(Continued from Pago B 2)
raw or browned in butter with
brown sugar rates high on the
judges charts, but will it do well on
the market? Fcrretti said, “Gener
ally people are hesitant to try new
vegetables.
Flower gardens
Flowers are tested with full sun
light and under a mesh that cuts
sunlight SO percent
Growers are currently develop
ing impatiens that grow as well in
sun as in shade. This year impa
tiens are doing as well in full sun as
in partial shade.
“It’s been an ususual year,” said
Dr. Robert Fortney* associate pro
fessor of floriculture. “If next year
is hot and sunny, we might get dif
ferent results.”
In hot sun, disease in many
flowers such as pansies does not
take control like it does in wet,
cloudy weather.
The gardens show that tuberous
begonias do well from seed and
more adaptable to shade and sun
than those grown from bulbs.
Mary Meeker, crew group lead
er for the flower gardens, said,
“Summer pastels is a pleasant sur
Convincing people to try new vegetables Is difficult, but
Dr. Peter Ferrettl, professor of vegetable crops, thinks the
scallop squash, which can be eaten raw or cooked, should
be used for more than color in the market place.
prise.” The Summer Pastel collec
tion is a dwarf yarrow with the
mature plant reaching about 2 feet
tall and 18 inches wide. They flow
er in four months from'seed. The
flowers provide an improved color
range of pinks, apricots, cream,
reds, lavenders, purples and pure
white. They offer superior perfor
mance in the garden, but Meeker
said her experiments show that
Summer Pastels do not dry as well
as the traditional yarrow.
Fortney suggests that home gar
deners rotate flowers every three
years to eliminate problems with
disease and insects.
A performance record of all
plants and flowers is available
from Penn State.
Among the more common flow
er varieties are Amaranthus from
Calcutta, India, which shows the
beauty of colored foliage.
Fortney said, ‘The U.S. does not
Trial gardens are grown in full sun and under mesh can
vas that cuts the sun by 50 percent.
Flower And Vegetable
Using flowers and vegetables from the Trial Gardens,
Mary Meeker arranged artful displays of flowers.
do as much with colored foliage in
landscaping as many other coun
tries.” He expects their popularity
to grow as gardeners become more
familiar with colored foliage.
Roses
Roses go through evaluation in
test gardens across the U.S. These
gardens evaluate roses that are
unnamed. Dr. Charles Heuser,
associate professor of horticultural
physiology, said, “Out of a group
of SO, only one to three arc selected
for marketing. The remainder are
destroyed.”
The roses are evaluated in two
year cycles to show how they
weather the first and second wint
er.
In roses, gardeners look for
novelty, color when in bud and in
open bloom, bud and flower form
and their aging quality. Aging
gracefully refers to self-shattering
petals that fall off rather than
brown on the plant Fragrance is
also noted. Are stem clusters long
enough to put in vase? Is the plant
habit compact with lots of foliage.
Does the color of foliage show
gloss or do yellowing leaves
detract from the rose. Is it disease
resistance? Judges also add their
personal opinions such as “I hate
salmon-colored roses.” If too
many have similar complaints, the
rose is eliminated.
Scores are tallied and sent to the
All American selections for rank
ing.
For growers or gardeners, the
bottom line is the performance.
The All America Selection Win
ners have been thorougly tested
across the U.S. and have proven
superior quality.
The Penn State Flower and Veg
etable Trial Gardens are operated
by the Dcpartmcntof Horticulture,
College of Agriculture and were
established in the early thirties for
the purpose of evaluating new var
ieties of plant materials. Individual
seed companies and plant breeders
provide seed testing and contribute
financial support
The gardens are open daily from
9 a.m. to 9 p.m. except Thursday
morning for spraying.
Identify garden diseases
If you wish for a gardener to
identify diseases or pests that are
destroying your plants, do not
despair. Your Penn Stale
County Extension Agent
will do just that Ifhe can
not identify it he will
provide a kit that includes
a specimen sheet. Send
the completed sheet with
a spcciman of the
infected plant to Penn
Slate University. The
diagnosis accuracy
depends upon the infor
mation you supply, the
plant material selected
and the condition of the
specimen when it arrives
at the clinic,
Penn State identifies
the problem and sends a
letter and a fact sheet that
explains how to control
the problem.
Often gardeners do not
differentiate between
plants with insect and dis
ease problems. “You
musi identify the problem
before treating the
affected area,” John
Peplinski, coordinator of
the Plant Disease Clinic,
said. “It doesn’t do any
good to spray a diseased
plant with an insecti
cide.”
pj fr
Removal of Crayon From
A Load Of Wash
1 occasionally receive a phone
call from a consumer faced with
the horrible experience of a load
of clothes coming out of the
washer or dryer laden with red,
green, blue or black marks. This
unfortunate situation is the result
of a crayon which was overlooked
in the pocket of one of the articles.
Crayons melt in the dryer and
transfer onto almost everything in
the wash load.
One of the most effective
methods for removal of such
stains, according to the Interna
tional Fabricare Institute of
America, is to first hang the gar
ments up and allow them to dry
completely. The use of a dry
cleaning solvent will very often
remove the stain, and it may be
cost effective to have the entire
load of clothes cleaned in a coin
op dry-cleaning machine. Another
possible method is to pretreat the
stains with one of the popular
spray and wash products as they
do contain some solvents. Howev
er, if the articles are extensively
stained, it would be best to have
them cleaned in a coin-op and then
possibly later rewashed for the
most effective method of removal.
Collision Damage Waiver
Not A Must
Collision damage waiver
(CDW) on a rental car - do you
need it? It can add $lO to $l4 each
day to your car rental fee and may
not be necessary.
Driving a rental car exposes
you to personal property and lia-
'M
PAUL 8.
Mi
gMiiWii
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 26, 198947
By Doris Thomas
Lancaster Extension
Home Economist
bility risks. The collison damage
waiver agreement assures you the
car rental company will pay for
damages to the rented car. Howev
er, you are probably protected
through your automobile insur
ance. If you are already covered,
the CDW is an unnecessary
expense, because it is double
insurance.
Check with your insurance
agent to determine the collision
and liability coverage as applied
to rental cars. When you know
what protection is available from
your policy, it reduces the possi
bility of overpayment for a rental
car.
Read the fine print in auto rental
contracts; most say you are liable
if you drive recklessly, abuse the
car, drive under the influence of
drugs (including alcohol) and/or
fail to lock the car.
Some credit card companies
protect their card holders when
they charge the car rental with
them. Check your credit card
information to see if you have this
coverage available to you.
Larger car rental firms cover
fire or natural occurrence damage
while small rental companies may
not
The confusing nature of rental
car insurance is requiring regula
tor action. The collision damage
waiver’s future is probably lim
ited. Illinois and New York have
passed laws placing a cap on
charges a rental car consumer
must pay for auto damages. Other
states are considering similar
legislation.
■'s ** N V
INC.
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