Garden letters

Southern Living, Mar 2003

Editor's Note-book

Okay, here's a question that could quite possibly make the difference between enjoying the rest of your life or feeling like you've gone to heaven only to discover they let in lawyers. What do you do if your daffodils are in full bloom and a freeze is expected later that night? Well, if you have the IQ of a hamster, you quickly forget about it and go to bed. The next morning, you discover crumpled daffodils that will never stand tall again. What happened is that when the air temperature falls to about 28 degrees or lower, water inside the cells of the stems freezes, expands, and explodes them. Any daffodil in bloom or in bud is subject to such disaster. Suitably chastened, you must now resolve never to repeat this horrifying mistake. The next time a freeze threatens to cut your daffodils off at the legs, beat it to the punch. Cut blooming or budded daffodils that night, stick them in water, and bring them inside. You'll get to enjoy spring up close, and so will that hamster. -STEVE BENDER

Is aerating the lawn before planting grass seed really all that important?

ETHEL E. LINDSAY - SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

If you regularly build bonfires on the lawn, aerating is something you can skip. But if, for you, a dead spot in the lawn is a disaster, then you should aerate this month-whether you're seeding or not. Aeration reduces soil compaction, promotes the penetration of water and oxygen, and aids beneficial soil microbes. Rent a core aerator, which removes little plugs of grass and soil and drops them on the lawn. Aerating can be a tad expensive for just one lawn, so see if you can find a neighbor to go in with you on the rental.

I was given a small watermelon-red azalea as a houseplant. Can you tell me how to care for it? LISA BETANCOURT BROKEN ARROW, OKLAHOMA

It sounds like you have a florist azalea, which isn't winter hardy in your area. Indoors, it needs bright light from a southern window and moist, well-drained soil. Make sure the pot has a drainage hole. After the plant finishes blooming, remove the faded flowers, and allow it to rest by not fertilizing for six weeks. Then feed with an acid-forming, water-soluble fertilizer, such as Miracid, once every other week until the end of summer. It'll need cool temperatures to set flower-- buds, so put it outside in the shade in fall. Bring it back inside before the onset of freezing weather.

There are pea-size balls hanging on my crepe myrtle's branches. Should I cut them off so it will flower? ROBIN MOORE GOOSE CREEK, SOUTH CAROLINA

The balls you refer to are seedpods. Leaving or removing them won't affect flowering this year. But if you think your crepe myrtle will look better with them gone, now is a great time to clip them off.

I love hydrangeas and wonder if they would make a good hedge to go around my yard. DELTA DATSIS IUKA, MISSISSIPPI

A hydrangea hedge might work, as long as you don't plan on clipping it. Heavy pruning of hydrangeas results in few blooms. Keep in mind that hydrangeas lose their leaves in winter. If you're counting on the hedge for year-round screening, you should plant evergreen shrubs instead.

I used a file to put a sharp edge on one side of my garden trowel. Now it does great double duty-either for digging or for chopping small roots and tough weeds. VERN DAILEY WILLS POINT, TEXAS

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