
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995                   TAG: 9509180113
SECTION: HOMES                    PAGE: D-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOHN ARBOGAST
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MASTER GARDENERS ON JOB TO SERVE YOU

If you called the ``Green Line'' at the Roanoke Extension Office this summer with a consumer horticulture question, asked about your plants at the Chili Cook-Off booth last spring, or visited Roanoke's Fishburn Rose Garden on one of the ``work days'' to ask a question about your own roses, you have received information from the Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners in Roanoke.

The Extension Service is proud of the vast amount of consumer horticulture information that we teach our Master Gardener candidates. The Master Gardeners are proud of the valuable source of information that they are to their communities.

Area urban Extension offices will gear up in the weeks ahead for classes to prepare a new group of Master Gardener volunteers this winter. Roanoke-area residents who desire more information can call the Roanoke Extension Office at 857-7915 to talk to one of the Master Gardeners at work. Those who want to make a commitment for this winter's training may leave their names and addresses with one of the secretaries.

Fall in the arboretum

Changing seasons don't mean an end to horticultural color in our area. Visitors to the Community Arboretum at Virginia Western Community College can enjoy plenty of color on the 2-acre site at Colonial Avenue and Winding Way Road, including the famous sedum "Autumn Joy" in the perennial garden, anemones in the rock garden and the spiked flowers of lobelias among the wildflowers.

Q: I am constantly plagued with ``shoots'' coming up in my lawn and mulched areas from sourwood roots left after removal of the trees during lawn installation some years ago. Is there any way to kill these roots to stop this constant problem? Roundup will knock down the shoots, but they return. T.F., Moneta

A: Try letting the shoots grow for several days; then, cut each to the ground and treat the stump immediately with one of the ``brush killer'' products available to homeowners and labeled for stump treatment. The label probably will tell you to apply the product at full strength but only to the stump itself; this is to prevent the chemical from reaching and injuring adjacent plants. This process needs to be done while the plants are actively growing rather than in fall or winter when they are dormant.

Send short questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to Dear John in care of The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010-2491. We need your mail, but this column can't reply to all letters. Those of wide appeal will be answered during the weeks that the subject is timely. Personal replies cannot be given. Please don't send stamps, stamped envelopes, samples, or pictures.

YOUR OPINIONS, PLEASE

I'd like to hear from folks who read this column. Please cut out this short evaluation section, circle YES or NO plus give your comments and mail it to: John K. Arbogast, Roanoke City Extension Office, 541 Luck Avenue S.W., Suite 317, Roanoke, Va. 24016- 5053. Please respond by Sept. 21. Thanks!

(1.) Has the ``Dear John'' column provided you with any practical information?

YES NO

(2.) Have you learned anything from ``Dear John'' that helped you with any horticulture problem?

YES NO

(3.) Have you followed any suggestions made in ``Dear John''?

YES NO

(4.) Did following ``Dear John'' suggestions help?

YES NO

(5.) Please give comments on a sheet of paper and mail with this questionnaire.

by CNB