THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 26, 1995 TAG: 9503240076
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines
This is the time of year we might be planting new trees and other plants, and I would like to know what plants will attract birds. I understand that some bushes have berries and some provide habitat, but I'm not sure which are best. I'm also interested in knowing which flowering plants are most attractive to hummingbirds. Thanks for your writings each week.
Barbara Kledzik, Virginia Beach
A formula to remember is that most trees and bushes that have berries attract birds. Flowers that have trumpet-shaped blooms will attract hummingbirds. One week in February, our cedar tree (female) was loaded with robins eating the berries. They zoomed through Hampton Roads that same week eating berries from native holly trees. Other trees they like are dogwood, with its bright red berries, hawthorn, mountain ash and crab apple. Among shrubs they prefer are native bayberry (wax myrtle), autumn olive, Russian olive, pyracantha, elderberry, American cranberry bush, cotoneaster and Tatarian honeysuckle.
As to hummingbirds, plant scarlet monarda, cannas, lilies, cleome, trumpet honeysuckle and any other tubular flowers, preferably with red blooms. Some folks also put out banana and orange peels to attract fruit flies, which hummingbirds pluck from the air.
Are cicada killers aggressive? Do they sting? Has anyone reported being stung and lived to tell about it?
Robert Schaffer, Norfolk
The cicada wasp is more interested in other cicadas than people. European wasps or hornets look like cicadas, and they are aggressive, so watch out. When in doubt, get out.
Several weeks ago you presented a solution for the cricket problem. As I recall, it consisted of Borax, flour and something else in varying portions. Unfortunately, I recycled the paper before cutting out the information. I would like very much to obtain another copy of the item and would be most appreciative if your staff could provide it. Also Borax in small packages has disappeared with Ronald Reagan and the 20 mule team. Perhaps you know of a source.
J.E. Shockley, Virginia Beach
My Borax expert says if you sprinkle boric acid around the outside of your house, it will keep the crickets out. Borax is available at WalMart for $6 for a 1-pound container. Indoors, use 1/8 teaspoon boric acid in one tablespoon honey for a sweet but certain cricket kill. My adviser says he saw 20 Mule Team Borax at a Food Lion. Incidentally, my ``staff'' is me.
I'm sending several leaves from the red-tipped photinia bushes I planted last spring. All are covered with leaves similar to those enclosed. They have black spots, small holes and discoloration. What can be done to save these plants or to clear up this problem?
Vince Pishioneri, Virginia Beach
Your photinias have what most of them in Hampton Roads have - a fungus named Entomosporium maculatum. In simple terms, it's leaf spot. There has been a horrible invasion of this disease the last two to three years. My opinion is that garden centers should discontinue selling the plant. Once the spots are on the leaves, they can only be eliminated by stripping the leaves or pruning branches from the plant. That debris should be burned.
To prevent the problem this season, spray every 14 days during the growing season. Use Funginex, Maneb, Daconil or a copper fungicide. Daconil 2787, available in garden centers, is the product most folks have been using. If this spring is dry, the disease will not be as prevalent.
Please tell me something I can use to repel squirrels. They are digging up and eating my tulip and hyacinth bulbs. I sprinkled black pepper, which slowed them up a little.
Bessie Etheridge, Chesapeake
I'm sympathetic, because I've had the same problem. There is a product called Squirrel Away that you use on bird feeders and could sprinkle over your beds. It is a hot pepper from the Amazon, and after a taste or two, the squirrels don't come back. It's available in bird stores.
A new product called Mole-Med, based on castor oil, has been approved to drive off moles. But a side benefit, according to Michigan State University, is that it also repels squirrels, raccoons and rabbits. It's available at Abner's in Oceana, Virginia Beach Feed & Seed, Cape Henry Hardware and other stores.
I have a poinsettia I got for Christmas. I have heard you can store them until next year and get them to bloom again. Can you tell me how or what you do? Will they bloom again?
H. Smith, Virginia Beach
Poinsettias can be saved and forced to bloom again, but it's so much work and so risky that I'd use the soil in the pot for something else this summer and buy a new poinsettia next Christmas.
If you want to save it, keep the poinsettia in as much light as possible until the weather is warm enough to place it outside. Then prune it back but keep it in its pot, set in the ground or on a deck or porch. Water and feed regularly. By September, it will again be a large plant. By October, bring it indoors and keep in a dark room 15 hours a day and give it nine hours of daylight. In six to eight weeks, it should have set buds and you can put it in a sunny window. If you're lucky, it will again have bracts for Christmas.
What do you know about walking iris? Is it rare, or common and well known? I have several and find them easy to grow as houseplants. Its blooming at dawn is fascinating. It seems to be able to always open with the dawn and fade in about eight hours. The bloom is unlike any other outdoor iris bloom. Four blooms, one at a time, come from one bud. It came to me from several generations of family on my husband's side.
Doris Ferguson, Murfreesboro, N.C.
I've had some tough questions, but this one ranks near the top. Jimmy Laufer of KB Plant Farms, division of Flowers by Kings, came to my rescue. He used to have ``walking iris'' and identified it as Neomarica. The species is gracilis. It is also called Apostle Plant and is a member of the iris family.
It is rare and can only be propagated by division. Its foliage looks like iris, and Laufer says it is easy to care for. It is often listed in catalogs as Marica. It grows outdoors in southern California and southern Florida. Inside, it needs plenty of warmth and full sun. It has white blossoms, flecked with brown and yellow, that are 2 inches across, above the fans of the iris-like leaves.
My suggestion is that you divide yours and share with some of your relatives so you can keep this rare plant growing in your family.
I am looking for an indoor waterfall made of fiberglass or other lightweight material that would be moveable. I would also like information on how to best keep the water clean and fresh in the waterfall.
Mrs. Ruth Hults, Windsor
Garden centers that feature pools and water plants should carry what you're looking for. These would include Smithfield Gardens in Suffolk and McDonald Garden Centers in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. One firm that specializes in water gardens is East-West Specialties in Norfolk (461-0665). They publish a magazine that should tell you how to keep the water clean and fresh in your waterfall.
Robert Stiffler ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
JIM WALKER/Staff
Dogwood's blooms give way to fall berries, which attract birds.
by CNB