Designing the perfect landscape for your home can be a challenge. This is true especially if your backyard is a steep hillside. If this is the case for your yard, then prepare yourself for some added work. Do not be afraid to experiment with new ideas and have fun creating your own design.

Preparing your area first

Do the preparations for the new landscape is the first obstacle in the hillside landscaping process. If there is any debris or growth that needs to be cleared, do that first. Make sure all the rocks, brush, and weeds are gone to make space for your new design.

Caring for your new lawn

Taking care of your new investment is up to you. You should maintain a good maintenance schedule which includes watering regularly, mowing twice a week, edging every 7 to 10 days, fertilizing four times a year, and maybe applying lime and thatching once a year.

Fertilizing and watering

You want to keep your grass looking its best all the time. Watering and fertilizing will encourage good grass growth. Determine the best plan for you and for your lawn and then stick to it.

Turf grasses provide outstanding erosion control; absorb the noise and many harmful toxins. Your grass provides oxygen for your family and keeps the environment healthy. Be good to your grass and it will benefit you for years to come.

Get down to the roots

Before you get started on planting your new grass, remember some important factors. Determine the size of the area that you are planting, along with the location, and the soil conditions. You can go to any home and garden center and ask them what the best types of grass are best for you.

Ready to plant your grass

Once you are ready to plant, there are many different methods to choose from including sowing the seed, and laying down sod.

If you enjoy the look and feel of grassy lawns, then there are some important things you should now when it comes to choosing the perfect grass for your landscape. By learning a few things, you will be able to create a lawn that is low maintenance, energy efficient and makes your lawn look the best in town.

Colors of grass to choose

The most popular color of grass is dark green. Everyone wants a deep shade of green for his or her landscape. The only problem with this is that some of your new grass will be invaded with other lighter shades of green. If you prefer dark grass but have light green grass now, choose a turf that blends well because over time, the grass you did not plant will take over the new grass. Lighter shades of green are just as pretty.

Types of grass

Native or exotic grasses will come in all sizes and shapes with a variety made fro every landscape idea and location. It does not matter if you have hot or cold weather, moist or dry,

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Slender, tapering, red petals give Sprekelia an exotic aspect. It sends out but one flower to a scape, and it requires the same general care as amaryllis. The most common complaint with novice growers seems to be, “I can’t get it to produce flowers the second year.” While in active growth it must never become dry.

Too, the Jacobean lily requires constant fertilizing. I alternate fertilizers-one time a complete commercial type, next time fish emulsion. The plants are sturdy enough to stand summering in the garden, but if you live in a cold area, do not set them out until you are certain danger of frost is over. I once planted a number of sprekelias in the garden on Memorial Day; the following morning there was a freeze so hard the bulbs took the whole summer to recover, and they did not bloom the following winter.

Bulbs are reasonably priced-about 50 cents each in catalogs. Potted plants in bud or bloom bring you about $2.00 each. If you want to try for

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Haemanthus, better known as the African blood lily, is fast becoming a popular pot plant. This is an excellent item for collectors, growers of rare house plants, or the gardener who wants one or two “conversation” plants. One firm now lists seven species, and you can get an effective start toward stocking your greenhouse by purchasing a bulb or two of each. I have procured seeds from Africa and grown many of my haemanthus from them. Most bulbs send out many offsets, and these can be removed when they are about a year old. Since the older bulbs retail for

79. A profit-packed bench of orchid plants, ready to please all kinds of customers among the ever-expanding legions of orchid hobbyists. And there’s usually a good market for the cut blooms too. Note the super-drainage holes in the special orchid pots. (Photograph by Genereux)

$1.50 to $10.00, these offsets, especially those

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The large Dutch bulbs are favorites with collectors and others who want the pleasure of bringing a bulb to flower in their own homes. Because they take so much space, it is not generally a money-making proposition for the small operator to propagate these bulbs, unless you are thinking of establishing your own line of hybrids. If you want to sell the large Dutch types, you will make more money purchasing bulbs in quantity lots and reselling them at retail in early fall. If you pot leftover bulbs, you can sell them as budded or flowering plants.

The species amaryllis are smaller flowered and much prized by collectors. There are A. striata and its varieties in shades of salmon to near pink; A. calyptrata with fragrant green flowers; the “blue” amaryllis, A. Worsleya Rayneri, with mauve-tinted, ruffled flowers; Mrs. Garfield, a named variety of A. reticulata, having a cream-colored stripe down the leaf midribs and pink-and-white flowers with the coming of autumn.

Dr.

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Few large growers have made a specialty of the amaryllids, which include the handsome Agapanthus, Clivia, Haemanthus, Sprekelia, and Zephyranthes. Currently the main sources are foreign, but there is no reason why you couldn’t grow and sell them here. Many have only basic cultural requirements.

How to Grow Amaryllids

Culture is about the same for all of them. Large bulbs are potted so their crowns are well above the soilabout one-third. Smaller bulbs are set with crowns barely protruding from the soil. All are heavy feeders, and during their growth period they should not be allowed to dry out.

Prepare a soil of fibrous loam, sand, and leafmold with a pH no higher than 6.5. Growers in Florida have experimented with synthetic growing media. Wyndham Hayward of Lakemont Gardens, Winter Park, recommends potting in sphagnum moss well firmed around the bulb. The bulbs are fed regularly with dried, sterilized, cow manure, about 1 teaspoonful every 2 weeks for bulbs

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Big commercial growers all over the country count geraniums among their top money-makers, and the number of semi-amateurs who have found geraniums profitable is legion. The accounts that follow are typical of countless success stories.

When only thirteen years old, Elvin McDonald, then of Gray, Oklahoma, built a 6- by 9-foot lean-to at a cost of less than one hundred dollars, and it became a money-maker the first year. Young McDonald started cuttings and seedlings of rare geraniums-cactus, scented, and fancy-leaved types-in flats in his home, and as soon as the greenhouse was completed moved them in. Within two months the cuttings were ready for sale.

From one $30.00 ad in a horticultural magazine, he received more than $500.00 worth of orders-all in less than 2 weeks.

With this money to purchase additional stock, he began growing more than seventy-five varieties of geraniums, mostly fancy-leaved and scented, since they had proved to be the best sellers. Because

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Hints on Culture

The geranium (Pelargonium) grows in any ordinary soil, provided it is not deficient in potash, and in a minimum temperature of 55 to 60 degrees with full sunlight. Contrary to popular belief, plants require constant watering. Keeping them on the dry side delays flowering. Good growth and heavy flowering depend on steady fertilizing. Give weekly doses of half strength fertilizer as the buds form.

Pythium, commonly called black leg disease, is a form of rot. To prevent it, sterilize the soil before planting and spray with 2-2-50 Bordeaux to keep older plants free of this infection. One commercial geranium saved an entire collection by repeated dosages of the tar derivative, Carco-X. Another effective fungicide is Orthocide.

Propagation

Propagate geraniums by seed or cuttings. Sow the seeds in a loose soil, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Cover lightly with soil and set in a warm greenhouse. As the seedlings grow, prick them off into 2- and

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