Evening star., 1939-07-29
Leaves From
The Garden
Prepare Nuns and
Dahlias for the
Fall Shows

Now is the time to give those fall
Towering chrysanthemums and
dahlias liberal feeding if you want
fine large flowers for the shows. Use
heaping teaspoonful of a good
mixed fertilizer such q 4-8-5 or
similar mixture per square foot.
Keep the ground well cultivated and
if not already staked it is well to
start that job for they will soon need
tying.
It is time to SOW pansy seed for
next springs flowers, If you prefer
to raise your own and thereby in
sure husky plants to set out in
September or October. Sow the
seed in a mixture of l part sand,
3 parts peat moss or leafmold, 3
parts garden loan. A small seed
fiat will hold all of the plants you
will need, but a small bed is just
as good. Get good seed from a
reliable scotsman. The Takoma
Horticultural Club after trying q
number of nurseries is planning to
buy seed and have local gardener
grow plants for them. There is a
tremendous variation in types of
plants and colors to be had in
pansies and the active growers Of
this flower hasn't much use for the
old common kinds.
A wild flower from the Woods-it
was in bloom last Week-suggested
the desirability of using Chelone
in shady gardens. 1t thrives in
moist shady situations and having
midsummer season of bloom
would seem to be very desirable. The
wild one is pale yellow, but the
cultivated varieties are white and
pink. The flowers somewhat re-
semble a snapdragon, but are
larger and do not have the lip.
They are borne in terminal clusters
which make it useful as a cutting
flower. BY the way it is pronounced
kel-oh-ne, and the common name
is Turtlehead or Shellfower.
Most of the oriental poppies seem
to be dormant now and can be
safety moved or lifted for divid-
ing and propagation. If you do not
intend to disturb them it is well to
remove the dead foliage and cover
the stem hole with dirt to keep out
moisture. Most nurserymen do not
ship new plants until August or
early September, but it is not too
early to buy dormant plants. The
oriental poppy is easily handled
when dormant, but after the leaves
appear it resentS disturbance.
The new yellow butterfly weed
(Asclepias tuberosa, Var0 is even
more snowy than the native orange
colored form. For hot, dry situa-
tions and summer bloom the but
terfly weeds are very desirable. The
new yellow form is quite striking.
Note: They resent disturbance ex-
cept when dormant. September is
the time to buy or move them. If
planted in sandy soil, or in a clay
soil, fill the hole with sand. They
can be easily grown and are long
lived, improving with age.
Since the development of the der
ris and pyrethrum sprays we are
hearing more and more about the
copper sprays. 1t seems that derris
and pyrethrum, which are effective
poisons for insects and are nom
poisonous to warm -blooded animals,
are not compatible with bordeaux
Those who have used the combina-
ton of derris and copper carbonate
both as dust and as spray seem
to think they are very useful for
general garden pest control, better,
as well as safer, than the old
standby, bordeaux and lead arsen-
ate.
4 X ~
Sometimes we get disguised with
a plant and discard 1t because il
does not fit into a particular place
A number of local gardeners have
discarded the bugle (Ajuga) because
it spread 50 badly in their rock
gardens. It Is, however, an ex.
cellent ground cover. The spread.
Ing habit which was obnoxious II