southernwood (Artemisia) in fact; this is quite a large genus, of which it is rare to see a single member in gardens. A,, tahacetifolia has finely cut foliage as light and graceful as a fern. A maritima will cover dry banks with a fragrant down in seaside districts, while the green leaved A. Abrotanum is perhaps the sweetest of them all. A. anethifolia is a vigorous herbaceous perennial, throwing up often as high as five feet of woody branched stem, which is clothed with sweet, thread like greyish green leaves. For use m the rock garden .this family may be represented by such kinds as A. alpina and, A. frigida. The former grows dense silvery tufts, but the latter is a pretty trailing plant which rambles over the ground, rooting as it goes, and-forming a dense hoary carpet. Both have yellow flowers. Comptonia aspeniflolia is a hardy spreading bushy shrub with elegant fern like leaves, which give off a delightful odour when touched. It is often called the fern leaved Gale. Then there is the Bog Myrtle or Sweet Gale (Myrica) so suitable for wet situations. Many of the herbs might be used, especially such things as Marjoram, and Camomile, the fragrant silvery leaved Thyme may be used effectively as an edging to a border of grey blue tones. The Sweet Bay is one of the finest of scented shrubs, and a valuable evergreen, too. Upon warm soils it forms quite a tree as much as forty feet high. The Sweet Verbena (Al oysia citriodora) has a perfume which all appreciate. It is one of the most useful scented shrubs for cutting, and grows splendidly against a warm wall, where Clematis may be allowed to ! twine its way gracefully, among its branches. Even when raised from cuttings, it rapidly grows into a bush striking very easily. The Balm of Gilead (Cedronella itriphylla, which is often confused with Monarda and other plants, has a. delightful odour, it is a lialf hardy shrub in very open situations, but hardy in favoured spots, it forms a spreading bush about four feet high, and the shoots are terminated by a little spike of pale flowers, but they are dull, and ineffective. The merit of the plant _is Its fragrance, and as it can be readily. struck from cuttings, and grows freely on warm soils, it should be treated as half hardy, and young stock be raised and planted out every year. The Two Flowered Violet. j Viewed in comparison with the .many garden Violas, and Fansies, the J little Alpine Viola biflora seems in- j

significant; but it. also, has its merits modest though they are compared with those of its sister flower. Its mission is, not to make the border brilliant, or to vie with other plants in bidding arrangements. It is rather to brighten up some crevices, in among stones, or to make a little gleam of gold in some shaded and quiet nook of the rock garden. In such places it comes .as a-welcome sight to see a few plants thriving happily between the stones and lightup a corner a t the base of some largei rocks, or flowering cententedly at the foot of a shady wall. A little gem, indeed, is this fairy violet; and one which, though lacking in the divine gift of fragrance is of priceless beauty It is a plant of slender growth, growing some six inches high, with several j little rounded leaves and small stalks each carrying well aloft two bright little yellow blossoms of the shape so familar to us in the violet in all its classes. In cultivation, a shaded or half Shaded situation is the most suitable, although in a very severe winter the plants often die out, but usually it will propagate itself from self sown seeds, and, once well established, will appear again and again from these. It likes a cool and moist place, and its bright little flowers seem brighter still when peering out from some dull, damp and shady corner.