On this week’s “Gardening in
Georgia,” host Walter Reeves shows lots of how-to’s for
Georgia gardeners: how to propagate your favorite hydrangeas, use
water for more than watering, trap whiteflies and test old
seeds.

The show will air on Wednesday, July 25, at 7:30 p.m. on
Georgia Public Television.
It will be rebroadcast on Saturday, July 28, at 12:30 p.m.

Reeves shows the different flower shapes of hydrangeas, from the
globose (mop-head) to the panicle and the lace cap. He points out
that the large flowers on a hydrangea bloom are showy, but
they’re sterile. They attract pollinators to the small, fertile
flowers nearby.

He shows some of his favorite hydrangeas in his neighborhood. And
if you find a hydrangea in a friend’s yard that you can’t find at
your garden center, Reeves shows how easy it is to propagate your
own plant by a process called soil layering.

An Easy New Hydrangea

Simply scrape the bark from a low-growing stem. Dust the wound
with Rootenone hormone powder. Bury that portion of the stem in a
shallow trench, with a brick or stone to hold it in place. By
October, a rooting system will have grown that will enable you to
cut the branch from the mother plant. Transplant it in your
landscape in the spring.

Water can be used for more than watering. Reeves shows how to use
a soaker hose to soften your soil before preparing a new raised
bed. He uses a water-powered Holey-Moley, too,
to dig some post holes. He also uses water pressure to dig out
deep-rooted weeds like dandelions, wild violets and wild
lettuce.

Reeves demonstrates how to trap and kill whiteflies with a yellow
plastic cup and some STP Motor Oil Treatment. He drives a stake
into the ground near an infested plant and inverts a yellow
cup over the stake and tacks it to it.

Painting the cup with STP makes a nice goo. The whitefly adults
are attracted to the yellow color, thinking it a flower, and land
in the goop.

Test Seeds’ Germination

Reeves shows how to test seeds’ germination by wrapping a few
seeds in a paper towel. He wets the towel slightly and places it
in a resealable plastic bag, then puts it in a warm place for
seven days.

Viable seeds will germinate. Dead ones won’t. You can calculate a
percentage germination from this little test. Those that do
sprout can be planted outdoors or in pots, along with your other
seeds.

Jim Midcap, an Extension Service horticulturist with the
University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, shows off the
Annabelle hydrangea, a 1995 Georgia
Gold Medal Winner.

And finally, UGA CAES entomologist Beverly Sparks describes the
life cycle and management of some tiny but troublesome pests:
thrips. These small insects may feed on plant foliage, but they
are often problems in flowers, too.

“Gardening in Georgia” airs every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. and
Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on GPTV. The show is produced specifically
for Georgia gardeners by the UGA CAES and GPTV. To learn more,
visit the show’s Web
site.