GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20254, 24 July 1937, Page 20 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES.

Soasonable Work.

(By “Nikau.”)

VEQETABLE3 AND FRUIT

Sow Broad Beans early and Peas in raised beds. Mo/uld up the early sowings of these, and also plants of Cabbage and Cauliflower. Plant Cabbage, Cauliflower, Shallot, Potato Onion, Chives, Garlic and Rhubarb. Examine Fruit and Vegetables in store. Sprout Potatoes in shallow boxes for early plantings of Early Rose, Early Puritan, Robin Adair, and Cliff’s Kidney. Finish pruning Currant, Gooseberry, Peach and Nectarine, but Apples may still be pruned any time in the next three or four weeks. Spray all deciduous Fruit Trees with lime-sulphur (1 in 15) or with Bordeaux (1 lb. to 5 gals.). Plant all kinds of deciduous Fruit Trees, but Lemons and Oranges should wait another month, until severe frosts are past. Even then, it will pay to protect the newly-planted citrus trees with scrim or sacking. Three or four stakes a little taller than the tree will be sufficient to keep the scrim from flapping against it. Any cover put over the top of the shelter must be removed In the daytime. FLOWERB. Plant hedges and ornamental trees and shrubs. If the ground i® very much exposed to frost, delay the planting until the middle of August. Plant Lilies while they are still dormant. The easiest kinds to manage are Henryi, Tigrinum, Philipplnense, Speoiosum (Lanoifolium), Regale, Umbellatum and Longiflonum. Readers who are a little more ambitious should try Pardalinum, Testaceum, Willmottlae, Auratum, Sulphureum and Giganteum. (The last-named needs a rather shady position, and the bulb must be partly out of the ground.) Plant Roses; don’t forget the climbers and the dwarf Polyantha type. Some of the best of the latter are Edith Cavell, Gloria Mundl, Golden Salmon Superior, Paul Crampel and Kreglow. Stir the soil round Daffodils, Tulips, Hyacinths, Lachenalias, and other (bulbs; also Anemones and Ranunculi.

YEW POISONING. Last week our news columns ihronicled the deaths of stock due to poisoning by the foliage of yew-trees. In Britain this form of poisoning is well known, but it is almost unrecognised in New Zealand, perhaps owing to the comparative rarity of the yewtree. The berries of the yew-tree &lso are poisonous. Other poisonous plants in our gardens are foxglove, monkshood, nightshade (fortunately not the oommon ■peoies), hellebore, tobacoo, meadow saffron (Colchicum), thorn-apple and fool’s parsley (hemlock). To these importations from Europe we may add our native tutu (Coriaria rusclfolia). Then there are various plants whose foliage causes skin poisoning. Some people are poisoned by certain tender primulas, but most people can handle them with impunity. Much more dangerous is the poison oak (Rhus toxicodendron), a shrub from North America. There are other plants which may cause harm to farm animals. One of these is Cestrum aurantiacum, a shrub allied to another shrub commonly grown in gardens—Cestrum elegans, perhaps better known to our readers as Ilabrothamnus elegans. A HINT. tlany of the pink and red roses of jae polyantha class burn badly in fright sunshine, and should therefore be planted in a place where they escape the midday sun. Examples are Ideal, Edith Cavell and Orange King. On the other hand, oxoessive shade will favour mildew and induce less healthy growth generally. If the faded flower-heads are removed, new crops of flowers will come until winter, and we need not worry muoh about the fading of some of the colours. HOSE PRUNING. This Is rjecognised as the best time to prune roses; fairly full directions were given in this column last week, but a few hints may not be out of place now. The main thing Is to out out dead, weak, or unhealthy wood, and crowded shoots. Tht next thing Is to shorten the healthy growths In a suitable manner—suitable to the type of rose, the purpose for which It is grown, and the spaoe available. Another point is to leave no stubs; this means cutting branches out clean from their Junction with the stem, or Just above a bud. Usually the top bud left should be one pointing outward, so that the shape of the bush may be an open one. OLD ROSES. Bushes twenty or more years old may be rejuvenated without any treatment corresponding to the transplanting of glands. The chief means is to cut the bush or tree back hard. For example, a bush twelve feet high and provided with a score of strong growths may he cut back to a height of three or four feet, and the number of growths may he reduced to less than half a dozen. The writer has often seen this method followed In the Christchurch Botanic Gardtns amt has also employed it with advantage In various private gardens. Another means is to work the soil around the bush, and to mulch it with farmyard manure. If the rose is a climber, it may be too dry in summer because it is planted against a fence nr wall. in that case a soaking ihould be given every fortnight. Still another aid to old roses Is to free them of insect pests and of mosses and lichens. Lime-sulphur at 1 In 10 will destroy the mosses and lichens, and red oil at 1 In 10 will destroy both these and scale and other insects. STANDARD ROSES. Some Waikato enthusiasts are disappointed with their standard roses, and they blame the climate. This, Indeed, Is not as favourable as that of the South Island, but standard roses can be grown here with fair success. There is often trouble caused by suckers from the base or t>y other growths from the stock on which the "head” is budded. It may be assumed in most cases that the Itandard itself has an inferior type of Bower to that of the "head.” In any case growths from the stem or base Of the Standard look untidy and spoil the effect lor which the plant is grown. Consequently the first thing fn pruning a standard rose Is to cut iway all growths from the base, and from the stem below the head.” All Bead. diseased and twiggy growths hould be cut out first. This will

leave a number of shoots radiating from near the centre. Some skill is necessary in thinning and shortening these. When pruned, these may be six or eight in number, and the “head” may have a diameter of 12 to 15 inches. By care in selecting the last bud to be left on each shoot, the pruner can govern the direction of the new shoots, and so build up a fine “head.” WEEPING ROSES, Only too rarely do we see use made of pendulous roses on medium or tall standards, yet these are amongst the most beautiful features of large rose gardens. For example, a medium or a tall standard of the Excelsa rambler adds distinction and beauty to a bed of bush roses. The new dwarf Polyantha roses look very well when grown on medium standards, particularly in a bed of bush roses of the same type and even of the same variety. NEWLY PLANTED ROSES. The usual advice for all newlyplanted roses is to cut them back hard; even climbers may be out down to less than a foot, so that strong new growths will form. This advice Is good for most roses, but some authorities now say that It must not be applied to certain climbing "sports” of ordinary bush roses. Their experience is that some of these so-called climbers refuse to climb after a hard initial outtlng. They seem to sulk, and to say: "If you treat me as a bush, I’ll be a bush.” This objection, however, does not apply to ramblers or to the older kinds of climbing roses such as Souvenir de Leonle Vlennot or Ord’s Rover of Devoniensls. A WHITE DELPHINIUM. At the Autumn Show of the Hamilton Horticultural Society much interest was aroused by a white delphinium exhibited by the Rev. G. A. Crossman. That white delphiniums are rare Is proved by the following note taken from a gardening paper a few years back: — "A white delphinium has been growing in the grounds of Longford Castle, Lord Radnor’s estate, near Salisbury, for the past four years. "The variety 13 being cultivated by Mr F. W. Tucker, Lord Radnor’s head gardener, who did not think it was remarkable until it was seen recently by Mr W. W. Pettigrew, general superintendent of the Manchester Corporation parks, who pronounced it a very rare specimen, and said it should be sent to the Horticultural Society. "Gardeners have been trying for years to produce a pure white delphinium, but they have not had great success. There are 36 varieties of them. "Mr Tucker explained to a London Daily Mail reporter: ‘I bought a packet of delphinium seeds, and when the plants grew I was surprised to find a beautiful white flower on two of them. Tlie bloom is as white as a narcissus. We named it Belinda, after one of Lord Radnor’s children.’ “Mr Pettigrew described the bloom as the most perfect he had seen White delphiniums have been raised before,’ he told a reporter, ’but they are very rare. I have seen none to compare with tho .one at Longford Castle, which was perfect in every way.’ ” Mr Crossman’s plants were raised from seed bought in America They were robust and tall, and individual blooms had a diameter of two and a half Inches. Hamilton gardeners maV look forward to seeing more of them.