THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604050072
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Long : 157 lines
My husband and I had a home built in Nags Head Woods last summer. I am hoping you can help me figure out how to landscape our yard. It ranges from maritime forest to open sand. We're trying to leave the lot as natural as possible with the exception of a vegetable plot and flower gardens. For flowers, we're planting mostly native species but also are using some non-native plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. We really don't want to mess with a lawn that needs mowing or watering. We want to go with drought tolerant plants.
What can be grown over a septic field? That's what our ``sand lot'' is. It gets a great deal of afternoon sun. Currently we have an 8-by-8-foot raised-bed vegetable garden, but the deer hit us pretty hard last year.
One of our prized trees is a 20-foot dogwood that we babied during construction of the house. We pulled a bunch of catbrier and grape vines off it last summer. It has a bald spot on its crown. Will that come back now that vines and bulldozers are gone? Some volunteer dogwoods have sprouted under this one dogwood. Will digging them up for use elsewhere hurt the dominant mother tree?
We would like to create a privacy screen of evergreen trees along the sides of our lot that face neighbors. I would like to use red bay, sassafras, wax myrtle or pine volunteers that crop up on our lot. Can any of them be moved?
We have a 15-foot live oak growing nicely in an open area. Four loblolly pines are growing up through the oak branches and are taller than the oak. Should I cut the pines out, thinking they will shade the oak and cause a bald spot or should I leave the pines alone, because they provide some shade.
Where can I get red cedar, yaupon or American holly, wax myrtle, highbush blueberry and other native understory trees? I have checked with some local nurseries as well as in Chesapeake, but all the plants I can find are cultivars or exotics. One nurserywoman said it is hard to find red cedar because they don't look good in pots so no one will buy them.
We're planning to use Virginia creeper as a predominant ground cover. Are there any special restrictions we should know about? Can I cut long pieces into shorter strands to get quicker coverage? Would Rootone help the smaller pieces root quicker?
Rhana S. Paris, Kill Devil Hills, N.C.
My first suggestion is that you get a landscape designer to help you avoid making mistakes. The following answers are based on personal experience and Virginia Tech advice.
Most people prefer not to plant edible plants over a septic field. Check with Kill Devil Hills officials. Some local laws prevent planting edible plants over septic tank areas. Most any plant will grow there. If you decide to grow vegetables, use raised beds so the roots do not get into the septic field. As to the deer problem, you will need to fence any area (at least 6 feet high) that you want to protect from deer - and deer do love tomatoes.
The dogwood probably lost its crown because the vines choked it or prevented the sun from reaching the crown. Now that you have pulled the vines out of your dogwood, this spring you should see many new sprouts that will restore the crown. Dig up the seedlings under the tree carefully, because dogwoods are shallow rooted. Replant the seedlings wherever you want them to grow.
For your privacy screen, most of the trees you named are understory trees and are hard to transplant, including red bay and sassafras. Wax myrtle is easy to move, and I'd use it for your privacy hedge. It's informal in appearance.
As to the pines growing under your live oak, you can leave them or move them. Either way, they'll not negatively affect the live oak.
Find a friend who has red cedar, and he or she should have some seedlings. They always come up where you don't want them. The same applies to yaupon and American holly. Folks who have them always have seedlings growing where they're not wanted. A nursery that carries such plants is Bobtown Nursery on Virginia's Eastern Shore, but they only sell wholesale. Ask your local nurseryman to order what you want from Bobtown. A mail order source is Woodlanders, 1128 Colleton Ave., Aiken, S.C. 29801. Its catalog is $2. Others are Owen Farms, 2951 Curve-Nankipoo Road, Ripley, Tenn. 38063-6653 and Shooting Star Nursery, 444 Bates Road, Frankfort, Ky. 40601.
You can use Virginia creeper as a ground cover, but it will climb trees and crawl all over areas where you don't want it. Plan on keeping the edges pruned or it can be as aggressive as English ivy. You can cut short strands in early spring or fall, dip them in Rootone and plant in potting soil to get new plants.
What has infested my sycamore tree and how should it be treated? Leaves are enclosed.
George Read, Kitty Hawk, N.C.
Entomologist Peter Schultz, director of the Hampton Roads Research Center, says your sycamore has lace bug damage. Spray with diazinon or Orthene (Orthene is best). For an organic approach, use insecticidal soap. Spray in summer when the insects are present. If your tree is small, you can spray it yourself. If not, call a tree or spray service.
A friend recommended we use old newspapers in our flower garden to control weeds, instead of expensive fabric materials sold in hardware stores. She said it lasts forever, is cheap and eventually decomposes. My concern is whether water is able to penetrate through two or three layers of newspapers. Have you ever heard of using newspapers to control weeds?
H. Etheridge, Chesapeake
I've never used newspapers as a mulch, but many organic magazines recommend them. One problem is that the newspapers blow in the wind. You might want to punch some holes in them to make sure water gets through. Some gardeners put down newspapers and cover them with pine straw for a neater appearance. They decompose, usually by the end of the growing season.
Once again there are ads running about zoysia grass. It looks like it is planted by plugs 1 foot apart. I am hoping you will share the pluses and minuses with me.
Floyd A. Lamm Jr., Virginia Beach
The people who have solid zoysia lawns seem to like them - or at least say they do. The plugs should be planted 1 foot apart. It takes a lot of plugs to cover a very large lawn, which means zoysia is expensive to get started. It also takes a lot of hard labor. Three years are required for it to fill into a solid green lawn.
Meanwhile, it needs fertilizing monthly from April through August with a high-nitrogen fertilizer. It requires less water than many other grasses. When it grows in solid, you seldom see a weed. It browns out at the first frost and stays brown until spring. It has few disease problems but is a haven for chinch bugs and sometimes must be treated for them.
It is tough on a lawn mower and some people who grow it burn it off every fall to keep it short. In most cities, such burning is illegal. I hope this covers the good and the bad of zoysia. Some people who grow it may want to offer a rebuttal. I don't want it, but that's personal preference.
Enclosed is a bug I'd appreciate your identifying.
Jean Karczski, Virginia Beach
Entomologist Peter Schultz identifies your insect as a camel cricket. This is the second inquiry about them in recent weeks, which would indicate they are becoming more of a problem in this area. They eat garden vegetables, particularly in the seedling stage. They feed at night, mostly in sandy areas. Spectracide, available in garden centers, is supposed to control all types of crickets.
Have you heard of a small white onion set that makes four or five small onions at the bulb end? My father gave us some many years ago but we lost all of them. We don't even know what they are called. We have bought pearl onions in the grocery, but they only make one bulb and get large, if not pulled early. If you have any information, please let us know.
Mr. and Mrs. R.F. Cashwell, 608 Saddlehorn Drive, Chesapeake, Va. 23322; call 482-5220
There are several onions, with different names, like the ones you describe. Some make a bundle of small sets at the top of the stalk and they are called ``tumbling onions,'' Egyptian onions and a myriad of other names. The kind I think you refer to are those that make small green onions side by side in the ground and never get large. A woman in Suffolk sent me some years ago. The tumbling onions tend to be a nuisance, because you start out with a few and soon have a forest. The best source for unusual onions is Gurney Seed, Yankton, S.D. 57079 (catalog free) or Southern Exposure Seeds, Box 170, Earlysville, Va. 22936 (catalog $2). Often readers who have these kind of multiplying plants will share, which is why your address is given. I have a hunch some reader will call or write and give you what you're trying to find.
I understand there is a home brew made with castor oil and a few other items that is effective against moles. Please send me a copy of the recipe.
Thomas Heinz, Nassawadox
The new magazine ``homegarden'' gives this recipe in their March/April issue: 6 ounces castor oil, 2 tablespoons dishwashing liquid and 1 gallon water. Water well before and after application. The easier way to do the job is to buy Mole Med, available in hardware and seed stores and garden and home centers. Use 1 ounce Mole Med with 1 gallon water. This drives moles away, but you have to repeat the application three times a year to keep the moles at bay. by CNB