66 
THE GARDEN I ISO WORLD 
January 30, 1969. 
flower in the following year. It is quite 
true that the corm or tuber may be induced 
to bloom merely by putting it in a warm 
place, but the bloom is merely feeding upon 
the reserve matter laid up in the corm dur¬ 
ing the period of growth last year. If you 
wish to flower it as a curiosity without soil 
or water you can do so, but it will be at 
the expense of the corm. A much better plan 
for the well-being of the plant is to pot it up 
when you receive it in soil in which you 
intend to grow it and roots will be pro¬ 
duced, thereby enabling the pTant to draw 
upon the soil for food and water, but 
chiefly the latter. This will enable it to 
keep plump during the period of flowering, 
and after that one or two leaves will be 
thrown up which should be encouraged to 
make as good growth as possible. Only 
when the leaves show signs of being ex¬ 
hausted by turning yellow should water be 
withheld. There is nothing very remark¬ 
able in flowering the plant without water as 
the Autumn Crocus (Colchicum) and the 
true Crocus may be treated in the same way 
and they will flower, but the corm gets 
greatly deteriorated in the operation. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
3574. Moving to a New Garden. 
I am about to move in June, and I should 
be most pleased to receive your advice re 
the following through your journal. I have 
cuttings of Pansies and Calceolarias in the 
cold frame; also tubers of Dahlias, Gladioli, 
Liliums, Montbretias, Sweet Pea seed, Gode- 
tia, Rose trees, Carnations, Sweet Williams, 
and Rhododendrons. The above I wish to 
take with me and if possible get them well 
forward, and not to injure them in the 
transplanting. Your advice on the subject 
will greatly oblige. I have no greenhouse. 
(John Bailey, Surrey.) 
We are uncertain whether you wish to keep 
the plants by you until you move in June, or 
have them transplanted to. the new garden 
in advance. That would really be the best 
plan to pursue if at all convenient by mak¬ 
ing an arrangement with the people in pos¬ 
session. To keep the plants by you would 
entail a great deal of extra labour in pot¬ 
ting them up, especially for transplanting at 
that late period. The only exception would 
be the Dahlias, which should be in pots 
ready for planting out at that time. If you 
can move them to the new garden in advance 
the Pansies should be planted in March, the 
Calceolarias in April, the Gladioli in 
March, and Lilies and Montbretias in Feb¬ 
ruary. The Sweet Pea seed should be sown 
where they are to flower in March or else 
grown in pots, and that would mean shift¬ 
ing them into larger sizes in April in order 
to keep them growing till the time you could 
plant them out. The Godetias should be 
sown in April, the Carnations planted in 
March, and the Sweet Williams planted at 
once. If you must keep the things by you 
the Pansies would have to be put into other 
boxes so as to give them room to make fresh 
growth, otherwise they will deteriorate. 
The same may be said of Calceolarias. Car¬ 
nations to bloom well in July would also be 
the better for another shift—say, in April, 
to keep them growing. Concerning the Rose 
trees and Rhododendrons, it would be as 
well to know whether your landlord would 
be agreeable about lifting them, otherwise 
you are liable to get into trouble. Trees and 
shrubs are reckoned permanent occupants of 
a garden, and many landlords would make 
it disagreeable for the tenants if they were 
to lift, these things without his permission. 
It is not every landlord who would take the 
trouble, but there are some who would. If 
you can move them into the other garden 
that should be done at once, otherwise you 
will have to lift the Roses at once and put 
them into pots sufficiently large to contain 
them. The Rhododendrons if well watered 
should transplant in June if lifted with a 
good ball of soil. 
3575. Lilies with Erect Flowers. 
Would you be good enough to name a few 
hardy, erect-flowering Lilies like Lilium 
thunbergianum, but some of them at least 
taller. They show a greater part of their 
petals than those that roll them up like L. 
Martagon. (M. L., Kent.) 
The proper name for L. thunbergianum is 
L. elegans, and several of the varieties of 
that are distinct enough to be grown. You 
could also get such easily grown Lilies as 
L. dauricum, L. umbellatum, L. bulbiferum, 
and L. croceum. All of these are taller 
than L. elegans, the tallest being L. cro¬ 
ceum, about 3 ft. high. 
FERNS. 
3576. Growing Stag’s-Horn Fern. 
Some time since I saw the Stag’s-Horn 
Fern grown in a greenhouse, hung up to the 
roof. I think it a very bold looking Fern, 
and would like to grow it in the same way. 
I would be glad of advice how to grow it in 
this fashion. My greenhouse is heated. 
What climber could I grow to cover the wall 
of the same house? (P. L. W., Dorset.) 
There are several methods of fixing up a 
Stag’s-Horn Fern so that you could suspend 
it from the roof. For instance, you could 
grow it on a piece of virgin cork on which 
was tied a compost of peat and sphagnum 
so as to cover the roots of the Fern. This 
plan would require a good deal of watering 
in order to get it sufficiently moist to en¬ 
courage vigorous growth. A much better 
plan would be to get a strong wire basket, 
cover the inside with some good moss, then 
some large crocks over the moss, and fill it 
up with a compost of two parts fibrous loam, 
one part peat and half a part sphagnum 
chopped up. Keep the compost high in the 
centre, forming a little mound in the centre 
of the basket and plant on that. If the 
plant thrives it will ultimately cover all 
the outside of the basket with the short, 
round form of frond. Keep it regularly 
watered until it gets established. Perhaps 
the most useful plant you could use to 
cover the back wall would be Asparagus 
medeoloides, better known as Smilax. Tt 
should be planted out and furnished with 
strings or wires upon which it can climb. 
Another suitable plant for such a house 
would be the climbing Fern known as Lygo- 
dium scandens. 
ROSES. 
3577. Stocks for Grafting Roses. 
Will you kindly inform me through your 
valuable journal where I may obtain brier 
stocks for budding and grafting Roses, and 
the time for planting the same, and if slips 
how to treat them? (Amateur, Surrey.) 
Possibly any of the Rose growers would 
be willing to sell you some brier stocks for 
budding and grafting Roses. It is not often 
that these are advertised, but they are ob¬ 
tainable from the Rock Nursery, Carterton, 
Clanfield, Oxon. They should, of course, 
be planted at once. Indeed, they would 
have taken better hold of the soil by spring 
if they had been planted at the beginning 
of November last. Possibly you could ob¬ 
tain slips from the nurseryman to whom you 
give the order, but if not you can generally 
get plenty of wild Roses in country - situa¬ 
tions from-which you could take cuttings of 
last year’s wood. Aim at securing the Dog 
Rose with upright growth, not the field 
Rose, which is trailing.^ In taking off the 
cuttings of last year’s shoots take them off 
with a small heel of the old wood. Dress 
the ground you intend to plant with leaf- 
mould and sand, then take out a trench ; 1 
insert the prepared cuttings 5 in. below 3 
surface, with only one or two buds ab 3 
the soil. If you put some of this sand ;jl 
leaf-mould in the bottom of the trench t 
will encourage roots. Tread the soil qi a 
firmly about them. This operation may 3 
completed as soon as possible because t 
is now getting late. They might with - 
vantage have been inserted about the end f 
October last. 
3578. Fragrant Roses. 
Would you kindly oblige by inserting 3 
following question in The Garden:; 
World ? I am about to put a few Roses 1 
my galrden. Those I have do not seem to ; 
very well, so I am going to try H.P . 
Please tell me which is the most fragr. t 
of the following. I want them free flow - 
ing, but fragrant first. They are ;—(1) He- 
rich Schultheis, (2) Margaret Dickson, ) 
Helen Keller, (4) Fisher Holmes, (5) Hr 1 
Dickson, (6) Mrs. R. G. S. Crawford. 
Stedman, Middlesex.) 
The Roses you mention are all very g. 1 
varieties, but none of them are very nota : 
for their fragrance, except No. 1. There; 
no reason why you should not grow th ; 
if you feel so inclined, but there are oti: 
varieties which we should recommend • 
their fragrance, namely, Dupuy Jamain, - 
ways a reliable Rose; Mrs. John Laing, c > 
of the finest all-round Roses; Ulrich £r\ ■ 
ner, good all-round; General Jacquemin, 
free flowering; Alfred Colomb, late 1 
flowering ; and La Franee, one of the b: 
f'b'r all purposes. All the six are decider 
- fragrant Roses of easy cultivation. 
3579. White and Pink Roses for Pot 
Would you be good enough to name so; 
white and pink Roses that I could grow 1 
pots during winter and spring, and th 1 
stand them out of doors in summer? Abr 
half-a-dozen varieties would be enoui. 
(W. M. G., Kent.) 
White Roses suitable for greenhouse c 
tivation are Frau Karl Druschki, The Brf 
and Souvenir de S. A. Prince. Pink var 
ties equally suitable for the purpose ; 
Bridesmaid, Caroline Testout, and M 
John Laing. Of this half-dozen three 
them are Teas, one is a H.T., while Fri 
Karl D.ruschki and Mrs. 
H.P. Roses. 
John Laing 
3580. Time for Pruning Roses. 
As a reader of your valuable paper 
should like to ask you, if possible, duri 
the coming season, to give a series of she 
articles on Rose culture, such as, when a' 
how to prune different kinds, when to d 
bud for exhibition, also how to bud 
briers and the various manures and the 
results. (A. G. Henderson, Stafford.) 
On this occasion we shall confine, our 
tention to the time when different kinds 
Roses should'be pruned, and the other ;• 
tides will follow in due course. Keep t;_ 
numbers by you, so as to be ready for ref 
I 
^ J --“-_- j 
mce when wanted. The different types ' 
Roses are now very numerous, but we sh • 
;onfine our attention to the principal grow, 
and if we have overlooked any particuk 
:ype you can let us know. Provence Ros 
Moss Roses, miniature .Provence Roses, a 
Ayrshire Roses, as well as hardy spec 
which have been introduced, may be prunjl 
in February or March. Being perfecj 
hardy and not inclined to start early ii> 
growth, they may be pruned practically |t 
any time after the leaves have fallen. 
sarlier they can be done the better, as t 
will leave more time for those that requ 
oruning later. Gallica and Damask Ros 
[ike York and Lancaster, Lady White, a I 
Rosa Mundi, should be pruned early 
March. The same applies to the hybi 
i'hina Roses, which are climbers; also > 
fie Hybrid Noisettes, Hybrid Musk Rose 
