14 - Friday, May 5, 1989 - North Shore News LIFESTYLES HOME & ‘GARDEN LIFESTYLES Time-saving ideas help with lawn, garden care BY DESIGNING a low: maintenance landscape you can reduce the amount of time you spend tending your flower beds, lawn, and shrubs, says Horticultur- al Consultant Pat Tucker, former head of the grounds department at the University of Guelph. You can eliminate most of your pruning chores by choosing slow-growing dwarf varieties of trees and skrabs. The Korean Boxwood (Buxus microphylla koreana), the dwarf snowball (Viburnum opulus ‘Nana’), or Arctic willow (Salix purpurea ‘Gracilis’) are good choices. Look for plant varieties that can grow just about anywhere and are known to be hardy and dependable. ‘Plants that lose their leaves, drop their fruit or their flowers — such as the Norway maple, the tulip tree, or the catalpa — are poor choices if your aim is to eliminate work,’’ Tucker said. Of course, perennial flower beds are time-savers because the plants bloom year after year. Try bleeding hearts, peonies, iris, phlox, delphiniums and daylilies, hardy geraniums and black-eyed Susans. You’l! find it easier to care for your flower beds if plants are grouped and you will enjoy the added at- tractiveness of volume. And by curving your flower beds, you’ll be able to do most of your trimming chores with a lawn mower. To keep weeds down, use a mulch such as bark, stone chips, or cocoa beans. And where grass simply will not grow — under mature trees, on a slope — why not try a ground cover? English ivy, pachysandra, periwinkle or euonymus are usually trouble-free, once they are established. ALUMINUM. OUTDOOR | LIGHTING * smart Look & More Light! Long Lasting Cast Aluminum with Clear Bevelied Glass “(Black as shown) Reg. 129.99. + , 104 | , z SALE. 2 Before planting a ground cover, you must get rid of weeds; cultivate the area frequently to destroy weeds or use a herbicide. If you use a chemical weed killer, follow the ap- plication rates recommended by the manufacturer. “The chemical kills grasses and weeds ut it will leave the dead roots and crowns in place. These will hold the soil and prevent it from being washed away before your young plants can take hold,”’ Tucker said. Occasionally, your ground cover will require a trim or insect and disease control; fertilize once in spring, at similar rates used for lawns. While planning your no-trouble landscape, don’t overlook the value of a low-maintenance shrub, such as forsythia, honeysuckle and viburnums; these can cover a large area at relatively little cost. Or plant a mixture of trees and shrubs to provide all the design criteria of texture, color and form. Evergreens, particularly the spreading types such as Green Acres, Andorra and Tamarix junipers, are used extensively in the landscape; they tolerate hot, sunny sites and provide texture and color during the winter months. These are also relatively free of insects and disease. But they are slow to fill in and expensive to pur- chase, Tucker says. Broadleaved evergreens such as _ wintercreeper, low-growing shrubs such as cotoneaster or herbaceous perennials such as creeping cinquefoil are also good choices. These grow to a minimum height of 15 centimetres and they will also suppress weeds, fill in quickly and can be easily propagated. Glass in Antique as shown iso aalti in LIGHTING SAVE UP 1025% F IXED Rlahernacash TRACK Reg. LIGHTING hD l Fixed Tack Ughting with Baffles fort that hown in White. (Also, prallania | In ene wil look great for _' Style Pas = Cast Aluminum Durability! C with Clear Bevelied . Aluminum with Clear Bevelted - Glass (Black Bs shown) Flag. 94.99 - many. yeatsio-come Bs LA AMPS our three top sefling Porcelain Lamps. One des design with sitk shade, two with matching pinch pleaded shades (Sold as shown). 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