Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

PAGE 2C BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017 Winter is best time to prune summer flowering shrubs By Si. aron Dowdy and Merrit Melancon University of Georgia The calendar says Jan uary. but the weather for the last few weeks has been screaming March. The unseasonable warmth means a lot of folks are getting in their yards, looking for some thing to keep them out doors a little longer. It’s the perfect time to prune summer-blooming shrubs and trees like crape myr tles and tea olives. There’s no one-size- fits-all pruning rule: it’s as much a science as it is an art. There are, howev er, some basic techniques that can help novice gardeners avoid mis takes that can cause their shrubs lasting damage. “The keys to prop er pruning are timing, technique and the right equipment,” said Bob Westerfield, a University of Georgia Cooperative Extension horticulturist. Go slow, be selective and don’t prune angry. It can be cathartic to start lopping off tree limbs left and right, but pruning is not the time to work out your anger issues. Gardeners need to know what to prune and what to leave alone until spring. The time to prune sum mer-blooming plants and most woody ornamentals is January through early March. These include: •Beautyberry •Camellia •Chaste tree (Vitex) •Cranberrybush (Viburnum) •Crape myrtle •Floribunda roses •Fragrant tea olive •Glossy abelia •Goldenrain tree •Grandiflora roses •Japanese barberry •Japanese spirea •Mimosa •Nandina •Rose of Sharon (Althea) •Sourwood •‘Anthony Waterer’ spirea •Sweetshrub You need to prune spring-flowering plants like azalea, forsythia and dogwood soon after they bloom. “Of course, if you see dead plant material, you can prune that off any time of year,” Westerfield said. Pruning is often nec essary for your plants’ health. It’s a way to remove disease and keep your plants looking good. It can also rejuvenate older, overgrown shrubs. Proper tools are a key to successful pruning. “Steer away from gas-powered prun- ers,” Westerfield said. “Hand-operated shears work wonderfully as long as you keep your instruments sharp so they cut the plant instead of tearing it.” Hand pruners are per haps your most essential pruning tool. “Buy the best quality you can afford and you won’t have to keep going back to the store for a new pair every year.” he said. “The draw-cut. or scissor, type is the most useful.” The anvil-type hard pruners tend to crush limbs rather than cut them. Use lopping shears to prune small trees or shrubs, like crape myr tles, with a branch diam eter of up to 1.5 inches. For plants with branches more than 2 inches thick, use a pruning saw. Heading or thinning Now that you have the proper tools, you’re ready to start pruning. There are two methods: heading and thinning. “Heading is when you shear across the plant nonselectively.” Wester field said. “This method is normally used on box woods to give them that formal look.” Use heading sparingly, as it causes new growth to grow back too thick, choking air and light from the interior branch es of the shrub. Thinning is more use ful and will lead to a healthier shrub in the spring. Gas or electric hedge trimmers are noto rious for causing thick growth at the tips of branches. “Use thinning to prune out sections of the plant to allow more light and air inside,” he said. “The increased air reduces dis eases and insects like spi der mites.” How you prune deter mines the shape of your plant. “If you leave buds on the outside, it causes the plant to grow outward and spread.” he said. “If you leave buds on the inside it causes the plant to fill out from within.” Fet in air and light. Westerfield reminds home landscapers to always leave the bottom of the plant larger than the top while pruning so that the plant forms a pyr amid shape. “If you don’t, you’ll cause a canopy effect, and no light will get in,” he said. Make your cuts at a slant, too, and at a frac tion above the bud. The slant will allow water to roll off the newly cut sur face. Don’t use pruning paints. “They’re unnecessary and may slow the cuts’ healing,” Westerfield said. Complement pruning by going easy with the fertilizer. You want your plants to put any stored energy they have into healing, not into sending new shoots. UGA Extension will offer an in-depth prun ing workshop from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on February 10 at the UGA Griffin Campus. The cost of the workshop is $59 and includes lunch, snacks and printed materials. For more information, email Beth Home at bhome@ uga.edu or call 770-228- 7214. UGA Extension has a number of free, online publications with dia grams that can help gar deners figure out which plants need pruning, when pruning is neces sary and what techniques are needed for each shrub. Go to extension.uga.edu/ publications and search “pruning” or call your local Extension office at 1-800-ASK-UGA1. Sharon Dowdy is a news editor with the Uni versity of Georgia Col lege of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Merritt Melancon is a news editor with the Uni versity of Georgia Col lege of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The colorful life of Dave Plant During the last full moon. I was standing outside with time to reflect. Sobering and light-hearted thoughts kept flashing about. First, the respite allowed for an opportu nity to connect the twin kling stars to a factoid that I had come across recently. If you have appreci ation for the meaning of light years, you are overwhelmed when you consider that with the time it takes for the light of some stars to reveal their bright ness to us, they are long gone by the time we see them. Full moons always are a reminder of an episode involving one of the classic of all colorful characters who have called Athens, Ga. home — the late Dave Plant. He was a World War II veteran who returned from a stint as a prisoner of war in Berlin after his plane had been shot down over Germany. He never knew if he would ever enjoy another Varsity hot dog. a “taste of endear ment” for this modest everyday man. With life returning to normal, he enrolled in classes with benefits from the G.I. Bill. The government would pay for his education. One of the courses he signed up for was chemistry. His professor was none other than Dr. Alfred Scott, who was a tall man (he was Georgia’s captain and coach in basketball in 1917-18). Dr. Scott functioned daily with a long stem cigarette holder clenched between his teeth. He was one of those campus lumi naries who was tough and demanding - totally without sympathy for any student devoid of classroom due-dil igence. It turned out that the subject of our story, the top-ranked raconteur on campus, had, shall we say, little compatibility with the rigors of chemistry, its complex formulas and less than exciting labs. Small talk at the Varsity was much more edifying for Dave Plant, who soon experienced a debilitating problem. He was not going to pass chemistry, but to maintain the benefits of the G.I. Bill, he could not withdraw from class. He had to post a grade, even if it were an “F.” Plant did his best to sleep through chemistry class right on up to the day of the final exam. When that day came. Plant walked in with his blue book, sat down long enough to sign his name, and then marched to the front of the room and handed over his signed document to a grinning Dr. Alfred Scott who said, “See you next quarter Mr. Plant?” Whereupon, Plant matched the pro fessor’s grin and said. “Dr. Scott, you transferring to the business school, too!” The following vignette, which has appeared in print before, brings us back to the mention of a full moon. Our delightful friend had a penchant for playing cards, which competed with any thought of an early-to-bed- early-to-rise routine. His charming wife, competent with a serious bent for firm discipline, was a patient woman but, in time, reached enough-is-enough status. She told him that if he came in late one more time, she was going to lock him out of the house. The threat did not res onate. Arriving home at midnight soon thereafter, the doors, as promised, were all locked tight and the reserve key, which was hidden under a flower pot for such emergencies, was miss ing, making Dave aware that for the moment he was homeless. Repeated knocking on the door ensued, but admission was not going to be grant ed. She was teaching him a lesson. He sat down on the steps and pon dered his fate. Suddenly a thought jolted him upright. “Til get inside this house.” he mused to himself. Whereupon, with the full moon beaming brightly, he took the lawn- mower out of the garage and began cutting the grass. As lights in the neighborhood flickered on to see what the commotion was all about, he soon was safely inside. Perhaps the best story about Plant, an accomplished chicken mull cook, came about on a Super Bowl Sunday years ago when his good friend and Bulldog fan nonpareil, John Terrell asked Plant to prepare chicken mull for a Super Bowl party. One of the guests was the longtime barbecue icon and Sanford Stadi um concessionaire, the colorful Bob Poss. As the festive mood gained momentum, Poss wandered into the kitchen where Plant was doing his due-diligence at the stove and began making suggestions. “You should include a little of this and a little of that, a dash of this, a pinch of that” kind of menu advice. With that, Plant looked his friend in the eye. “Hey Poss, we making this to eat, not to sell.” Loran Smith is a columnist for the Barrow News-Journal. He is co-host of the University of Georgia football radio pre-game show. loran smith Ben Fortson had a way about him A while back, the chief tax assessors from coun ties throughout Georgia asked me to speak to their gathering at Jekyll Island. We frequent the Golden Isles but we are normally on St. Simons or Sea Island, so it had been a few years since I had been on Jekyll. It is a beauti ful island but my favorite moment of discov ery was learning that one of its streets in the village is named “Ben Fortson Way.” Most of you have prob ably never heard of Ben Fortson but let me tell you a bit about him and what he meant to a young girl. “Mr. Ben.” as he liked to be called, was a 24-year- old graduate of Emory University when, in 1928. he was paralyzed in a car accident. For the rest of his 74 years of life, he was con fined to a wheelchair. He was appointed secretary of state in 1947 to fill the unexpired term of John Wilson, who died in office. Mr. Ben, never seriously challenged, would also die in the office, having served 33 years. For stu dents of history, he is remembered in the “three-gov ernor controver sy of 1947” when Eugene Talmadge died before taking the oath and two men, including his son, Herman, claimed to be gov ernor. But no man could be proclaimed gov ernor without the great seal of Georgia. Mr. Ben, to keep it safe while the mess was figured out, tucked it under the cushion of his wheelchair and hid it there. “Sitting on it like a set ting of duck eggs,” the col orful Mr. Ben later told journalist Celestine Sibley. I will always remember Mr. Ben in my three youth ful encounters with him as a version of cantankerous Mr. Potter in It’s A Won derful Life. He suffered no fools yet he had a heart for children. When I was 12, he spoke at my 4-H camp. He was old, withered and no-nonsense but he said something that day that I have carried in my heart ever since. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do something,” he said. “When I was paralyzed, all the doctors declared that I would live only a short time. But I show ‘em. I outlived every one of them.” A few years later, I was interning during the leg islative season for a man who would become one of South’s great heroes. Lt. Gov. Zell Miller. He is one of my heroes, too. I had gone to the basement to obtain my photo I.D. when I hurriedly rounded the corner and collided with Mr. Ben’s wheelchair. I gathered myself up, scared to death. “Well, young lady,” he thundered. “What brings you to the capitol on such a cold, icy winter’s day?” I stuttered, explaining that I was working in the Ft. Governor’s office. “Hmmm,” he mused. “Well, good luck. You’ll certainly need it!” With that, he rolled away down the marbled hall. History has probably long forgotten that the Speaker of the House. Tom Murphy, and the lieutenant governor were warring in a bitter battle of wills that played out in tremendous fury on newspaper front pages daily. During that session, the House and Senate voted to make “Georgia On My Mind” the state song but stipulated specifically that it was the Ray Charles ver sion. Mr. Charles was invited to sing the song to the legislators and staff at the capitol. The actual footage is used at the end of his biographical movie. I was there that day when Mr. Ben, two months shy of death, rolled up to the microphone and drawled in a deep baritone, “Mr. Charles, I congratulate you for you have done what no one else has been able to do. You have brought the Speaker of the House and our lieutenant gover nor together on the same platform!” Ben Fortson Way. Yeah. That’s perfect. He always had a way about him. Ronda Rich is a best-sell ing Southern author. Visit www.rondarich.com to sign up for her free weekly newsletter. Braselton residents mull downtown ‘walkability’ By Al ex Pace News-Journal Reporter Braselton officials are look ing for ways to make down town more “walkable.” The Braselton Downtown Devel opment Authority held a meeting last week to hear res idents’ input on a “walkability study” being completed by the North Georgia Regional Commission. Over 20 citizens attended, some of whom are residents of the Keys Crossing Subdivi sion located near downtown. Many weren’t shy about what that community wants. “We want sidewalks,” said several residents. NGRC’s John Devine has been working with the DDA’s design committee on its goals for the project. Devine went through those goals at the meeting, which include safety, linking downtown, increased interest for visitors and resi dents, connectivity, increased business patronage and quick progress. “We just want sidewalks,” replied one attendee when asked if there were any more goals. The group proposed increased “bike-ability” and other types of pathways. The alternative paths for transportation may cut down on parking in the downtown area, as locals could opt to walk or ride a bike. It could also link downtown to West Jackson Primary School and to the Braselton Library. The project won’t come without its challenges though. Ga. 53 runs straight through downtown and many cited safety concerns over high speed traffic on that road. Attendees questioned if there is a way to get traffic to slow down and stressed the need for more pedestrian cross walks. Devine later quizzed attendees on what could be done this year to improve the downtown walkability. “Don’t tell me sidewalks.” he said. “Sidewalks...we know.” The group came up with 10 ideas, including: •more quality, diverse busi nesses and restaurants •more parking •downtown living •streetlights •roundabouts (possibly in place of the light at Davis Street) •participating in Safe Routes to School •improving the look of downtown with art, landscap ing. streetscapes, etc. •emergency poles with call buttons •benches •signs to deter littering Devine plans to come up with recommendations and maps to present to the DDA. Any progress would depend on the DDA. Braselton Town Council and possibly the Jackson County Board of Commissioners and Georgia Department of Transportation. /^^^xConsidering M R buying or 19 0, / selling? 770-867-9026 www.maynardrealty.com