Colour it green — with fast-growing ground cover

You don’t have to spend a smali
fortune to landscape your lawn,
nor invest valuable time and
energy in complicated main-
tenance procedures. Inexpensive,

“attractive,  easy-to-care-for

ground covers offer the perfect
alternative.

You can obtain a few plants -

and propagate more, or grow
them from seed. There’s nothing
mysterious about the mechanics

of it — just push cuttings into ©

sand, separate root divisions, and
carry seedlings into the status of
full-fledged plants,

To: propagate vegetively, first
catch your stock plants. I would
look to neighbors for a supply of
ajuga (except the fancy’ types),
English Ivy, peppermint,
pachysandra (except the
variegated), Phiox subulata and
Vinca minor. Local garden
centers usually have them, too.
Others presented here may require
going to mail-order - firms
specializing in perennials. Obtain
catalogs of firms - offering
perennial seeds, too. If a ground
cover can be had from seed, sow
itl

Almost all perennials ‘lend
themselves to root division. This
means digging up a root clump
and cutting or breaking it into
parts. You can divide it into as
many pieces as there are eyes or
buds. Each separated piece is

replanted. Ifyou do this, say, toa””

campanula in the spring of 1980,
you can do it again that fall, You
could overwhelm yourself with

_ campanulas in a couple of years. I

like to replant divisions in a
special area I’ve set aside, dug
deeply and enriched with a
considerable amount of humus
and bone meal (or other fertilizer
high in phosphate for root
growth),

Cuttings are easiest when taken
in the spring because you can do

: the job outdoors, get results, and

be ready for planting out in the
fall,. A. ten-inch-high wooden
frame filled with six inches of
sterilized sand, placed in a shady

‘spot and provided with a tran-

sparent cover, will do quite well.
Provide for ventilation so thé
inside of the cover doesn’t drip
water. Select a half-ripe stem
that’s obviously in growth. It’s
just right if it snaps like a string
bean when you bend it. Cut it just
below a bud, four to six inches
long. There should be two or three
buds per cutting. Remove the
lower leaves and insert it into the
sand. Firm it up. In about five to
six weeks, you'll have a well-
rooted cutting which can be
transplanted into a four-inch pot
foe autumn planting in a nursery

a you're used to growing
flowers and vegetables from seed,

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there’s no great difference in
handling perennials the same way.
I’ once covered a $0-foot bank
with Hypericum calycinum using
only three packets of seed which
cost little more than $1. You can
start perennials indoors in early
spring, or in the autumn in a cold
frame, Or you can sow outdoors
in a well-protected seedbed. May
isa good time.

Saint-John’s-wort [Hypericum
calycinum) has large, bright-
yellow flowers all summer in
shade and is.touted for that,
although 1 found it does well in
full sun because it doesn’t seem to
mind dry soil, Once in place it
spreads quickly over the ground
by. suckers, and takes over its
area, weeds and all.

Hendera Helix (English ivy)
isn’t a very hardy plant for the
North, Farther south, you'll
seldom need to bother with it, as it
covers the ground, except for

trimming the edges. Hedera Helix

Baltica is worth testing in Nor-
thern gardens unless you live in
the most northern tier.

Ajuga reptans (nurserymen

“hate the common name,

bugleweed!) comes in several
interesting varieties, all of which
revel in sun or full shade. An
invasive thing, it will creep into
your lawn and the mower won't
bother it. If that’s no problem, it
will be a favorite with bright blue
or white flowers.

Pachysandra terminalis. may
well be ubiquitous, but I like it

because it will darn well grow -

under any sort of tree with no
attention. You hardly ever have to

edge it. I knew a girl in New |

Jersey who made good summer
money rooting cuttings in old
nursery flats to sell to neighbors.
She was 9 years-old. Your neigh-
bors can supply you, but you'll
have to shop for the variegated
form. If it sounds as though I an
praising this common thing too

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THE GREEN REVOLUTION effects indoors use of plants as much as
outdoors. Plants today are seen as an integral part of most office decors
and selling tropicals has become big business.

much. I also like it as a
houseplant.

Vica minor (periwinkle) covers
the ground in sun or shade and
has violet-blue flowers in the
spring. You can find a white
variety, too.

Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla
vulgaris) is a weed. It's also a
plant for an herb garden where
the grower has just one and likes
to point it out because it’s in-
teresting. The foliage is hairy and
grayish. It’s a strong-growing,
useful ground cover in partial
shade with unusual greenish-
yellow flowers good for cutting.
Sow the seeds right where you
want it to grow. ,

Draba sibirica is a miniature
ground cover for a close-up
location. It grows neat tufts and
spreads over the ground: by
runners, The spring flowers are
yellow,

Everybody’s familiar with
baby’s breath in bridal bouquets,
but there. isn’t enough ap-
preciation for the creeping ver-
sion, Gypsophila repens, another
ground cover which should be
brought up front. The flowers,
pink or white, have the same airy
effect as its taller cousin.

Everything safd about the value
of hostas in shades true. They

“make weed-smothering ground

cover and have long, glossy
leaves, handsome in many
variations. The flowers shouldn’t
be ignored, even if not considered
the main feature. They are lilylike
(as befits a member of the family)
and in clusters,

You .can combine different
mints for an interesting ground

“cover. Peppermint is the best. I
“ have a good batch of it now,

inherited. You'll have to share
Mentha piperita with bees that
appreciate the none-too-showy
flowers}; Mentha likes a damp

(maybe even .wet) soil. Mine. is...
} sy vunder: a: well-used water, faucet, . . propagate, yayr ows, you'll grow

hding the unattrativeness usually

present there,
I like all of the potentiltas in
their ‘various forms, from little

* creepers to the shrubby kinds.

Miss Willmot is a joy and blooms
for me in a pot on the patio.
Potentilla tridentata is sort of
unknown, Described in one
catalog as ‘‘neat hummocks of
medium green,”’ [ like it because it
looks like a strawberry plant (even
the flowers) which will grow in
masses in a dry place. You
couldn't get a strawberry to do
that.

Sedums also | grow in dry places.
One, Sedum spurium, Dragon's
Blood, has been widely advertised
in recent years, perhaps too much.
It won’t grow nearly as fast as

* some say, but when @ bunch

finally gets together, you'll have
bronze-red foliage and even
redder flowers.

Thymus serphylium, it is often
said, likes to be walked upon. I
suspect it likes it about as much as
I do, but I’ve grown in it the
cracks of a rocky, uprising walk-
way and it thrives, It also thrives
as a low-growing ground cover in
hot and dry spots. The foliage is
evergreen and the flowers are
showy.

the hardiest low-
maintenance ground covers,
you've got a choice of Campanula
carpatica (blue), Phiox subutlata
(purplish pink, white) or many of
the various violas (shades of
purple, violet and white), With
this combination, you'd have
flowers from. April until frost, All
are hardy,

I’ve planted a Ict of ground
covers, both for myself and for

-other people. I’ve never yet

worked on a lawn that didn’t in
‘some place or another havea path
that looked like a freeway to'an
elephant’s water ‘hole. That’s one
reason I like low-maintenance
ground .:.coyers,...and,.if you

to like them, t

Horses staging a comeback

for fun and to save energy

By
LAIRD O'BRIEN

You have only to watch my
brother-in-law combing burrs out
of Red's. mane to know that
something is up in-the world of
horses. My brother-in-law has a
well-earned reputation as a man
of science, an expert in computers
and things mechanical. Yet here
he is, the first-time owner of not
one but two horses: a seven-year-
old chestnut gelding named Red
and an embarrassingly overweight
pony.

Red, as my brother-in-law will
sadly testify, is not your typical

Be riding horse, For one thing, when

somebody sits on his back, Red
walks backwards but never
forwards, He's been known to
sneak up behind male visitors and
bite them in the seat of the pants.
And he kicks the pony regularly.

Now why would a sensible man -

— one who has never ridden in his
life and whose children aren’t at
all keen on the idea — suddenly
become emotionally and
financially committed to such a
loser? Even my brother-in-law
isn’t sure.

“Maybe it’s the challenge,”’ he
says, ducking gingerly away from
Red’s back legs, ‘‘I’ve talked toa
lot of people about Red, trying to
figure out how to correct his bad
habits: Everybody gives me
different advice. I've read some
books, too, People don’t agree,
but the books do.”

In the equine world, one item is

almost as plentiful as: horses: .

books and magazines about
horses, Literature is an industry in
itself, aimed at everyone from the
amateur with a problem horse like
Red to the sophisticated breeder
seeking advice on fertility potions.

Classic, for example, bills itself
as ‘the magazine about horses
and sport.”” A glance will tell you
it is also about money. As well as

“the usual four-color spreads for

Mercedes-Benz, diamonds,. and
fancy real estate, Classic has
pages ‘of ads for horse trailers,
horse paintings, horse insurance,
saddles, brass hunting hom

candlesticks, riding schools, and
even for bank loans to help one
pursue any or all of the above.
While most of the ads talk to
those who have money, _ the
photos and articles, aren’t so
choosy; they appeal- to anyone
who has more than a passing
interest in horses. Today that isa
huge audience,

The horse, in his many ‘colors -

and activities, has become
something of a Canadian folk
hero, Young Canadians are going
to college and studying about the
horse. Others are spending as
much as $150 a month to board
their animals. A few are even
shelling out $100,000 or so for
untried racehorses. When you
reflect for a moment on the
history of the horse, and par-
ticularly on its place in Canadian
life during the last century,
today’s rush of popularity i:
certainly heady wine,

It surprises many to learn that
the horse actually was born and
came of age in North America —
not in Europe or Asia — and then

wandered off to see the world. _

When Cortes and his
conquistadors splashed ashore in
Mexico on Spanish mounts in
1519, the horse had’ returned
home,

_ How did this wondrous journey
come about? Did Pegasus, the
winged horse of mythology,
actually exist and did this kind fly
the oceans?) No. Just as
prehistoric man used the bridge of
the Bering Strait to come to
America from Asia, so the horse
left by the same route.

About 60 million years ago, just

at the time when Eohippus, the’

dawn horse, had developed into
something that we would
recognize as a horse, the Bering
land bridge appeared. Many of
the herds spread into Asia and
then into Africa and Europe. The
herds that stayed in America died
out completely about 8,000 years
ago; they survived the ice ages,
then perished for no apparent
reason. So when Cortes landed, a
great cirlcle of life was completed,

and with the help of Indians and

white settlers the horse spread
throughout North America during

» the days of colonization,

Those . original horses that
swept across the Bering land
bridge into Asia carried hereditary
surprises and strengths beneath
their scarred hides. Unusual
characteristics popped up on the
surface, too, such as the dappled
pattern on the necks and rumps of
certain wild wanderers,
Prehistoric cave artists portrayed
horses with ‘such markings.
Thousands of years later, in the
New World, Nez Perce Indians
fancied the same distinctive spots,

+ They believed the horses that bore

them possessed remarkable agility

. and stamina,

The Indians bred the speckled
steeds and helped to establish a
line that concentrated and refined
these traits, We know the breed
today as the Appaloosa, a name
that comes from. the Palouse
River region of Idaho, land of the
Nez Perce. .

The efforts of these Indian
horsemen echo the experiences of
breeders down through the
centuries who have worked to
shape the world’s recognized
bréeds. Theirs is a labor of
patience and love. In the case of
the famed Arabian breed, the
entire process required thousands
of years, from ancient Egyptian
times down to the present day.

In decades past, Canadian and
American stockmen have worked
painstakingly to create a number
of well-known breeds. The
Morgan is considered the oldest
North American breed .— a
stylish, -compact horse in-
corporating. Thoroughbred and
Arabian — bloodlines. - The
Appaloosa is prized for its spotted
coat. The Tennessee Walking
Horse is named for its home and
for its unusual gait, an elegant
running walk. The Standardbred,
known as the peacock of hofses, is
bred primarily for harness racing:

- The American Saddle Horse is a
- showy animal with great-vigor and —.- SS
‘a smooth gait, The Quarter Horse...

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