THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 6, 1995 TAG: 9508040081
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Long : 123 lines
For those interested in drying Queen Anne's lace, which has a most stunning and attractive flower head, take a cardboard flat box and line the bottom with 1/4-inch of kitty litter. Make a layer of flower heads (face down) on top of the kitty litter, then cover flowers with another layer of kitty litter and start another layer of flower heads. You can get about five layers of flower heads per box.
This is one of the best ways of drying, because the flowers hold their shape nicely. It takes two to three weeks to dry them properly but keep your cats away! You can experiment drying other flowers by the same method, such as bachelor buttons, marigolds and mountain mint flower heads.
I have a supply of plants, including Queen Anne's lace and numerous herbs. Call 426-5303.
Linda T. Xenakis, Linda's Garden, 1436 Campbells Landing Road, Virginia Beach
There have been questions through the years over difficulty in finding Queen Anne's lace. Linda's letter sounds like she is a good source for many herbs.
A mimosa next to my house has apparently died, although it sends out new growth from its roots. The bark is gone in most places, and it sometimes gets a white fungus. Two companies have looked at it. One said it has borers, and the other said it had termites. I will probably remove and grind out the roots.
I would like to replace it with another tree, but it will be two feet from the front porch and the house. Does the area need to be sprayed? Do I need to wait six months? Which tree would be best?
Someone suggested river birch, but then someone else said ``no go'' because river birch gets bagworms. I already have a problem with them in my black walnut trees. I have liriope, candy tuft and azaleas in the bed where the tree will be located, and it gets only morning sun.
I also have a maple tree 8 feet from this area that has a root pushing up my concrete flower bed edging. Can I chop the root to get the edging level or will it hurt the tree?
N.C. Eyler, Norfolk
Chop out the maple tree root. The tree will survive.
Mimosa trees get a wilt and die very young, so get rid of the mimosa and grind out the roots. You can plant a new tree at once. For replacements, consider dogwood, a camellia, Stewartia or weeping cherry. There are other good small blooming trees, but get one that will stay small.
River birch are good trees, but they grow too large for the limited area you have. I'm not aware that they get bagworms.
It's my understanding that milky spore is better for dealing with Japanese beetles than beetle traps. I'd like your help in locating a supply. We found it several years ago, but most people don't seem to have heard of it recently. The traps attract beetles from some distance without reducing their numbers to any extent. As I understand it, milky spore is harmless to everything but beetles.
Mrs. G. William Whitehurst, Norfolk
All your assumptions are correct. Milky spore works best for Japanese beetles. In my opinion, traps are a waste of time and money. Unfortunately, milky spore is a disease that is spread by spores, and the supplier lost the diseased beetles, which are necessary to manufacture the product. It has not been available for three years. Granular Diazinon, Dursban, Dylox and Oftanol are being used as substitutes, but they are chemicals and usually last only six months. A new product that I received literature on recently is named Merit. It supposedly is safer and lasts all season.
Keep in touch with Gardens Alive, a mail-order organic supply house. They should be the first to have it. They promised a supply last summer but couldn't produce. Write: Gardens Alive, 5100 Schenley Place, Lawrenceburg, Ind. 47025.
Enclosed are several leaves from my red tips. I am afraid I am going to lose them to this disease that looks like black spot. Can you tell me what I should spray and how often I must spray to keep the disease from returning? Their growth at the top is healthy and strong.
Marsha Dudley, Norfolk
Your red tip photinia have what many throughout the area have - leaf spot. It can kill them. You will need to spray with Daconil 6787 every 10 days throughout the summer. Prune them only in winter. Pruning helps spread the disease so never prune them in summer. Some garden centers recommend cutting them off at ground level with a chain saw, getting rid of all the diseased parts and then spraying the new growth every 10 days with Daconil.
A better cure is to tear them out and plant a new hedge of ligustrum, anise or Leyland cypress.
Two questions for you are what is the best method and time to cut out deadwood from clematis? Next, what is the safest way to transplant a lilac?
Frank and Dorothy Latham,
Virginia Beach
Pruning clematis is tricky, because pruning time and how much you prune are determined by the variety. I am sending you a reprint that provides limited information. There are good clematis books that provide details on pruning, by variety.
There is no safe way to transplant a lilac, because they're so difficult to grow in Hampton Roads. Your best bet is to plant one of the new varieties bred for Southern gardening, such as ``Miss Kim.'' Unfortunately, most of these Southern varieties are not very fragrant. If you have a healthy lilac that you want to move, you're lucky. Late October to March 1 is the best time in this area to move any plant.
A few months ago, you published an article regarding a fungus that oak trees often have. I believe you stated something that could be put in the ground and soaked thoroughly to either help prevent or cure it.
We have a very large oak tree in our front lawn. I believe it has this fungus that appears to be taking over the tree. Will the tree die? One tree surgeon said they were wasp nests. The round-shaped balls are hard as rocks, and where they develop, the branch dies from that point out. Another tree surgeon agreed that this was a fungus and oak wasps do sometime live in them, but he said the only way to rid the tree of them was to cut off the infected branches. Because the whole tree has them, I believe it would be quite expensive to do that. Is this something that will just go away?
Kathryn S. O'Dell, Virginia Beach
Your oak has leaf galls. They will not kill the tree, but they do make it unsightly. Apparently your tree had a severe case last year, but fortunately, only about one year out of 20 are they that bad. They are sometimes caused by an insect sting, but there is more than one cause, and spraying is of little help. The galls and the end of the limb they're on will drop off, so keep that debris picked up and destroyed. Fertilize your tree after the leaves fall, and it should look better in the future. MEMO: No gardening questions will be taken over the phone. Write to Robert
Stiffler, The Virginian-Pilot/Ledger-Star, 150 W. Brambleton Ave.,
Norfolk, Va. 23510. Answers will be published on a space-available
basis. For an earlier reply, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope. by CNB