Old Xmas
trees have
many uses
in garden

THE PURCHASE and use of
cut Christmas trees each year is
not a depletion of a natural
resource, according to the Ca-
nadian Garden Council. Vir-
tually all of the trees cut for
Christmas in Canada are pur-
Pose-grown on plantations and
are considered a crop like
many other farm products. In
many cases, Christmas trees are
grown on land that would
otherwise be out of production
because of an over supply of
many farm commodities.

However, what happens to
your Christmas tree once it is
discarded, says the Canadian
Garden Council, is another
matter to which little attention
has been paid. Some cities have
begun special collections for
Christmas trees. Of those that
have, many do not put the
trees to a special use, such as
chipping them into a long-
lasting mulch for use along
pathways in parks, and
playgrounds.

While citizens can get in-
volved in urging their
municipal officials to make
good use of the old Christmas
trees, a first priority should be
homeowners making use of
their own, and their neighbors’
trees.

If you have new landscaping,
planted last spring or fall,
branches cut from your tree
will make an excellent protec-
live covering for the young
plants. A covering of pine
boughs will certainly look
much nicer than the ugly
burlap now so often used.

If you or a neighbor owns a
garden mulcher, run the
Christmas trees through it and
use the resultant mulch on the
beds around your evergreen
plantings next spring. If you
dislike the use of salt on icy
sidewalks, try shredded pine
needles.

Finally, for the balance of
the winter, consider setting up
the tree in your or a friend’s
back garden, on which suet
and other goodies for the birds
are tied. You’ll attract interest-
ing birds and have double use
out of your tree — triple use,
if you then put it through a
mulcher come spring, and use
the resultant mulch in a
garden!

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Snowdrops signal spring

From page 14

nal and many varieties also self-
seed, so within a few years, your
yard will look like a field of wild
flowers.

Crocus are a favorite for
brightening up the lawn. A. par-
ticularly popular variety is Yellow
Mammoth because its cheerful
color is so welcome after a long
hard winter. Among the blue
varieties, some special ones are
Flower Record and Remembrance.
The striped Pickwick and white
Jeanne d’Arc combine well with
them.

Tiny snowdrops are a welcome
sight in the spring. The recom-
mended way of planting them is
fo cut a small chunk of turf or
grass on three sides and fold it
back, leaving room for the
snowdrop bulbs to be planted
after loosening the soil. Mix some
organic material, such as compost
or leaf mould into the soil. Then
just replace the earth in its origi-
nal position.

Plant them in masses of 25 to
50 bulbs around the base of a
tree, in the lawn or among peren-
nials in the border. In this way
you create a visual link between
the lawn and border.

Miniature daffodils are often a
good choice for planting in the
lawn. February Gold, an early

bloomer as indicated by its name,
aad Tete-a-Tete. with two flowers
per stem, are hardy possibilities
for the lawn. In addition, Jack
Snipe (yellow and white), Hawera
(nodding bright: yellow flowers).
and Baby Moon (pale yellow and
fragrant) make a charming scene.

In larger lawns, the  larger-
flowering daffodils are an im-
pressive sight; such as, Dutch
Master, Golden Harvest, Unsur-
passable, and Carlton. Just
remember, the later the flower
blooms, the later in the season it
will be before you can mow the
lawn. As with all bulb flowers, if
you want blooms the following
year, you must allow the foliage
to wither naturally before cutting
it off.

Another important tip when
planting bulbs in the lawn is to
place them deeper than normal,
even as much as twice the recom-
mended level. This affords them
greater protection over time and
wili result in more profuse flower-
ing.

The grape hyacinth, properly
called Muscari armeniacum and
glory-of-the-snow, known official-
ly as Chionodoxa, are both early
blooming little bulbs that will
cheerfully multiply over time and
fill your lawn and garden with the
first signs of spring.

Give Your Windows
the treatments
they deserve!

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Friday, February 1, 1991 - North Shore News - 15

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