THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605240092
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G3 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: 131 lines
Because of the harsh winter, my once beautiful gardenias are now brown. They have a few green leaves on the very bottom. Is there a way of saving them? Do I cut them down? My oleander looks the same way. The top has some places where the leaves are brown and crinkley. Do I take off all the leaves and will new ones sprout?
Maria Cromwell, Virginia Beach
Your problem is one many had this past winter. Cut your gardenia back to green leaves or to where you can see the interior of the stem is green. Fertilize it lightly and keep it watered during the heat of summer and it should bounce back. If it does not, the new Chuck Hayes gardenia is supposed to be more hardy.
Your oleanders need the same treatment. They will come back from their roots, but cut them back until you have green viable leaves or stems. You'll notice those on Atlantic Avenue look the same as yours. Often the year they grow back they do not bloom. It may take two seasons to get them to bloom again, providing there is not another harsh winter.
In your questions and answers some months ago, Dorothy Pefley recommended ``Oregon Spring'' tomatoes as one of the best that she grows. I have called several garden centers and none has heard of ``Oregon Spring.'' Can you help me out?
Wm. T. Potts, Chesapeake
Many unusual varieties of vegetable and flower seed are available only from mail-order sources. Dorothy Pefley, who has another letter appearing below, says that Johnny's Selected Seeds, Albion, Maine 04910, and Shepherd's Garden Seeds, 6116 Highway 9, Felton, Calif. 95108, carry that variety. Johnny's catalog is free; Shepherd's charges $1. Two other sources specializing in tomato seeds that offer free catalogs are Tomato Growers Supply Co., Box 2237, Fort Myers, Fla. 33902 and Tomato Seed Co., Box 323, Metuchen, N.J. 08840.
In defense of the rhodendron, which was portrayed as being difficult to grow in your 1996 Weeder's Digest, I feel the bad rap given all rhododendrons is unjustified. It was like hearing negatively about good friends, because I have previously mentioned my affection for these wonderful plants. One favorite is ``Cunningham's White.'' It gives a substance to strategic locations in the garden that you can never achieve from azaleas. For instance, I have a ``Cunningham's White'' opposite my glassed-in porch. We often eat on the porch at times when blooms are scarce in the garden, but this rhododendron never disappoints us. It is the closest thing to an everblooming plant I know of. I do not baby my plants, and my rhododendron blooms profusely every time it rains. This goes on from spring to late fall.
Another one I love is ``Nova Zembia,'' a one-time bloomer. It is a red that fills in color between the different blooming times of azaleas. I have them wedged in all over my property, facing every direction from north to south. I let them grow just as they grow in the wild. Never watering, feeding or spraying.
Dorothy Pefley, Virginia Beach
I'm not familiar with ``Cunningham's White,'' but it sounds like a rhododendron everyone should try. I should warn readers, however, that Dot Pefley can make anything grow, so her good experiences are not necessarily transferrable to new or novice gardeners.
I have the most beautiful Japanese maple, but it is shaded by a large water oak tree. I keep the oak cut back to give the maple room for growth, so the maple gets both sun and shade. I mulch the maple twice a year with pine needles but am worried because it is losing its fullness in one area that faces northeast. What should I do to preserve this gorgeous tree?
Gloria K. Johnson, Virginia Beach
Virginia Tech authorities say you're going to need to cut back your water oak even more. It is giving the maple too much competition for water and food. Do not mulch your maple too deeply. That tree is prone to get verticillium wilt from too much mulch.
I like buying clearance plants in local groceries, especially miniature rose bushes. But I can't keep them alive during the winter. I try to keep them in a sunny spot in the house, but they are dead by spring. Please help me save my bargain roses.
My next problem is that I have a yard full of wild strawberries on the north and south sides of my house. The majority grow up close to the foundation. I have been trying for a year to transplant some inside, to grow as vines in my kitchen but they always die within a week. Do you have suggestions on how to bring these beautiful vines indoors?
Lisa Morgan, Virginia Beach
Miniature roses are meant to be grown outdoors. Your experience is typical when trying to grow indoors. Keep them inside for a few weeks and then plant them outdoors. They're tough. In the open air, they should grow and thrive.
As to your strawberries, authorities at the Hampton Roads Research Center say that if yours are yellow-flowered, they are a mock strawberry or Aztec berry. Wild strawberries do not grow in this area. Early spring would be the best time to transplant them. Take as much earth as possible when you dig and pot them. Then leave them outdoors for a while - maybe all summer - and then take them in for the winter. They need less shock and more adjustment period if they're to grow indoors.
We have a house 20 miles south of Elizabeth City on the sound and need information on how and when to prune a large fig. It measures 10 feet tall and 12 feet across with large limbs at ground level. We also have three large kiwi vines that produced a half bushel of fruit last fall. When and how do I prune them? When and what type fertilzer do I use on each plant?
Surry Wood, Norfolk
Figs and kiwis can and should be pruned by mid-March each year. Make sure to prune the kiwi before the sap starts to flow or the vine will ``bleed'' for a long time. That does not necessarily harm it, but it can be unsightly. Fertilize them after you prune with 8-8-8 or 10-10-10 using one cup for each 3 feet of growth. Figs like to be mulched. Use lime or wood ashes around them annually to help keep them healthy.
Can you identify a tree from a leaf I am enclosing? It came up in a neighbor's flower bed. We planted it, thinking it was a pecan tree. Now it's 35 feet tall and a beautiful shade tree but definitely not a pecan!
Hazel S. Miller, Chesapeake
Your tree is an ash. Yours was a seedling, so it got a good healthy start. There are few ash trees grown here, because this area is a little too hot for them, say Virginia Tech authorities.
I was told that for my butterfly bush to bloom again this summer, I must prune it. Is this true and if so, how short? I bought it last year, and the dead blooms were still on the bush in January. Do other blooming bushes, specifically lilacs and hydrangeas, also need to be pruned? I am a first-time gardener. Can I plant lilies this spring and have blooms the first year?
Christine Gonzalez, Norfolk
The butterfly bush (Buddleia) blooms on new growth, so you can prune it as much as you want. Some people prune them down to the ground each year. How much you prune depends upon how large you want the bush to be. Most shrubs should be pruned after they bloom, including lilacs and hydrangeas.
As to your lilies, they prefer spring-planting. I'm assuming you mean Oriental lilies, grown from bulbs. If you bought nice large bulbs, they should bloom this year. If you have rabbits, protect the lily foliage, because rabbits devour them. 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 at the
proper time for their use in the garden. For an earlier reply, send a
self-addressed, stamped envelope. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
BILL KIDD
If your gardenias didn't survive the cold, try the hardier Chuck
Hayes variety. by CNB