Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 15, 1994 TAG: 9405160172
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN ARBOGAST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
My recently transplanted boxwoods must have been hurt by the ice and snow storms. Does the change of the green parts to white mean that they are dying? What should be the treatment to help them live and grow, besides lots of water?
Why do amaryllis grow long green leaves, no bloom stalk, and get so heavy that they fall over and break unless tied up? Please help. R.H.W., Vinton
A: Yes, hollies of the many different species we grow around here can be pruned, for the purpose of shaping, restricting the growth or stimulating new growth. Since you mentioned that your berry-producing holly is a tree and is growing into a telephone line, I think I'm safe in guessing that you have a vigorous American Holly. So, some of my thoughts in answering your first question are based on the handling of that holly species.
Prune the holly in very late winter or early in the growing season before summer heat stress starts so that new growth can be easily produced by the plant. Also, to avoid winter injury, the new growth needs time to mature and toughen before fall.
The extent of holly pruning varies. You might want to lightly prune your holly that won't grow to stimulate new growth or to give it a better shape. Your holly that is reaching the phone line probably will require more drastic pruning, which would mean removing 5-10 percent of its size. Leafy evergreens like this will come back with new growth if most of the old leaves are removed, provided that this work is done early in the season. However, to be on the safe side, drastic pruning to reduce the height of an overgrown holly significantly should be done in stages over a few years, with the work done early in the growing season. You should wait a year or two between prunings.
The change of leaves on a boxwood from their normal green color to white indicates that at least the leaves have died. Scratch a few boxwood stems with a fingernail or small knife to look for green under the brown bark of branches bearing white leaves. The leaves might have died while the branches are still living, in which case a light pruning should stimulate the growth of new leaves. However, if scratching shows no green under the bark, the boxwoods have died. That death could have resulted from recent transplanting or as a result of the snow and ice during the winter of '94.
The main treatment to help boxwoods live and grow, assuming that they are planted in locations sheltered from high winds and with good drainage, would be a once-a-week soaking during dry times. Your mention of "lots of water" prompts me to say that boxwoods can easily be killed by too much water, as can most other landscape plants. We can't control the rains, of course, but as gardeners, we should allow some air to be in the plant's soil; keeping the soil constantly wet will exclude air. Boxwoods don't need to be mulched, particularly up close to their stems.
An amaryllis that grows only green leaves with no blooms indicates that there was not sufficient fertilizing of the plant during its previous "green" cycle or that the leaves of that previous cycle were not allowed and encouraged to grow for the long time they need. The green leaves of the amaryllis receive sunlight and manufacture food for the bulb. An abundance of those foods must be produced and stored in the bulb for the next growth cycle to produce flowers.
Amaryllis plants do tend to get top heavy and fall over if not tied up. That's just a characteristic of the plant.
Send short questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to Dear John, c/o the Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491. We need your mail, but this column can't reply to all letters. Those of wide appeal will be answered each week. Personal replies cannot be given. Please don't sent stamps, stamped envelopes, samples or pictures. Gardeners' checklist
(Jobs to be done in mid- to late May)
This is now the time to begin spraying to prevent loss of this year's squash and pumpkin plants from squash vine borer damage, since the adults of this pest deposit eggs on the young stems and leaves. Apply methoxychlor or diazinon to bases of squash or pumpkin plants four times at seven-day intervals beginning as soon as the vines begin to run or the bush begins to grow.
Begin checking the underside of leaves on new growth of azaleas, rhododendrons and mountain laurels, especially those plants that are in partly sunny areas, for the presence of lacebugs. If these pests are found, spray the leaves, especially the underside, with Orthene or diazinon. Repeat as necessary.
John Arbogast is the agricultural extension agent for Roanoke.
by CNB