GARDEN NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20989, 16 December 1939, Page 18 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES

' SEASONABLE WORK

(By “Nikau”)

VEGETABLES AND FRUIT Plant tomatoes for the later crop; set them about 2ft. apart in the rov.-s, and the rows three feet apart. Side shoots are to be taken out and the plants staked and trained on the single-stem plan. Plant potato, kumara, cabbage, onion, beetroot, cauliflower, lcttuca, leeks and cucumber. Sow cucumbers in soil which has been greatly enriched with hu-aus in tne form of farm-yard manure, if possible. Bush-marrows should be grown where there is not room for the running type There is stiii time to sow parsnips and beetroot for the winter supply. Sow carrots, rurnips and peas for a succession. The soil for the peas should be rich. Use turnips before they spoil. Sow plenty of runner beans, and stake them when they are about six inches high. Plant Cape gooseberries. See to the stakes and ties of trees and shrubs that were planted in the last nine months. FLOWERS Try to complete the bedding schemes a fortnight before the summer ho iday is taken. This time should be allowed for watering and otherwise establishing the plants. Save seed of the freesias, primroses and ranunculus specially marked some weeks ago. Remove most of the pods from lupins, but leave a few pods of the best kinds for seed.

THE FLOWER SHOW The show held last week by the Hamilton Horticultural Society was an outstanding success as regards quality, variety and number of blooms, but unfortunately the attendances were small the first evening and all through the second day. The judge, Mr F. Penn, said that he had judged at thirteen summer shows this year, and had seen none as good as- our summer show. He was particularly pleased with the delphiniums, irises, lupins, and sweet peas, and with the arrangement and staging of the exhibits, so that the honours were shared by the competitors and the officials. Before describing the flowers, a tribute must be paid to Princess Te Puea Herangi, 0.8. E., who graciously opened the show. In her quiet wellchosen remarks (though she disclaimed powers of oratory) there showed a genuine love of flowers. She made an especial appeal for saving and cultivating the native flowers of our country. In a conversation with the writer the Princess said that she spent as much time as she could in her garden, and as evidence of her success showed a great armful of Iceland poppies which she had grown. The Country Cup competition again brought good exhibits; the winning one was from Waihou-Elstow, and was up to the standard of the winners in previous years. Like many other sections of the show, it revealed the wonderful beauty of the new Russell lupins. Growers of these were disappointed last year, but most are delighted with them this year. For the sake of a beautiful flower, a plea should be made that seed be saved only from the best of this new strain. In this favoured land we have improved many kinds of plants (and animals, too), and now we have our chance with these lupins. The other plants in the WaihouElstow exhibit were: Early red gladioli, delphiniums, watsonias, larkspurs (mainly double), gerberas, thrift (Armeria), yellow ‘arums’ (Richardias), carnations, gleam nasturtiums, Canterbury bells, and irises. In the Matangi exhibit the most noticeable flowers were the lupins and the Oriental poppies. CUT FLOWER CLASSES As usual, the cut flower classes formed a very strong section of the show. The Waikato Times Anniversary Bowl was won by a veteran exhibitor, Mrs Vere Chitty, whose blooms were again up to the standard which has won this competition in past years. This year she had what no exhibitor in the past could have had—Russell lupins grown to perfection. The class for six varieties of cut flowers was also a good one. The winning exhibit (Mrs H. M. Hammond’s) was splendidly staged, so that the quality of the blooms was enhanced. The kinds of flowers were: lupins, delphiniums, Japanese irises, dwarf red-hot pokers, gerberas, and Jacobean ‘lilies’ (which, by the way, are not lilies and cannot be exhibited as such). The sweet pea classes were of a uniformly high standard, and were probably the best ever seen in Hamilton. Unfortunately the competition was more a duel than a battle, as all the first prizes were shared by only two exhibitors. The previous week one of these two figured in another floral duel—father and son—with son winning the decision. Mention should be made here of two beautiful exhibits of sweet peas in the decorative section. Roses were not numerous, but some beautiful polyanthas were shown, and also decoratives such as Mermaid and Chaplin’s Pink. Orange Triumph was also outstanding. THE DECORATIVE SECTION As visitors tell us, this section has become one of the best features of Hamilton shows. This time exhibitors surpassed themselves, and set a standard which may seem impossibly high. It was like a race in which nearly every competitor breaks the previous record. One ex-

planation of the success was that competitors had wonderful lupins and delphiniums at their disposal, but the high quality was also seen in many exhibits in which these two kinds of flowers had no place.

Special mention should be made of the nine pedestal bowls, the bowls of irises and of sweet peas, the dinner table bowls, the jugs of flowers, the eleven decorated tables, an exquisite Victorian posy, baskets of flowers, and the witch bowls. An unusual note was struck by an arrangement of ears* of wheat, red poppies, blue cornflowers and wild buttercups. It just needed little wild pansies to complete the rustic touch. THE VEGETABLE CLASSES Only a fair number of entries were received for this section, but the quality was very high. The winning six were as good as any shown in the last twenty years; they included cabbage, potato, beetroot, onions, peas and carrots. The second entry was remarkable for early runner beans and for spinach. In the various classes there were fine carrots, beetroot, cabbages, lettuces and potatoes, and it was evident the season had suited these, GLADIOLI One of the chief features of the show was the exhibit of gladioli set up by Mr W. J. Brown, of Newstead. The vases of different varieties were very beautiful, but still more beautiful was the large bowl of the Picardy variety. This display was a foretaste of what we are to expect at the February show, when gladioli will form a major section. LILIES IN BLOOM The first of the true lilies to bloom is Lilium pryenaicum, a rather small Turk’s cap with yellow reflexed flowers spotted with black. Then, at the beginning of December, we have the popular white lily known as the Madonna lily (Li. ’pandidum). It should be planted almost as soon as the leaves on the flower-stem die —in January, usually. In the South Island it is commonly called the Christmas lily, but in the North Island this name is given to the species with long white trumpets (L. longiflorum), now in bloom. It is also known as the White Trumpet lily, and Ei3 the Bermuda lily, because it is grown on a vast scale in Bermuda.

Another lily that is in flower this week is Lilium testaceum (the Nankeen Lily), a dainty Turk’s cap with yellow flowers flushed with pink. It is one of the really choice lilies. Commoner lilies are the various orange-flowered types. One is the Orange lily (loved or hated in Ireland), and others are unbellatum and davuricum.

A remarkable lily just beginning to flower this week is the Regal lily (Lilium regale). The ease with which it is raised from seed has drawn attention to this means of propagation for nearly all lilies. This will be dealt with fully in later notes.