THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603010083
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G3 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING REMINDERS
SOURCE: Robert Stiffler
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
OUTDOOR EXPO '96 will feature more than 60 exhibits, demonstrations and ideas for outdoor living at McDonald Garden Center this coming weekend.
Rain or shine, the annual free event will be from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Saturday and next Sunday at the McDonald location at 1139 W. Pembroke Ave., Hampton.
A new exhibit titled ``Go for the Gold'' will feature golden shrubs, trees and flowers in honor of the upcoming Olympics in Atlanta. McDonald was one of eight garden centers in the country selected to present this exhibit. In conjunction with growers Conard-Pyle, the room features Gold Tide, a new low-growing forsythia. Other plants will include Bonanza Gold Japanese barberry, Golden Girl holly, Moonshadow euonymus and Gold Lace juniper.
There also will be book signings by authors from this area, including Dorothy Mitchell, ``All About Birds''; Park Rouse Jr., ``Along Virginia's Golden Shores''; and Gordon Chappell and Kent Brinkley, ``Gardens of Colonial Williamsburg.'' I'll be there Sunday signing ``Robert Stiffler's Gardening in Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina.''
For information, call 722-7463. GARDEN SYMPOSIUM
The eighth Tidewater Garden Symposium takes place Thursday at Norfolk Academy in Price auditorium. Two of the four speakers who are familiar to gardeners in this area are Kim Hawks and Tony Avent, each of whom operates a nursery in the Raleigh-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. Hawks is a native plant authority, and Avent specializes in hostas. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., and the symposium ends at 3 p.m. Registration of $35, including lunch, can be mailed to Mrs. L.H. Hammond, 1317 Bruton Lane, Virginia Beach, Va. 23451. Call 422-0789 or pay at the door. The symposium is sponsored by the Garden Club of Norfolk and the Virginia Beach Garden Club. TOMATOES FOR EARLY BIRDS
If you want tomatoes that produce earlier, you may want to try some of the new parthinocarpis tomatoes developed at Oregon State University. Parthinocarpis varieties have the ability to set fruit in cooler weather, because they do not depend on seed set to promote development of fruit, giving them a 10-day advantage over other early varieties. At the University of Minnesota, varieties Siletz and Oregon Spring were rated in the top 5 percent of all varieties tested. Another advantage is that these early season fruits are seedless but, as the weather warms, seeds develop in the fruit. These varieties are available from Territorial Seed Co., P.O. Box l157, Cottage Grove, Oregon 97424-0061. Its catalog is free. ROSES OF NOTE
Consulting rosarian Leon Johnson of the Tidewater Rose Society says the new red rose, ``Special Merit,'' may be the best red rose of all time. Another he likes is a new light pink named ``Classic Touch.'' Both are hybrid teas and are available at Wedgewood Garden Centers and other retail outlets. LEARN TREE GRAFTING
You can learn how to graft apple trees from expert Rollin Wooley at the Norfolk Botanical Garden on March 14. Wooley, Colonial Williamsburg landscape supervisor, has an orchard near Gloucester with more than 200 varieties of grafted apple trees.
The two-hour class starts at 6:30 p.m. Fee is $15 for Botanical Garden Society members; $18 to non-members. The fee includes materials and plants. Call 441-5838. PEAT MOSS THAT'S ALL WET
If you've ever tried to wet down peat moss before you use it, you'll appreciate a new product called Sunshine Ready-to-Use Peat Moss. It's Canadian Sphagnum peat moss with a wetting agent that works faster and longer to optimize moisture retention. It can be used straight from the bag, eliminating the time-consuming wetting process. It's available in 8-quart, 25-quart and 50-quart bags. Sunshine professional growing mixes are available in garden and home centers. For information, or if you can't find it, call (800) 665-4525. PUDDING ON A TREE
The January issue of Organic Gardening carries a story about ``Chocolate pudding on a tree.'' The fruit of the black sapote, an exotic tropical plant, tastes like chocolate pudding. It is grown in Florida and is available from Garden of Delights, 14560 S.W. 14th St., Davie, Fla. 33325 (catalog, $2). To grow here, the tree would have to be brought indoors in winter and set out in summer. If you'd like a copy of the Florida newsletter on Black Sapote, which includes several recipes, send $3 to LOTL, P.O. Box 2131, Melbourne, Fla. 32902-2131. VALUE OF COMPOST
The February issue of Organic Gardening magazine contains convincing proof of the value of compost in controlling diseases. In California's San Joaquin Valley, compost has eliminated brown rot, a fungal disease that causes ripening fruit to turn brown and mushy, especially peaches. Other tests in Florida and Ohio showed that common compost, made from lawn clippings, leaves and tree prunings, eliminated plant and turf diseases. So keep making compost and use it liberally. If you don't have a compost pile, start one. SOIL & WATER MEETING
The Virginia Dare Soil & Water Conservation District VI will hold its spring meeting Thursday at the Chesapeake Central Library, 298 Cedar Road. Registration is $20, including lunch. Call 427-4775. by CNB