All gardens have problem spots - those areas where it seems that nothing will grow. Often, this tends to be in the shade - either under a large tree or the eves of a house. This week we are featuring an evergreen that will solve the problem of bare, shaded areas and will add eye catching color and interest to your garden - Aucuba japonica 'Gold Dust.' Unlike most garden plants that only tolerate shade, Aucubas prefer shade and will thrive in the shadiest of spots, even under trees where no grass grows. Native to Japan, Aucubas are a small group of evergreen shrubs that belong to the same family as dogwoods, but look nothing like them. 'Gold Dust' is one of the most popular of the Aucubas, named for its speckled leaves that look as if someone had sprinkled gold dust on them. These handsome leaves are the reason why most folks add this shrub to their garden. 'Gold Dust' will flower in late March and produce red berries in October, but neither is very noticeable next to the striking foliage.
Planting and Care
From 1 gallon pots for $18.85.
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August
31, 2006
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Garden Club Frequently Asked
Questions Question: I missed your reply on the radio as to correcting lawn fungus. Would appreciate any advice you can give me. The brown patches started well before the drought. Answer: If the brown patch fungus is still spreading, spray the affected areas, plus the surrounding areas, with Infuse fungicide. Start immediately and repeat every ten days until the fungus stops spreading. Next year start your spray program at the very first sign of brown patch. Incidentally, spraying the lawn every three weeks starting in May with organic products like Messenger or liquid seaweed (SeaMate) may lessen or totally prevent brown patch fungus so that a chemical fungicide may not be necessary. Question: We are planning on moving in the near future to the St. Louis area from Baltimore. We have a fruit bearing Fig tree/ bush in our backyard from which we'd like to take a cutting and replant in our new garden. What can you offer us in the way of directions on where to take the cutting from and, how to replant? I've learned more about gardening from listening to your show on Saturday mornings at WCBM then from any other place. You're great. Keep up the good work you do. Answer: If you can find a sucker on the fig, your best bet would be to pot it up and keep it indoors over the winter. It's a little late, but you may be able to get a cutting to root. Take tip cuttings of about six inches of firm new growth. Remove the bottom leaves. Dip them in rooting harmone and then pot in light-weight Fafard Professional Potting Soil. Use a pot about six inches wide for each cutting. Cover the pot with a clear plastic bag into which some pencil-sized holes have been punched. Tie the bag securely around the pot. Make sure the bag does not touch the fig leaves. Hold up the bag with a stick and if necessary cut the leaves in half. Place the pot where it is brightly lit, but gets no direct sun. Keep the soil barely moist. Once the cuttings are well-rooted, the plastic bag can be removed. Keep the rooted cuttings indoors over the winter and plant outdoors once the danger of frost has passed. Question: I am buying a mariesii Viburnum and would like to know what ones would be good choices to plant with it so it will have more berries. Should it be one with plicatum/tomentosum/ doublefile in it's name? Or can it be any viburnum? I would like for it to be smaller than the mariesii if possible. A nswer: To the best of my knowledge mariesii Viburnum does not require a pollinator for good berry set. (Some other viburnums do require two different clones of the same species. Viburnums do not have male and female plants as some other shrubs, such as hollies do.) If you desire to include a second smaller viburnum in your landscape in the hope that you will increase berry set, any Viburnum plicatum will do- -whether or not it is a tomentosum type. Two smaller varieties I like are Newport (plicatum, with ball-type flowers) and Summer Snowflake (plicatum tomentosum, with lace-cap type flowers).Question: About two years ago while visiting a friend, I saw what I thought was a beautiful vine in the neighbor's yard. I asked for some seeds and a month or so later she gave me some. Since then I have had moonflowers growing everywhere. I never see blooms and they are a real nuisance. They have taken over my lawn and flower beds wrapping around every flower with a stem and developing on their own in the lawn. When I try to pull them out, they break off and re-sprout. What is the magic answer to rid my yard of them? I do try to gather up all the seed pods but they are hard to find when wrapped around a tree or fence. Thanks for your help. I enjoy your show and gardening knowledge. Answer: I am not sure exactly what you mean by a problematic moonflower vine. A moonflower vine is an annual that dies with the frost and rarely volunteers from the seed. I suspect you may have wild perennial morning glory with small pink flowers - also known as "bind weed." Presuming your plant is a perennial, cut the vines off at ground level and when they re-sprout carefully spray or hand paint the leaves of the new sprouts as they emerge from the soil with Remuda. Treatment of next spring's sprouts may also be necessary. If your vine is an annual that sprouts anew from seeds each spring, two to three inches of mulch, applied in the early spring, should prevent almost all the seeds from sprouting. The few that make it through the mulch can be easily removed by hand pulling. Question: I have two questions about Staghorn Sumac 'Tiger Eyes.' 1. When I was a child I played with wild sumac (we used to call it "poison sumac") berries and developed a severe allergic rash. I have avoided sumac ever since. Is 'Tiger Eyes' likely to cause an allergic reaction? I am not sensitive to most other plants of this nature, including poison ivy. 2. If the answer to the above question is favorable, how do you think 'Tiger Eyes' will perform in about four hours of sun per day? Answer: Poison Sumac is a different plant from 'Tiger Eyes.' Most people who are allergic to Poison Sumac have no problem with Staghorn Sumac. In addition, 'Tiger Eyes' makes no berries. I doubt that you will be allergic to 'Tiger Eyes,' but it is not impossible. Even if you have strong afternoon sun, four hours is barely sufficient for 'Tiger Eyes.' 'Tiger Eyes' should have at least six hours of good sun for best performance. In partial shade, expect the gold color to be less intense.
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