ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997 TAG: 9704220122
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: dear john
SOURCE: JOHN ARBOGAST
It won't be long until we are in the frost-free season and begin to plant tender annual flowers for landscape color.
You may want to help the National Garden Bureau celebrate 1997 as the Year of the Petunia.
As with any landscape job, you need to plan what you want in your flower beds and containers before planting. Since a major horticultural planning criteria is to avoid plant problems, diseases and insects in order to reduce the use of sprays, it's good to know that petunia cultivars are relatively disease-resistant.
Some experienced gardeners may have less than complimentary opinions of petunias. The stems of most older plants have a tendency to stretch out (shoots made in spring become elongated with no new branching) by midsummer and bear fewer flowers. This makes it necessary for a midseason pruning to stimulate new shoots and flowers. However, the petunias listed as trailing varieties and the new petunia class called milliflora don't require this maintenance in order to have flowers until the fall frost.
Here's some information on classes of petunias:
Milliflora: petite petunias that are about two- thirds the size of a normal petunia; flowers abundantly; blooms about 1 inch to 11/2 inches across; plants do not stretch, thereby eliminating the need for mid-summer pruning; well suited to containers and hanging baskets.
Spreading: low-growing, spreading petunias that reach only 4 inches to 6 inches in height; petunias in this class have been called Wave petunias; can be used as a flowering ground cover, in full sun, as well as trailing in hanging baskets; 2 inches to 3 inches in diameter; deep magenta purple or pink flowers (only colors in '97); flowers form prolifically all season without pruning back stems; note that not all trailing petunias are Wave petunias.
Multiflora: abundant blooms; single flowers ideal for mass and border plantings or double flowers spectacular in containers and window boxes; flowers 11/2 inches to 3 inches in diameter.
Grandiflora: single-flowered has been most popular for years and may be a sprawling plant; or double-flowered produces 3-inch to 4-inch blooms that look great in boxes; this class includes flowers edged in a contrasting color shade called picotee types.
Floribunda: an improved multiflora but with somewhat larger blooms; flowers earlier.
Q: For the past two years, we have had our 40-foot-by-20-foot garden plowed, soil worked up and wildflower seeds broadcast. The flowers grow, but so do the weeds. How do we get rid of the weeds and when? When we have dug crabgrass out, have we been sowing a fresh crop of crabgrass from the seeds? There has been an abundance of chickweed and ground ivy. Please advise. W.N.W., Rocky Mount
A: Your choices include one of the following:
Option No. 1: Have the garden mowed and plowed in the fall. Then, make a double application of the broad spectrum herbicide glyphosate, which is sold as Roundup, prior to seeding; apply in early spring when the first weeds begin to emerge; wait 14 days, then have the soil cultivated less than 2 inches deep and wait for the germination of weed seeds that have been brought to the surface; make a second application of Roundup; wait seven days before cultivating again and seeding wildflowers.
Option No. 2: Make sure you get a thick stand of wildflowers by proper seeding so there will be less room for weeds. Crabgrass and any other weeds you dig up or pull will have seeds that can drop back in the soil. If you broadcast wildflower seeds over the garden spot without lightly raking or rolling the soil, there may be spaces between the flowers where weeds can flourish.
Option No. 3: This would be very labor intensive, but start your wildflower seedlings by scattering the seed mixture over potting soil in cardboard egg cartons on sunny windowsills or in a greenhouse; either mulch around the clumps of mixed wildflowers when you plant them as clumps in the garden or plant the clumps in the garden soil and apply a garden or landscape pre-emergent herbicide labeled for home landscape use. This will prevent future weed seed germination.
Send short questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to Dear John, c/o the Roanoke Times, P. O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Virginia 24010-2491. Those of wide appeal will be used. Personal replies cannot be given.
Do not send stamps, stamped envelopes, samples, or pictures.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB