THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502100092
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Long : 193 lines
I live in Lawson Forrest, a small neighborhood between Baker and Diamond Springs roads in Virginia Beach. My lawn is being taken over by violets and a weed I am enclosing. I would like to get rid of both, then seed with a grass suitable for shade. I tried some seed for shade once but the grass was just like mine - very fine. Is there one with a wider blade? When is the best time to overseed and fertilize? We have lots of trees and shrubs, as do my neighbors. I do not want to put a chemical down that might damage any of the shrubs.
David Wheatley, Virginia Beach
You cannot use anything to get rid of violets that is not harmful to your trees. Weedone or 33 Plus would be the best weed-killers, but repeated applications are needed to get rid of violets. You should not use it under the limb spread of trees.
Your weed is lespedeza, and it can be controlled by lowering your mower blade in September and mowing very short so the lespedeza can't go to seed. Collect your clippings and destroy them, and you shouldn't have any lespedeza the following year.
The best time to seed is September. Fertilize before seeding with 10-10-10 and two more times, a month apart, with a high nitrogen fertilizer for turf.
As to seed variety, fescue is best for shade. Use Crossfire, Greenseed, Shenandoah or a mix such as Southern Belle. Avoid special ``shade'' grasses.
Last spring I planted a small fig in a sunny location. The tree has grown nicely with green, healthy-looking leaves and a good amount of fruit. But except for an early few, the figs did not ripen. I've used Miracle-Gro, but there must be something else it needs. Any advice?
Joseph Z. Zable, Virginia Beach
Some figs simply refuse to perform. Experts at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research Center recommend pulling out lazy figs and replanting with a Brown Turkey fig, which yields well. If your plant is only a year old, sometimes the fruit does not mature. You might want to see it through this season before deciding what to do.
Figs cannot take salty water, so if yours is getting flooded, that would contribute to the problem.
Four years ago, I received as a gift a semiannual azalea. It bloomed every spring when all other azaleas bloom in Hampton Roads, and then it bloomed again in late September each year. It died this summer. Where might I find another one?
Betsy Hume, Virginia Beach
Azaleas that flower in the fall often don't harden off and will be killed in the winter or become so weakened they die the next summer. Fall-blooming is often caused by a stress period, such as a drought or unnatural cold spell.
Some azaleas and many other plants are being bred today for bloom in spring and fall. They're marketed as ``fall-spring flowering plants.'' Sometimes they really do perform; many times they don't live up to your dreams. Mail-order source Wayside Gardens offers some azaleas they say bloom twice. Check with your favorite garden center first and they may have some to offer.
I live on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, west of the bypass. My house faces east, so I am subject to lots of wind and ``northeaster'' storms. I have four tangerine trees that were started from seed nine years ago. I put them outside every spring, on the west side of my house and take them in when fall arrives.
They are in 20-inch pots and are all I can handle. I'm sure I would not be able to move them in larger pots, but they are root-bound. They grow to heights of over 8 feet and have to be cut back every fall to get them in the house. This year, all but one tree had tangerines, with one having about a dozen fruit.
What can I do about them being so root-bound? Will it hurt or kill the trees? Is there any way I can leave them outdoors?
Kathie Cobb, Kitty Hawk, N.C.
I'm not an authority on tangerines, but experts at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research Center say to take the plants out of their pots and plant them in the ground.
Every fall you'll have to cover them with plastic and put a heater inside the plastic. Use an electric heater, not a kerosene heater, which could kill them. A couple of light bulbs probably would provide enough heat. Check regularly to make sure whatever source of heat you use is working.
Your alternate is to put them in larger pots and hire someone to move them in and out of doors.
My husband and I own 69 acres of farm land near South Hill. On this land is a beautiful two-acre pond. We would like to have some common water lilies in the pond, but we've planted them three times, and something eats them up. On the property next to ours is a pond with a beautiful stand of lilies. There are a lot of fish in our pond, but we don't think they are the culprits. If you have any solution to our problem, I will appreciate you sharing your thoughts.
Elizabeth Sykes, Norfolk
Your problem is most likely muskrats. Why they eat your lilies and not those in the adjoining pond is a puzzle. It could be the variety you are growing is tastier. Muskrats are easy to trap, but it's difficult to catch all of them. Get a Hav-A-Hart trap or one of that type, bait it with an apple, and you can probably trap one every 24 hours. Also call the Provenzanos, who operate East-West Specialties in Norfolk. They may have some varieties of lilies that muskrats will not eat. Their number is 461-0665 or fax 455-8710.
I know perennials should be cut back after the foliage dies, but what about those that don't die back? I have perennials that are still green. Should I leave them alone or cut them back for winter?
R. Franklin, Norfolk
Gardeners don't agree on this, but my theory is ``if it's green, let it be.'' Some daylilies are evergreen, so you would not want to cut them back. Iris enthusiasts say to cut back the foliage every fall, but my grandmother grew dozens of iris varieties in Iowa for 50 years and never cut any of them back. It is important to remove and destroy all dead, brown foliage from your garden, because it makes a winter resting place for insects and diseases.
If your evergreen perennials get to looking ratty or have a few brown leaves, remove them. This winter has been so mild that many perennials that ordinarily have brown foliage by the end of the year have stayed green. Most are brown by now, or soon will be, and should be cut back.
I gave some Christmas cactus for presents, but the people I gave them to would like to know how to get them to bloom. I hear conflicting reports about how to get these plants to rebloom.
Gloria A. Gardiner, Virginia Beach
Christmas cactus are so fussy that I don't think they're worth the effort. What I've found to work most of the time is to put them outdoors in the shade as soon as the weather warms up and keep them there until a frost is predicted. They need cool nights to form buds and start blooming. Move then indoors before a freeze, water slightly, and they'll burst forth in bloom - often not at Christmas but whenever they choose.
There are other methods, like two months of darkness and no water, but all the other methods require more care. Louisa Venable Kyle used to have several large ones in her solarium, where it was chilly. She never moved them summer or winter for years, and they always were filled with blooms. Keeping them cool is their key to easy care.
I have two large crape myrtles in my front yard that are nearly 35 years old. They bloom beautifully, summer through fall. One tree has started to bend over to the tree on the right. It has almost started to make an arch over the walkway. Is there anything I can do to make the limbs grow up again? I was thinking about having the tree topped or cut back.
Mrs. L. McNeel, Portsmouth
Is the leaning crape myrtle trying to reach the other plant, or is it reaching for the sun? They will do that if they're not getting enough sunlight.
Whatever the answer, it's easy to get your crape myrtle to growing straight again. Prune it now but cutting off all side branches leaning toward the other crape myrtle. It should grow straight again. Crape myrtles bloom on new growth, so you might want to prune them both.
Two years ago, I had someone dig up my iris bed, divide and replant the iris, because they had stopped blooming. Two seasons have passed and only three have bloomed. The others have beautiful green foliage but no blossoms. What is the problem? Do they need fertilizer? If so, what kind and when do I use it.
S.P. Dunning, Norfolk
Whenever you disturb a plant by moving it, you interrupt its life and bloom cycle. It is possible that your iris were replanted too deep. Their rhizomes must be showing some above ground for iris to bloom. They'll gradually move upward in the soil by themselves if you want to wait for that to happen. I suggest fertilizing them lightly in the spring with an 8-8-8 or bulb fertilizer. Since this is their third season since being moved, they should come forth with lots of blooms this spring. If not, they're most likely planted too deep. Remember that whenever you move a plant, replant it at the same depth.
I plan to make some raised vegetable plots in my yard this spring and want to use pressure-treated lumber. Do you know if there is any brand on the market that is safe to use around vegetables? If so, where can I purchase it?
Richard Cross, Virginia Beach
Most pressure treated lumber is treated with copper napthanate. That is safe to use in a garden. Do not use any timbers treated with arsenic. Ask the home center where you buy it what the timbers were treated with. The alternate is plastic forms shaped like wood timbers.
Our pecan tree is so large it completely shades my three story, 63-year-old home. I have lived here only three years and have no previous experience caring for trees. The first fall our pecan tree delivered an abundance of healthy pecans. Since then, the tree does not appear as healthy and produces very few pecans and they fall off the tree before shedding their outer husk.
This time of year, falling branches are a constant chore. In big - and not so big - winds, larger branches easily break off the tree.
We also inherited a pear tree that seems to be suffering. As usual, it produces a mixture of small to very large pears but a lot were dimpled with a spotted surface. Any suggestions on how to help nurture these trees back to health will be greatly appreciated.
Denise Windsor, Norfolk
It sounds like you're doing something that the previous owners did not do - and the trees don't like it. Are you using weed and feed fertilizer on your lawn and around the trees? Are you spraying a herbicide to kill weeds near the trees? Some weed-killers contain Banvel D, which is harmful to trees. Because both trees show similar symptoms of stress, the problem appears to be the same.
Fertilize each tree now with a good tree fertilizer and water them during drought periods this spring and summer, and they may recover.
Those spots on your pear are often the result of an insect bite. Pear trees need at least seven sprayings per season with a fruit tree spray if you're to get good pears. MEMO: No gardening questions will be taken over the phone. Write to Robert
Stiffler, The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, 150 W. Brambleton
Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510. Answers will be published on a space-available
basis at the proper time for their use in the garden. For an earlier
reply, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope. by CNB