POLYANTHUS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 December 1940, Page 2

POLYANTHUS

SOME GROWING HINTS. In hundreds of gardens polyanthus are grown and succeed in producing good displays of bloom. Sometimes they are purchased as young plants in .autumn and placed immediately in their flowering quarters. Treated thus they do quite well, and leave little room for complaint. Sometimes big clumps, already showing buds, are pur- 1 chased in spring for the purpose of making a floral display almost immediately. Even that they contrive to do, but the trusses and individual flowers are comparatively weak; in fact, they are produced out of the substances already in the plant. The propagation of stock may provide vigorous young plants for next season, or just weary weaklings which cannot make a satisfactory show; it depends largely on when the division takes place. The best time is the first period of showery weather that may occur after the flowering dwindles to nothing more than oddments of bloom. It is a mistake to wait until autumn before dividing the plants. The finest trusses and most substantial blooms are obtainable from plants raised from seed. This month and next are good for this task. Sow where conditions are cool and shady rather than sun baked, but take precautions to safeguard the seedlings, from the attacks of slugs and snails. Prick out the seedlings when they have no more than four tiny leaves. Work some lea 1 !' mould into the top layer of the nursery bed and do not let the young plants suffer from want of water throughout the summer. Get the young seedlings planted where they are to remain by the end of April, first making sure that the soil is well enriched. Polyanthus are hungry feeders. Some fine flowers will be produced in the first spring, but if the plants remain where they are—provided they are not crowded—and are helped by liberal supplies of liquid manure all through the summer, they will make their grandest display in the second season. It will add considerably to the interest if the best types are selected from the seedlings and the seed saved from these again for sowing. It is in this way that the splendid strains of polyanthus which we have today are built up.