HORT REPORT

2 April 2001

SHOP EARLY: It's snowing as I write, but garden centers are gearing up for a

tidal wave of business after our endless winter. Pent-up demand is showing

up in a flood of phone calls & nursery visits. I've already purchased two

evergreens & four clematis, earliest outdoor plant buys ever.

FRET NOT: Deer, rabbit, vole damage was big this year. Don't panice. Prune

out the obviously dead limbs, then let nature take over. She may surprise

you with growth on plants you thought were goners. Last year's new trees/shrubs,

& this year's hideous looking lawns will benefit from early watering. Rake

the lawn to remove dead blades, then water. Resist "instant green" with

chemicals. When the urge to "feed" the garden hits, do compost. Of course

you have a compost pile, or three. Cow manure, I read, often eliminates the need

for fungicides. (I didn't know compost required "fungicides," did you?)

HOW SWELL: New York Times yesterday promotes antique tulips planted along

Fifth Avenue at 63rd, 64th, 65th streets. Guess where these bulbs were

purchased? You guessed! Scott Kunst, a guy many of us have heard giving

talks on antique fleurs & gardens, owner of an heirloom bulb company called Old

House Gardens, 536 Third St., Ann Arbor, MI 48103; 734-995-1486; catalog $2;

www.oldhousegardens.com. Clarkston will be 170 years old next year. Perhaps

Garden Club could donate/plant antique tulip bulbs in multiples of 170 to

celebrate. Something to think about. Kunst told the Times that these old

bulbs continually repeat if planted six to eight inches deep in areas that

remain dry in summer. We can find spots like that.

NOTE: The miscanthus at the library are in desperate need of cutting down to

at least six inches; shrubs there, as well as the beech in the Memoria Bed

need judicious pruning. Just thought I'd mention this.

GARDEN ART: If your husband, friend, or whomever, gets worried when you

Stand in front of those silver-bodied, silver-eyed bees & ants at the hardware

store, check out the garden art at Inside/Outside Gardener on Baldwin Rd.

Neat stuff, good plants. Call first for hours.

Onward & Upward!

Linda Meadors

Horticultural Chair

2 April 2001