IN THE GARDEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 March 1940, Page 8

IN THE GARDEN

HARDY ANNUALS SOME GROWING HINTS. Hardy annuals are plants which are raised from seed sown in the open air and which develop their flowers and ripen their seeds in the same season. They are useful for providing a display at little cost in a new garden, for filling beds or borders when a display is wanted at a certain time, and most of them are useful as cut flowers for house decoration. All kinds have been wonderfully improved during recent years, and the colours are now true and varied. Gardeners are in fhe habit of treating some of the perfectly hardy annuals as half-hardy kinds to get them to flower earlier, in which case the seed is sown in heat under glass in early spring and tjie seedlings ■brought on in boxes, hardened off, and planted out as soon as the weather is

reasonably warm. They are also sometimes treated as biennials, the seed being sown in the autumn, to provide plants which stand through the winter and flower earlier than plants raised from spring sowing.

The soil for hardy annuals should be deeply and well cultivated and reasonably well manured, but not too rich, otherwise there is too great a growth of stem and leaf and too little flower. The position they are to occupy should be open and sunny and at the same time sheltered from cold winds. The front of a shrubbery border, or patches in the mixed border are suitable.

Sowing can be done in September and October for summer and autumn flowering, and in March for those which are to stand through the winter and flower in spring or early summer. Seed, which is not expensive, should be sown' thinly, just covered with some fine sifted soil, and then protected with scrubby branches until germination takes place. The most important cultural operation is thinning, and this is often neglected altogether, or not done sufficiently to allow the plants to develop as individuals. This operation should be carried out in two stages. First as soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle they should be thinned out to two to three inches apart. Second, as the plants develop they will again be thinned out according to the height and vigour of each kind, but there should be room for side branches to develop if flowering is to continue. When unthinned, the stems are drawn up. There are a few flowers on the end of each stem, and when they wither that is the end of the display. Dwarf kinds will want at least six inches, and the taller kinds

! from nine to twelve inches. ! Staking is seldom necessary, but I the taller ones can be supported bysticking a number of twiggy branches in among the plants when they are > young. They will grow up through them, and thereby obtain support. I Antirrhinums are among the most useful annuals for bedding, and, though perfectly hardy plants, it is the custom to treat them as half-hardy, annuals and to sow the seed under glass. Later sowings can be made in the open, and an autumn sowing should stand , through the winter on well-drained , ground. Asters, which arc great i favourites, are also usually treated as i half-hardy, but seed sown in the open < will provide plants to flower in the autumn. The single kinds would be s the most suitable for sowing in the 1 open border. ( Calendulas are among the most use- s ful of annuals. They are easy to I grow, they will grow anywhere, they r flower for a long time, and now are so t varied in colour. Being perfectly v hardy, they are excellent for autumn g rowing. The following are goodjp

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR

Fruit, Flowers and Vegetables WORK FOR THE WEEK FLOWER GARDEN. Sow verbenas, pansies, violas, primulas, calendula, annual carnations, hollyhocks, stocks and all spring-flowering subjects. The planting of bulbs and corms for spring flowering should be continued. Sow anemone and ranunculus seed in prepared beds, shading from • bright sunlight. Carnations from layers, if well rooted, may be planted out. Pinks which have become overgrown may be pulled in pieces and replanted. Flag iris which have become too thick should be divided and replanted. Discard the old exhausted centre portion. Keep the site for sowing grass seed well hoed to dispose of surface weeds. VEGETABLE GARDEN. Sow winter spinach, cabbage and cauliflower (early varieties), short horn carrots, winter turnips and onions for pulling green. A sowing of round beet should be made to follow on the present crop. Plant out silver beet from the earlier sowings. Celery and leeks should be earthedup as required. Do this when the soil is dry. ■ Dig all vacant land fnom which crops have been removed; turn over roughly to expose to the action of sun and air. Sow endive for winter supply. FRUIT GARDEN. Gather the fruit as it matures; allow it to sweat for a few days before storing away. Unsound or damaged fruit should on no account be stored, but put on one side for immediate use. Pick tomatoes as soon asflhey show signs of colour. This will avoid much cracking by wet weather. Trees which are making too vigorous growth with little fruit should be marked down for root pruning next month. Old fruiting growths on raspberries and loganberries should be cut out; give a good spraying with Bordeaux. Insert any cuttings of bush fruits required.

varieties: Orange King, Lemon Queen, Radio, and Chrysantha. Candytuft is a popular annual for furnishing beds and borders and for edging shrubberies. The colours vary from white to carmine, and the average height is six inches. Clarkias are easy plants to grow, and the colours are mainly scarlet. salmon-scarlet, delicate pink, and white. The elegans, “double varieties,” are the most useful either for the border or for cutting. Clarkias make good pot plants for the greenhouse in early spring. Annual chrysanthemums, both the double and single, are useful border plants. The Star varieties, which grow to a height of 18in, are mainly soft yellow, primrose, golden-yellow, or yellow with a chocolate centre, and the Coronarium kinds are cream or creamy-white with a distinct centre. Coreopsis have a wide range of colours and markings, but are mainly yellow to crimson, with varied brown and crimson markings. They are useful for cutting, being light and dainty. Cornflowers are the “true blues” of the hardy annuals, and though there are white and pink varieties, the blues are the most attractive. The tall kinds are useful for cutting, and the dwarf (Jubilee Gem) for beddings. Dimorpothecas are one of the quickest of the annuals to come into flower, they being often in full flower in six weeks from sowing in the open. The colours are orange, buff, and white, and they are suitable for dry, sunny places. Echscholtzias are really perennials, but usually grown as annuals, and, as they flower in the poorest soils, in the driest and warmest conditions, they are useful. Once established in a place they like, they will seed themselves and come up year after year. Godetias are among the most valuable and varied of the hardy annuals. The tall varieties with flowers in long sprays are the most useful for cutting, and the dwarfer varieties, with flowers in clusters, for a display in bed| or borders. The colours vary from crimson through cherry, rose, to mauve, and all are “distinct. Helichrysums (everlasting daisies) are usually sown under glass like’ the half-hardy annuals, but they are really quite hardy, and will sow themselves in well-drained ground. They are useful for winter decorations.

I The stock-flowered varieties of lark- : spurs are most useful both for provid- ' ing a display in borders and for cut flowers. Their colours vary from scarlet through various shades of pink to mauve and white, and they last well : when cut. A border devoted entirely to larkspurs is z a fine feature during the summer. No garden is complete without the sweet-scented mignonette. Though the flowers vary in colour, they are not bright, and it is mainly for its perfume that mignonette is grown. Nigella “Miss Jekyll” in an attractive annual, having long-stemmed flowers of cornflower-blue. Nasturtiums, espe-i cialy Golden Gleam and the Gleam i ' hybrids, are useful for poor stony, ground and an open sunny position. (They are too well-known to need des- ' cription. Nemesia, though usually treated as a half-hardy annual to get flowers early, is really hardy, and seed sown in the open will provide plants which will flower in the autumn and even into winter in sunny places. Viscaria is one of the most beautiful of our annuals, and one of the easiest to grow. The dainty flowers carried on thin stalks are carmine-rose, pink-blue, scarlet and white.

The annual poppies vary both in size and colour. The Shirleys are well known, but Somniferum, Umbrosum, Carnationa, and Tulip kinds are also suitable for the mixed and shrubbery borders. Lavatera “Sutton’s Loveliness' is one of the most useful of the tall-growing annuals. Its flowers, which are produced in succession in great profusion, are glowing rosepink, and they last well when cut.