6 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
March 1, 1908 
Roses 3 All the leading varieties, Tesit srandarde) Is, each 
> >> & “ait Trees 3 Orange, Lemon, Peach, Apple, Pear, lum, ete 
HARDY SHRUBS, Trees, Climbers, etc. 
BULBS, Hyacinth, Daffodil, Anemone, Tuberose, 
Gladiolus. 
— 3} => ES IDs 3 Vegetable and Flower. Agricultural, Horticultural Sundries in great variet.y 
E. & W. HACKETT, 
Seedsmen, Nurserymen, &c., 
73 Rundle Street, Adelaide. 
Telephone 350 
The Flower Garden. 
The Oleander. 
[By J. Cronin. ] 
Nerium---the oleander, is a genus of 
dwarf shrubs containing three species 
with several varieties. and is found native 
in the south-east of Eurcpe and the West 
Indies. It has been cultivated in England 
in greenhouses for more than three cen- 
turies, and in the south of Europe, where 
it has beeome vaturalised in many places, 
for a ionger period. It is described in 
English horticultural works as a plant of 
great beauty when in flower but virulently 
poisonous in all its parts. Several hybrid 
varieties have been raised by Continental 
nurserymen, a marked improvement 
having been effected in regard to flori- 
ferousness, variation of colour, and in 
some instances size of the blooms. 
The oleander is one of the best hardy 
shrubs in cultivation, thriving under 
severe conditions and producing flowers 
freely during the hottest season of the 
year. The flowers are not yreatly affected 
by hot sunshine and accordingly the 
plants are baight and effective for some 
time. Some of the best of the florists’ 
varieties have been imported, the value 
of which when known will induce 4 much 
more extensive cultivation of this truly 
hardy flowering shrub. For small cottage” 
and villa gardens the oleander is especially 
suitable. The height of the plants varies 
in the different species and yarieties— 
from five to twelve feet normally, a size 
that can be easily curtailed if necessary. 
A yariegated form of Nerium splendens 
is probably the most handsome dwarf 
shrub, bearing bright blooms in addition 
toa heautifully variegated foliage. This 
variety is not as hardy as the green leaved 
kinds and requires a more sheltered posi- 
tion, 
Tha soil most suitable to the oleander 
is a light well drained loam, but it is not 
fastidious; if the soil is sweet any fair 
garden soil will suffice to produce and 
maintain the plants in a vigorous condi- 
tion. In preparing a site in the bed or 
border the soil should be worked to a 
depth of about two feet and some well 
decayed manure incorporated. As a 
specimen plant for small lawns the 
oleander has few superiors. Though the 
plants are hardy and will endure a deal 
of drought, they should not be planted 
close to large trees, for though they would 
probably exist for years, and in excep- 
tionally favorable seasons produce a fair 
amount of bloom in such situations, they 
are not as satisfactory as when planted 
where they receive full light and sunshine. 
Under shade conditions they are very 
liable to be attacked by scale insects. 
several species of which are particularly 
partial to them. They are easily cleaned 
by the use of kerosene emulsion or resin 
compound applied as a spray when the 
growths are matured. ’ 
Plants may be set out from pots during 
spring or autumn. At these seasons very 
little attention is necessary in shading or 
watering plants that may be somewhat 
tender owing to their being grown in 
shadehouses in the nursery. A thorough 
watering at planting time and an occa- 
sional stirring of the soil in warm weather 
is generally sufficient to establish them. 
Larger plants may be safely lifted from 
the open ground and transplanted at the 
same seasons. A fair ball of earth in 
accordance with the size of the plant 
should be retained,’ and the roots be as 
far as possible uninjured. A thorough 
soaking, and staking if necessery, will 
insure safe removal. . Established plants 
require no special care, except in very 
dry and exposed situations when they 
beneflt by a mulch of manure or weeds 
applied early in spring. Very little 
pruning is required; an occasional thin- 
ning of the shoots, if becoming crowded, 
and stopping of extra vigorous shoots or 
branches that tend to destrey the sym- 
metry of the plants, are all that is neces- 
sary. 
Oleanders are propagated from cuttings 
inserted in pots of sandy soil in autumn. 
The pots should be placed in a close 
framo until the cuttings are rooted, They 
are also propagated from cuttings placed 
in bottles or other vessels containing 
water; in this case the cuttings are tied 
in bunches and suspended in the water. 
This is usually done by nurserymen who 
have hot or cold houses for purposes of 
propagation. The cuttings should be 
about six inches in length, taken from 
shoots of the eurrent season’s growth and 
cleanly cut. immediately below a joint 
from which the leaves have be-n removed. 
They root readily if layered in early 
summer, and are usually fit to remove 
and transplant in the following spring. 
Layers require watering in dry weather. 
Splendens is the largest grower and most. 
suitable as a specimen plant. The varie- 
gated form of this kind is a beautiful 
specimen or border plant worthy of cul- 
tivation in any garden Other varieties 
of merit are:—Album plenum, luteum 
plenum, grandiflorum plenum, Delphine, 
Madame Peyre, Madonna grandiflorum, 
» Monsieur Belaguier, Mdlle Dubois, Mdme. 
Martin, Souvenir de Cazallis Allut; Dr. 
Goldfire. 
Pansies.—When pansies are planted 
in a bed or border provision should in 
some way be made for the furnishing and 
planting of something to take up the 
room the pansies occupy, after they are 
done ftowering. Pansies are not satis- 
factory when left in their places all 
summer, 
