GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20260, 31 July 1937, Page 20 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES.

- Seasonable Work. -

(By “Nlkau.”)

VEGETABLES AND FRUIT. If the soli Is fairly sandy, work some of it to a fine tilth and sow broad beans, early peas, radish and lettuce. (The last is better perhaps In a box). Plant cabbage, oauliflower, potato onion, shallot, rhubarb and herbs such a chives, thyme, mint and sage. I Artlohokes are in fine condition now, but will spoil in the next six 1 weeks. Use carrots before they are spoilt by pests. Plant, prune and spray all deolduous fruit-trees. The chief spray at this time is Bordeaux (lib. to sgals.) ; it will check nearly every kind of fungal disease. Lime-sulphur at linls is also a very powerful t fungicide. Copper sulphate (bluestone) at the rate of one ounce to a gallon of water is & splendid fungicide, but it must not be used after the trees bave started into growth (flowers or leaves), 1 FLOWERB. There is still time to put in cuttings of both deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. A good deal of sand should be added to the soil in which cuttings are to be set. Most cuttings do best when the bottom part is cut Just below a bud. Another point is to set the cutting vertically, and pack the soil firmly round them, v Finish the rose pruning by the end of the first week In August. ! Continue to plant ornamental trees and shrubs; if they arrive when the ground is too wet for planting them, ‘heel’ them in (laying them •n their side and covering the roots thoroughly with soil, to protect them from wind, sun and frost). Make a frame for sowing seeds of Cowers and vegetables. It is also cf use for the propagation of plants by means of cuttings; these may be put in fairly deep boxes (with plenty of sand), and after a few month* the boxes can be put outside, thus leaving the frame free for geedllnga.

SUCKERS. r During the pruning season a careful Watch must be kept for suckers, especially in the case of standard roses. The suckers are often distinguished by their spines being different from those of the proper rose, and, jduring, the growing season, by a difference in leaf. Lilacs also produce many auokers. In most cases these ghould be out out, unless the gardener fa prepared to transplant some and wait perhaps half a dozen years for , bloom. Even then the plants are likely to produce only the flowers of the common lilac on which the flrst- , class variety was budded or grafted. A * \ ©RANGE TREES FOR BEAUTY. f At present some Hamilton lawns are gzade beautiful by orange-trees in full .fruit. Borne of the streets showing jheat we Pembroke Street, Heaphy HTerraoe and Union Street. The varieties of orange represented are New j Zealand grape fruit, mandarin*, and gweei oranges. Even on dull afternoon* of winter these fruit trees are bright and oheerful. It Is therefore to be hoped that Increasing use will be made of orange trees for ornament a* Well as for profit. It Is Interesting to read that trees of New Zealand grapefruit are In such demand this winter that nurserymen can hardly fill the [orders reoeived. SPORTING RO3ES, ! People who say that the world is **sport mad” will be glad (or sorry) to know that roses often display a sporting habit. It is only fair to add, however, that roses and other plants have almost certainly shown this tendency through the ages. Fortunately many of these newcomers are rgood *ports. M Sports from established varieties gppear •pasmodlcally and for no apparent reason. Such may happen In the garden of an amateur as well as In a nursery. It may be that Just one •tem on a good-sized hush will produce flowers that are totally different to. colour and perhaps In shape from those of the rest of the hush. Generally the eyes on the stem Just below these strange flowers will produce plants possessing the same peculiarities, but It does not always happen thus. Sometimes one may propagate from a sporting stem, only to find that the new generation of plants will revert to the character of the parent plant, but if the distinctive oolour or shape persists the sport is considered fixed and a new name may be given. Some varieties are more prone to •port than others. One of our favourite roses, Ophelia, has given us several really fine novelties as well as proving to be a good seed parent. A considerable proportion of our climbing roses have been sports from dwarfs, in which the flowers retained all the features of the original, the only difference being that blossoms are borne on branches of such vigour that they \ climb sufficiently to cover a wall or clothe the posts of a pergola or ftp arch* [

producing flowers and nectar are: rewa-rewa, pohutukawa, and kowhal, and flax should be grown for the same purpose.

Imported plants providing food for birds are the Australian red bottlebrush and crimson-flowered gum, the various honeysuckles, and American cranberry. An unusual point mentioned was this: the common-black birch should be planted because It exudes a gum on which insects feed, and they in turn are eaten by birds. Food should be supplied now for birds; e.g. fruit, stale bread and watery sweetened porridge. In summer a bird bath will help the birds, but it must be in a plaoe which cats oannot reach. Finally, if we want oolour, song and movement about our homes, let us plant shrubs and trees, to feed the birds. BERRIED SHRUBS V. TREES. During the planting season we should remember the claims of various groups of trees and shrubs, such as berried, weeping, autumn-tinted, flowering, native, variegated, red-leaved, coniferous and so on. The following are some of the best kinds of berried trees and shrubs: Arbutus unedo (the ordinary treestrawberry), various barberries such as Berberls vulgaris (the ordinary hedge plant), B. thunbergii. B. Wilsonae (lovely berries but fierce priokles), and B. aggregate; Crataegus and Pyracantha (hawthorns) with many types of berries, large and small, red and yellow, eto., but especially G. Angus tifolla, mexicana, Talandil, yunfranensis, and tanaoetifola; various Cotoncasters such as C. Simonsli frigida, serotfna, pannosa; various hollies, (ordinary and variegated), should not be planted singly if berries are wanted; various crab apples (especially Gorgeous and the redleaved) ; rowan tree (glorious berries, but these are too tempting to be left by the birds) ; the white and the red forms of the “snowberry” (Symphoricarpus); Indian hawthorns (Raphiolepls), with black berries; Viburnum (the variety commonly but wrongly called Sleboldil) ; Benthamia (with fruits like largo raspberries) ; various solanums (especially S. capsicastrum, the common winter-cherry) ; certain roses, especially perhaps Rosa rugosa; spindle-trees (European and Japanese) ; Pernettya, Skimmia, Calllcarpa, and Idesia and certain sumaohs.

Besides these there are many New Zeaiand trees, shrubs and climbers which bear either berries or drupesexamples are karaka, tltokl, tawa fuchsia, toraire, miro, hinau, minglmingi. mahoe, puriri, supplejack passion fruit and kahikatea. Mention must also be' made of a native herbaceous plant which bears w-onderful blue berries: it is Dianella Intermedia. A BEAUTIFUL SHRUB. In Ihe winter months ona „ . most notiteable sliriiha 01 ttLe licUca. ; , ttarrya ellt)Is an evergreen, with long green catkins which hang for weeks, though they Jade a good deal as they get older. This shrub succeeds admirably in the Waikato, though it is said to like a dry situation I The present is a suitable time to plant this shrub, and, Indeed, almost all kinds of shrubs.

_ Wlteur rose-grower should I •lvrflTs be on tiie look-out for a sport, ' and If he should be fortunate in securing one that is really good he should perpetuate It by budding on suitable stocks. If ho cannot do this, he should arrange with a nurseryman to do it. FEED THE BIRDS. In this decade of the twentieth century wo should not need much instruction on the subject of the good work done by birds. Even if wo had read nothing or had been told nothing about this work, we should see for ourselves how thrushes kill slugs and snails and how sparrows, silver-eyes lantalls and other birds kill Insects*. Last Saturday evening an Interesting Bttle talk on birds was given by Mr Hutchinson from IYA. The point that concerns us chiefly is the planting of trees and shrubs that will provide food for birds. Some of us may object that we have only little town sections, but we must not fprget that we have a share in our public parks and other reserves, and have an interest in seeing that these are suitably planted and that some of the trees and shrubs chosen will.provide food for the birds, both native and imported. Three years ago the present writer was delighted by the sight of several bell-birds obtaining honey from the flowers of a big hush of the common veitchlana buddleia (B. variabills.) at Peel Forest in South Canterbury. !.Mr Hutchinson recommended the planting of tree lucerne for quick results, as If soon provided flowers rich in nectar. On every farm a few hushes of this should he grown to feed birds such as Tul and Bell-birds at a time when nectar is scarce. Native plants to provide both nectar and berries are the t.itoki, various coprosmas and the cabbage tree, beloved by and Luis. Native tree*