THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9509010079
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: REMINDERS
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
LABOR DAY WEEKEND is normally when I recommend redoing your fescue lawn - overseeding and fertilizing. But with the current drought, I'm waiting until we have more rain, because grass needs water to survive.
Fescue lawns must be reseeded every fall to stay thick and healthy. Good varieties include Shenandoah, Rebel II, Greenseed, Crossfire or Titan. In tests, Shenandoah ranks best, but they're all so similar it's hard to tell one from another. If you want a blend of several fescues, Southern Belle is popular.
What you can do now is kill or rake out the crabgrass, aerate the lawn and get ready to seed. You can even apply lime if your soil needs it. KEEP CLEMATIS ROOTS COOL
Clematis may wilt and turn brown in the heat of summer, warns Mary Ann Hansen of Virginia Tech's Plant Disease Clinic. This is usually not due to disease. Clematis roots need cool conditions, so if the vine is planted where soil temperatures become quite high, the plant should be mulched. Mulch helps keep roots cool and moist. ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT STIFFLER COLOR PHOTO
One of Thomas Jefferson's favorite vines, the hyacinth bean
blooms all summer and is in full bloom now. The vine should not be
planted until the soil is warm next spring, then give it plenty of
room.
by CNB