DATE: Sunday, June 22, 1997                 TAG: 9706200110

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ROBERT STIFFLER, GARDENING COLUMNIST 

                                            LENGTH:  106 lines

LOOK TO NATIVE PLANTS FOR NATURAL GARDEN

After living out of state for 20 years, I returned to live in my mother's house where I grew up. The back half-acre had grown up with what I call hedge bushes, briars and gum trees. Among the thickets are a couple of fair-sized pecan trees, an oak, sprigs of what used to be a plum tree and some pines. I cut down gum trees to give the others some room. I also cut down and dug up the hedge, leaving some of everything as a hedge row border on two sides.

What are some plants I can put in this space? I'd like wildflowers or something bird-friendly. I have put up several bird houses in the border. I cut the grass up to this area but would like to let this newly cleared space grow something besides grass. The trees will keep the area mostly shady, with some sun.

Jimmy Bass, Powellsville, N.C.

You can plant many shade-loving plants, but I'd concentrate on native ones for ease in care. Although not native, I'd plant a few camellias and lots of azaleas. Then use hostas, columbine, amsonia, bleeding-heart, boltonia, cardinal flower, woodland phlox, solomon's seal, spiderwort, hellebores, Japanese anemone, sweet woodruff, calla lilies or agapanthus. Some are native, some not, but they're all easy to grow in the shade.

A soil conservation service brochure lists the following as ``Plants for birds, beauty and protection'': Autumn-olive, dogwood, mountain-ash, Russian olive, pyracantha, crabapple, elderberry and American cranberry bush. Sunflowers also are well-suited.

From those choices, you should be able to find something that fits your needs.

In March, you answered a letter on how to control Bermuda grass. After renting out our house for three years, I returned to find a yard overrun with Bermuda, as well as many weeds. I'd like to kill the Bermuda and start over with a high-quality fescue, such as you mention in your column.

I had planned on using Roundup, applying it in early April and reseeding within a week or two. What advice would you give on this project? Is Roundup the best way to go? What kind of coverage should I use with a seed like Southern Belle or Rebel II and are there any special guidelines on putting it down? Or should I wait until fall?

Rick Doran, Virginia Beach

I'd wait until fall, because you can't get a good stand of grass when planting in April. For this season, I'd fertilize it once and keep it mowed close so it looks as good as possible. You could also spray for weeds to eliminate many of them.

Around Aug. 15, go over your lawn with Roundup or Finale. Wait two weeks and any new sprigs of Bermuda that green up (there will be some) should be sprayed again. Then take some soil samples and get them tested to see if you need lime or any special fertilizer.

Around Sept. 10, rent a tiller and till up the area. Then seed with whatever fescue you prefer. If you have full sun, you'll constantly battle against Bermuda, so you might consider Bermuda, centipede or zoysia as alternates. They'll be brown all winter but much less work in summer.

As to coverage, apply 5 pounds of grass seed per 1,000 square feet. Fertilize at planting with a ``starter'' fertilizer or 10-10-10. A month later, fertilize with a high-nitrogen analysis, such as 25-5-10. Repeat that application in late October.

If you have weeds, spray the area with a weed killer. Then in mid-November, fertilize again with the same fertilizer you used in October. You may need to use a pre-emerge crabgrass preventer the next spring, but you should have a decent lawn within the year.

After reading your story on Oscar Richard and his pineapple, I'm going to try it. But you also said he gets his poinsettias to rebloom. How does he do that? I have many poinsettias I would like to get to rebloom.

Kathi McCandless,

Powells Point, N.C.

Poinsettias should be kept indoors in the sun and watered regularly until warm weather. Then they can be pruned back by two-thirds and set outdoors in their pots. Some gardeners repot them. Water and feed them all summer and they will grow immensely.

In mid-September, bring them indoors. They must be kept absolutely dark 14 hours a day after Oct. 15 if they are to be red for the holidays. That usually means keeping them in a closet with a bag over them. Water very little and by early December, they should be showing red bracts. Then you can bring them into a sunny spot in your house. It's a lot of tedious work, so my recommendation has always been to throw them out by mid-February and buy new ones each Christmas.

Can you tell me the best way to get rid of slugs in my yard?

Elizabeth McCready, Oyster

There are chemical slug baits that work to kill slugs and snails. Any garden center has them. A paste-like material that you squeeze out is called Dead-line. You can make a line around your plants with it. But for an entire yard, I'd use the dry pelleted materials.

If you are an organic gardener, other methods can be used. Place a half a grapefruit upside down in the garden and slugs crawl under it. Scoop them up each morning and destroy them. Another method is to put a shallow coffee can into the soil and fill it with beer. Slugs are beer drinkers, and they fall into the beer and drown. Or you can place a copper wire in the soil around your garden and they won't cross over it, because gives them a shock. They also dislike sand and oyster shells. Finally, ducks love slugs, so if don't mind duck droppings, ducks are another method.

I'm sending you a leaf for identification.

Inez T. Kidd, Portsmouth

Our loyal identifier Dan Milbocker says he needs more information positive identification, such as blooming habit, size of mature plant, etc. Milbocker writes: ``Not much that is useful for identifying from this one leaf. Possibly an impatiens shoot.''

If you can send a further description and more of the plant, we'll try to offer further help. MEMO: No gardening questions will be taken over the phone. Write to

Robert Stiffler, The Virginian-Pilot, 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.

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