THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512010062
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G4 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Long : 141 lines
I have a hard time keeping track of when to prune various shrubs and trees, how much to prune, etc. Can you print some sort of chart that I may refer to? You regularly tell us about pruning this or that shrub but never a chart that covers many shrubs and trees. For instance, I need to know when to prune and shape Alberta spruce, hydrangea, forsythia, arborvitae, euonymus, azaleas, camellias, various hollies and acuba.
I know one trims azaleas and other blooming shrubs just after they finish blooming, but can they be trimmed again during the year to prune out straggler branches? I keep a file folder of your hints and suggestions. A chart of when to prune and how much would be ever so handy.
Virginia C. Creekman, Virginia Beach
There are entire books on pruning but here, briefly, are the rules I follow. Always carry pruning shears everytime you walk around your yard. Prune as you see things that need shaping up.
Prune flowering shrubs, such as azaleas, forsythia and hydrangea, after they bloom.
Alberta spruce never needs pruning and should be left alone.
Conifers, such as arborvitae, fir andpine, should be pruned just before new spring growth. Never prune more than one-third to one-half of the length of the limb from conifers, so that new spring growth can fill in and hide the bare spots.
I prune hollies and many other shrubs year-around as needed. The only time not to prune is late fall, because a plant reacts by trying to send out new growth after pruning. A severe winter could then harm or kill the plant.
If you use some common sense, it's almost impossible to over-prune. Most home landscapes need more pruning.
In your column of Aug. 20, you mentioned Ballards in Chesapeake as a good source for daylilies. I have been unable to find a phone number or address for Ballards in the phone book. Can you provide that for me?
Paige K. Johnson, Norfolk
The best local sources for large, healthy, home-grown daylilies and other plants are:
Daylilies and iris: Viola Ballard, 1304 Canal Drive, Chesapeake. Call 487-0176. She's usually in her garden, so you may have to try several times to get an answer. She's almost always home, so a phone call may be unnecessary.
Daylilies and other perennials: Sterrett Gardens, Box 85, Craddockville, Va. 23341. Call (804) 442-4606. Best to call in the evenings.
Daylilies only: Jerry Dickerson Daylily Center, WoodsCross Roads, Gloucester, Va. 23190. Call (804) 693-5240.
You once gave the name and address of a seed company for ordering a sweet pepper seed. You said this pepper had the sweet flavor of apples. Would you repeat the source for the pepper seed?
Hazel Dean, Virginia Beach
The pepper you describe is the new Apple Sweet Pepper from Johnny's Selected Seeds. These folks are an excellent source for good and unusual vegetable seeds. For 1996, they are going to offer some unusual flower seeds. Their catalog is free by writing them at Foss Hill Road, Albion, Maine 04910 or fax (800) 437-4290.
I read Betty Atkinson's comment in August that one extra-cold winter and you've lost your white Lady Banks rose. I have grown the yellow one for more than 32 years in an exposed site on the north side of our driveway. I thought I had lost it after our last bad ice storm. I was particularly sad, because my father had propagated it. I didn't cut it back until late spring, when I noticed some green in the lower wood. I removed all dead wood and it came back better than ever and bloomed the next year. My dad always said, ``If they like where they are planted, leave them alone. Don't water, spray, feed or do anything to them.'' I have found that true. One real plus is they never have any pests or disease. It doesn't pay to be too hasty in cutting back or removing a plant that appears dead just to make a garden neat. Give those roots a chance to recover.
Dale Henderson, Virginia Beach
For those growing or wanting to grow the Lady Banks rose, this is good advice. Among families of plants that have both colored and white flowers, the whites are almost always more fragile than other colors. The advice from Dale Henderson's father is especially wise. Don't be too hasty about removing a plant that looks dead. Cut it back and give it a year and it may surprise you by throwing out new growth from its roots.
I have been growing raspberries this year with some success. Now I want to add blackberries. Can I place them close together? Can this be done without cross pollination? If not, how far apart should they be? Can you recommend a species of blackberry to grow? The presence of thorns does not bother me. When should I plant blackberries?
Lewis H. Bridges Jr., Virginia Beach
Virginia Tech authorities say you can plant raspberries and blackberries close to one another, but blackberries run like a vine. They're trailing plants and perform best if you plant them on trellises. Black Satin is a recommended variety, and it is thornless.
I read in your column about red-bellied snakes for slug control. Please tell me where I might get some. Slugs by the hundreds infest my garden each night, eating the foliage and fruits. Slug bait is helpful if applied by the cupful every week, but this can't be safe for edible produce.
Also I have thousands of sowbugs (rollie pollies). They are immune to Dursban, malathion and other insecticides. Between the two pests, we are ready to give up vegetables in our garden.
Lorraine Parks, Virginia Beach
The red-bellied snake is rare and not available unless you're lucky enough to have one show up in your yard. You can buy some ducks and they'll clean out the slugs, but they also eat vegetables. Your garden must be in the shade or heavily mulched because slugs and sowbugs live in damp, wet conditions. Eliminate mulch, water less and try to get more sunshine on your garden.
Applying chemicals at the right time should control them, but rain or irrigation destroys effectiveness. Sowbugs live in the ground, so you need to get your insecticide under boards and into low damp spots where they hang out.
Organic Gardening magazine says: ``These little land shrimps are nice if they're just composting your waste and aren't chomping on pieces of your garden. If they are being naughty, pull mulch away from stalks of tender young seedlings and surround young plants (in your case, your garden) with a barrier of diatomaceous earth or wood ashes and renew this barrier after rain.''
For the past three years, my neighbor and I have been trying to get rid of ground ivy. He has fescue and I have St. Augustine grass. We have used PBI SuperTrimec from the Gordon Corp. out of Kansas City, which is supposed to be stronger than 2-4D and almost as strong as Roundup. What can we put on the ground ivy that will not kill our grass?
Ken and Jan Cochran and Robert Eure, Suffolk
The answer to what can you use that won't injure your grass is ``nothing,'' say Virginia Tech authorities. The product you're using will kill trees, so be sure you're not using it where that can happen. Ground ivy grows under trees in shady areas. Three or more applications are required to eliminate it. Because it's a perennial, fall is a good time to treat it, but Virginia Tech recommendations say this lousy weed is immune to many herbicides. Multiple applications may be required, especially in April and May.
Every week I read about the problems people have with moles and voles in their yards. We had the same problem until my mother let me get a kitten. Fenway stays out every night to sleep, and the first year we found over five dead moles in our yard. All the mole tracks are gone and our tulip bulbs no longer get eaten. My mother doesn't like cats, but she sure is glad we got Fenway!
Shea Huchowski, age 13, Virginia Beach
Readers have written before that a hungry cat is the best vole control there is. What often happens however is that the cat becomes a house cat and gives up hunting voles for indoor comfort. Moles are 6 to 8 inches long and almost as big around so you need an elephant-sized cat to handle them. Fenway sounds like the kind of watch cat you need in every yard. by CNB