CALENDULAS FOR WINTER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 946, 12 April 1930, Page 30

CALENDULAS FOR WINTER

During recent years Calendulas bare become extremely popular with gardeners everywhere. And really one must admit that taking everything on the whole there is no better line of flowering plants for winter and early spring flowering. During the coldest months of the year they are working overtime to provide our gardens with gay colours and our homes with brightness and warmth. Latterly there have been notable introductions in orange deep, orange red, and yellow, among which Orange King, Orange Ball and Radio are the best orange sorts, and Lemon King the best of the yellows. They are extremely hardy and will grow anywhere, but if you must have the huge, immense blooms which have become so much admired, liberal feeding is necessary. The soil should be as rich as possible and the seedlings planted about 18in. apart. Sow the seed in a seed bed and transplant or sow two or three seeds where they are to grow and thin out the weak ones if all grow. The latter is the best method for we find that transplanted plants take a few weeks to get over their move. They like plenty of water, and being winter flowering plants, all the sun they can get. For window boxes and similar receptacles nothing could be better, and we strongly recommend their use for these purposes. As pot plants they are also useful and come in when flowering plants in pots are scarce. Nicely grown young plants are best in pots, and they should be thrown away when they become large and straggly. See that the faded flowers are kept picked. By regular attention, to this the flowering period may be doubled and the size of the flowers maintained over a much longer period. The best place to grow them is the mixed border or in beds to themselves, the latter should not be too large if they are to be seen at their best.