THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501200104
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
IF YOU HAVE to prune your azaleas every year to control their size, transplant them now, or whenever the ground is not frozen, to an area where they can grow larger. By moving them away from the foundation of your house or back from a walk, they can grow into a natural form and require less maintenance.
If you're setting out new azaleas, keep in mind how tall and wide they'll be when mature. Avoid a hodgepodge of colors. Group plants of a single color together. OUT WITH THE OLD
Check your houseplants today. If they look like most of us feel after the holidays, throw them out and replace them. Many florists, nurseries, greenhouses and garden centers sell houseplants at discounted prices this month. WINTER VIEW OF WILDFLOWERS
This afternoon is your chance to see beautiful wildflowers when Pat Baldwin presents her slide show, ``Exceptional Wildflowers.'' Baldwin, who has furnished slides for the Virginia Marine Science Museum, will present her show at 3 p.m. at a meeting of the South Hampton Roads chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society in the Virginia Beach Central Library. Call 481-2285. GET THE LOW-DOWN ON TURF
The Turf Resource Center offers free informational brochures on the following subjects: ``Turf Installation Guide;'' ``A Dream Lawn Is Yours in Hours with Sod;'' ``Why Are Most Lawns Now Sodded;'' ``Self-Scoring Method;'' ``How to Establish a Lawn;'' and ``Our Precious Planet - Being a True Environmentalist Begins Right Under Our Feet.''
To receive any of these brochures, indicate the ones you want and mail a self-addressed, stamped, business-size envelope to Turf Resource Center, 1855-A Hicks Road, Rolling Meadows, Ill. 60008. If you request more than three brochures, two stamps are required.
CONTROLLING CREEPING CHARLIE
We've recently printed information about using borax and honey to control insects. The February issue of National Gardening magazine reports the following: ``Borax and water can make a useful herbicide to use against a common lawn weed, creeping charlie. Creeping charlie is quite sensitive to boron. Iowa State researchers reduced its presence in lawns by 93 to 100 percent by spraying 5, 10 or 20 ounces of Twenty Mule Team Borax, dissolved in water, over 1,000 square feet. These rates caused some initial injury to the grass, but it recovered quickly. Most gardeners can safely use the borax-and-sugar (or honey) ant remedy.''
Readers in this area often write to complain about creeping charlie. If you have it, you may want to try the Borax treatment. LEAVE FEMALE BEES ALONE
In the same issue, National Gardening reports that bumble bees do, in fact, sting. I've always been brave around them, because I believed they did not sting. A reader of National Gardening writes: ``The males are helpless (if you are confident you can identify a male on the wing). The female's sting has real potency. Disturb a colony of them, and the results can be lively. Remember too that bumble bees can sting repeatedly.'' TRIBUTE TO THE LOWLY ONION
The National Garden Bureau has selected the onion as its 1995 Vegetable of the Year. If you want to plant a lot of onions, you need a Dixondale Farms catalog. They claim to be the country's oldest and largest onion plant growers. They carry Yellow Granex (which is the Vidalia), Super Sweet Texas, White Bermuda, Spanish, Walla Walla (the pride of Washington State) and many others.
The smallest amount they ship is two bunches for $7. Each bunch contains 60 plants, so make sure you want a lot of onions or share plants with a neighbor.
For a free catalog, write Dixondale Farms, P.O. Box 127, Carrizo Springs, Texas 78834. EARLY INDOOR BLOOMS
Have some flowers indoors by cutting early spring-blooming trees and shrubs to force their blooms. Some easy to force plants are serviceberry, (Amelanchier), eastern redbuds, cornelian-cherry dogwood (Cornus mas), forsythia, cherry, pear and pussy willow.
Cut near a node and set the branches in warm water indoors. Change the water every five days, and blooms should appear in two weeks. PRUNE TREES TO PROLONG LIFE
The Davey Tree Expert Co. offers the following advice: ``Pruning trees now, while they're dormant, prolongs the life of the tree and improves health as well as appearance. Pruning helps prevent storm damage by removing dead, weakened, diseased or insect-infested branches that are most likely to snap off under heavy weight or in high winds. Pruning also thins the tree's canopy so the wind can blow through it, decreasing the likelihood that branches will break.'' A ``PLUG'' OF PLANT
``Plugs'' are small but established seedlings grown in wedges or ``plugs'' of soil mix. They're a product of high-tech horticulture. Burpee and Thompson & Morgan started selling them by mail a few years back. Now many mail-order nurseries offer them.
Check garden catalogs for names and addresses, but before going overboard, try a small order or two. The plants are smaller with smaller root systems than those you buy in flats at garden centers. If shipping is delayed, the plants will suffer. If you're willing to take those risks, such plants will cost you less. EVERLASTING ENJOYMENT
If you're interested in ``everlastings'' - plants that can be dried to last months and months - a new supplier is Prairie Oak Seeds. For a catalog, send your name and two first-class stamps to Jeffrey Goettemoeller, Route 2, Box 201, Marceline, Mo. 64658-9349. LAWNS DON'T LIKE SALT
Excessive salt, whether splashed from walks and roadways or in the run-off from melting snow and ice, can damage or kill turf, trees and shrubs, not to mention damaging concrete.
Instead of salt, use a de-icing alternative such as sand, bird seed, kitty litter, urea granular fertilizer, wood ashes or calcium chloride. Choose only salt-tolerant plants to use along roadways and walks subjected to salt. Evergreens suffering from salt damage develop a copper-yellow tone. A WISE GARDENER'S JOURNAL
It's not too late to start a garden diary for 1995. The finest I've seen in recent years is ``A Country Wisdom Journal,'' (Storey Communications $16.95) with wonderful illustrations by Elayne Sears.
This calendar-booklet contains room for plenty of garden notes plus hints such as: ``Garlic planted in the fall will produce bigger bulbs than garlic planted in the spring. A slice of raw potato added to over-salted soup during heating will improve the flavor.'' There are also many notes about nature, animal identification and classic country lore.
Any bookstore can order it, or you can call (800) 441-5700, Dept. YP, and use a credit card. by CNB