Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-10-12
~ HE following hints, prepared by
w. H. Youngrnan of the Po-
tonnac Rose Society, should

tonaac Rose Society, should
help prospective exhibitors in
the Forthcoming rose show to be held
October IT in the auditorium of the
Y. w. c. A. Building at Seventeenth
and X streets:
/. Cut roses the night before the
show, holding them overnight in a
deep vase or pail Of water in a cool
place. ,. When placing roses at the
show. clip little wood from the base
of the STEM 8. Roses may be held on
the bush for a few days by simply
tving the buds loosely with soft yarn.
4. Buds may be held in condition for
a few days by placing them in the
refrigerator and removing them the
evening before the show to a re-
ceptacle of cool water. 5. Blooms m
the garden may be protected from
frost by covering the plants with
cheese cloth or burlap not in con-
tact with the flowers. 6. Roses should
be from one-half to three-quarters
open at the time Of judging. Buds
do not qualify.
This show is open to all local home
gardeners and Is a worthy place to
display the late flower Of the season.
Clean Up Time.
A S PLANTS are killed by frost or
die back to the soil from natural
maturity. the tops should be cut Of.
at the soil and raked into heaps for
drying and burning. On many spe-
cies, the leaves are spotted with dis
ease, and, if left all Winter to rot
naturally, will serve to carry over the
disease spores to next years garden.
! Among foliage that becomes useless
and even hazardous is that OF the
peony, phloX, zinnia, asters and, in
fact, any dead plant material. Bury
ing such refuse deeply offers another
satisfactory means of disposal, but Is
more difficult than burning. In the
| case o. such plants as dahha and
gladiolus, the bulbs of which must be
dug and stored in a frost-free loca-
ton, it is we'll to leave the tops until
after digging to mark the location OF
the bulbs OF roots. Before storage, the
GOpo DC Wv away A4A oA6cAAAo
dahlias, the stalk should be cut of an
inch or two above ground and not
broken from the roots, since, in the
dahlia, the eyes or buds for next seas
| onS growth are located on the old
basal stalk and not on the tubers
proper In disposing Of tops, the
gardener must be careful not to dis
turb markers for herhaceous peren-
mails and bulbs, as it is very discour-
aging to dig up plants after they are
well established.
Autumn Fertilizing.
With few exceptions, Autumn is
not good time to apply fertil-
iZerS to the garden or to trees or
shrubs. The fertilizer tends to pro-
mote late growth, which. in turn. rem
ders the plant less resistant to Winter
adversities, and again the nitrogen Of
the fertilizer mixture is lost during
the Winter by teaching into the sub
soil. Since nitrogen is the costly part
of the fertilizer, the loss is proper
tionately large. Phosphorus ingred-
tents tend to combine with certain soil
compounds and become unavailable
or, at least, only slowly available to
plant life. In all hardy plants there
is natural tendency for vegetative
development to slow down in Autumn
and TO. the sap to become richer in
reserve foods such as starcheS and
sugars, which, in turn, contribute to
Winter hardness. If one applies fer
tilizer, growth is stimulated and the
sugars are utilized in the wrong drec-
. ton.
Line is not a fertilizer and it can
be applied very effectively in late Au-
tumn or Winter If needed. Not all
plants beneht from lime and general
applications are to be avoided except
in the vegetable garden. AS pointed
out before. certain species, such as
rhododendronS and azaleas, are actu-
ally injured by Inning
The only instances in which Au-
tumn fertilizing are justified are in the