Two’s not a crowd for nursery cuttings

Q: I recently purchased several camellias. Each of the camellias seemed to have two trunks. I investigated and was able to separate the tangled roots into two plants. Is it OK to have them planted so close together?

JAMES GALT, E-mail

A: This is a common nursery practice. In order to make sure that they have at least one strong plant in a pot, the nursery folks will stick two cuttings in it. Sometimes one dies but often both form roots and grow well. I saw a ‘Yuletide’ camellia last week that had three rooted cuttings in it. There’s no harm in having the plants grow close together. There’s also no harm in separating them, carefully, so you have multiple plants.

Q: This past summer I put down Meyer zoysia sod but one area was not well plowed and as a result is not growing as well. After the sod has gone dormant, would it harm the sod to take it up, redo the soil bed and put it down on the new surface?

TOM TUCKER, E-mail

A: It would be a good idea to soften the soil as you describe, but the best time to do it is in late May after the zoysiagrass has turned green. Taking up the sod now will expose it to cold temperatures and drying winds that it will not survive.

Q: We have a home built in the 1800s but would like to design with trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants used from 1900 to 1920. Can you give me a list of landscape plants for that period?

THEA ARNETTE, E-mail

A: The Cherokee Garden Library at the Atlanta History Center serves as an educational resource center for those interested in Southern gardening, landscape design, garden history and horticulture. The library is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission to the library is free, but plan to purchase tickets to tour the rest of the history center, including the Tullie Smith Farm Gardens and the Swan Woods Trail.

Q: I have a dry stream bed with stone and dwarf mondo grass that has some weeds in it. How do I control them?

JOHN URBAITIS, Ball Ground

A: Imazaquin (Image for Nutgrass) kills many broadleafed weeds plus fescue, ryegrass and crabgrass. Sethoxydim (Vantage) kills bermudagrass. Both are labeled for use on mondo grass.

Q: Recently I saw you on “Gardening In Georgia” on Georgia Public Broadcasting. You showed a lady how to turn wood chips into compost in six months vs. two years. What was the recipe that you used?

DAN MALOY, E-mail

A: We scattered 10-10-10 on top of the wood chip pile after leveling the top and making it slightly concave. As I explained on the show, fertilizer provides nitrogen to the fungi and bacteria that break down the chips. The indented crown channels rain water to the center of the pile. I used a seat-of-the-pants calculation to determine how much fertilizer to use: Add the height and longest width of the pile together to denote how many cups of fertilizer to scatter. Our pile was 5 feet high by 12 feet long so we used 17 cups of 10-10-10. I suggested that the homeowner wet the pile thoroughly afterwards to start the decomposition process. You can watch this and other shows at our archives: www.gardeningingeorgia.com.

Listen to Walter Reeves Saturday mornings on NewsTalk 750 WSB-AM from 6 to 10. Call 404-872-0750 to ask questions. His Web site, www.walterreeves.com, contains thousands of answers to lawn and landscape questions. Call your local Extension office (1-800-ASKUGA-1) for personalized advice.

georgiagardener@yahoo.com