THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607190093
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G4 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING REMINDERS
SOURCE: Robert Stiffler
LENGTH: 78 lines
IF YOU CONSIDER yourself a savvy gardener, now is an excellent time to buy perennials, trees and shrubs. In most garden centers, they're marked down, often half-price. The plants I've bought, other than annual bedding plants, are for the most part in good shape.
When you take them out of the container, check to see if they're root-bound. If so, pull roots apart with your fingers or a knife. Water thoroughly when planting and every other day thereafter until they're thriving. TOO HOT TO SET FRUIT
High temperatures, both day and night, interfere with pollination and fruit set in many vegetables. Snap beans tend to drop their flowers when it's hot. Squash has a tendency to produce a large number of male flowers and, consequently, few fruit. Tomatoes and bell peppers set few fruits under hot conditions. Butter beans will drop flowers but will set some fruit.
Okra, Southern peas and eggplants will continue to set fruit in summer. Green fruited eggplants do not set as well in high heat as the purple ones, but the green ones tend to be less bitter during hot, dry weather. Seed for green eggplants are not commonly available, but check local sources and save seed from mature green fruit. ``FLORAL KEEPSAKES''
Some readers may remember hearing Sunny O'Neil speak in this area when she lived in Washington, D.C. She's a noted arranger of dried and preserved flowers and recently moved to The Victorian House at Mount Vernon, Ohio. She's published a book which flower arrangers say is excellent. It's called ``Floral Keepsakes: Preserving and Arranging Dried Flowers,'' (The Carriage House Press, Mount Vernon, Ohio; $21.95 paperback). To order, add $5 for postage and mail to Carriage House Press, P.O. Box 1370, Mount Vernon, Ohio 43050. HOW TO GET HOYA TO BLOOM
A reader recently asked me at a book signing how she could get a hoya to bloom. Experts say they must be root-bound to bloom. Leave them in the same pot for a long time. They need lots of light and a stress period, which you can create by leaving them very dry. When fertilizing, use a product like Bloom Buster or anything similar that helps produce blooms. SANDBURS A STICKY PROBLEM
Outer Banks residents often ask how to conquer sandburs. Because this plant can grow close to the ground, short mowing or repeated mowing will not help. Mowing at regular intervals and bagging the clippings might help. Best option, says Balakrishna Rao of Davey Tree Co., is to use herbicides such as Surflan, Snapshot or Acclaim. Repeat applications as needed but make sure the products are labeled for your particular turfgrass. SUGGESTIONS FOR PHOTINIA
Virginia Tech specialists, after a study of photinia leaf spot, suggest you wait to prune or shear photinia until the hot dry days of summer. (The local Virginia Tech Research Station suggests that in this area, you prune only when the plant is dormant during winter.) Time the applications of fungicide to coincide with new leaves budding and discontinue spraying when new growth matures. Open up plants through pruning to admit light and air circulation. Use drip irrigation to avoid wetting leaves. Clean up around infected plants to remove the source of over-wintering spores. Of the fungicides tested, Captan and Bordeaux mix were found to be effective, as well as weekly applications of Funginex. All should be available in garden centers. The most used fungicide used in this area is Daconil 2787, but the study said it was the least effective. IF YOU LIVE FOR LAVENDER
JoEllen Gienger, perennial specialist at Smithfield Gardens in Suffolk, says that the lavender, Provence, will thrive in Hampton Roads, despite humidity and recent severe winters. She also says they've found a lungwort (Pulmonaria) that grows well in shade in this area. Lungwort looks something like hosta, but it's green leaves are speckled with white. It is an attractive shade plant. The variety is Roy Davidson, named for the English plantsman by that name. by CNB