Question: Would you recommend a good mulch for azaleas and camellias one that will hold moisture, aid in aeration, promote growth and keep the soil acid? Texas.

A mixture of sawdust, or better still, shavings from the planing mill and rotted barnyard manure using about equal parts of each makes an ideal mulch for azaleas and camellias. For appearances a coating of peat moss might be put over this mulch to change it from an almost white color to a dark brown.

Question: Our land is heavy clay. What can I do, or what kind of soil could I mix with this clay to get better results from my gardening? Michigan.

Heavy clay soil is excellent soil but the soil particles are so small they tend to run together and make the ground very hard to work. To improve clay for gardening, first spade or till the ground in the late fall or early spring, as deep as possible. Leave it rough for a time so that freezing and thawing can break it down.

Be careful not to work a clay soil when it is wet. Add all the organic matter to it you can obtain. Rotted manure, rotted leaves, and any fall cover crops that can be spaded under will help. Finally a dressing of limestone, or of hydrated lime, will help flocculate the clay and make it more easily crumbled. Use enough lime to make the surface white and apply it any time now. It can be worked into the soil as spring gardening progresses.

Question: Can you tell me which of the evergreen winter-hardy succulents will survive the heat of Texas summers? Texas.

Most water storing succulents come from regions of intense summer heat and will withstand the heat of Texas summers, but most of them will not stand frost. A few will, such as certain sedums, some sempervivums and a few cacti. The drougth resistant succulents usually have coarse leathery leaves and in general are winter hardy. The yucca. agave, aloe and senecio are examples. However, many of these will not stand a heavy freeze.

Question: What can we do to grow a strip of lawn on the north side of our house between the house and a large maple? It does well in the spring; fades out in the summer. Indiana.

Grasses are light demanding and like-wise cannot exist if robbed of water and plant food by shallow rooted trees. To overcome the deficiency of light on the north use a mixture of Poa trivialis (one of the bluegrass family), fescue, and Canadian bluegrass. Have a deeply prepared seed bed containing adequate humus and plant food. The seed bed should be at least six inches deep and the plant food should be commercial fertilizer with about a 4-8-4 analysis and spread at the rate of 35 pounds per 100 square feet. Seed should be sown as early as possible, at least by the last of March. During summer the soil must be watered regularly for the tree pulls the water content of the soil down too low for grass to exist. In September thicken up the lawn by sowing additional seed consisting of the same grass mixture. .

Question: My two large blue hydrangeas refuse to bloom. In eight years I have had two blooms. The blue hydrangea bushes grow large with healthy leaves. I cut off the old branches every year and the new growth grows about two feet high. Ive tried several fertilizers with no success perhaps you can help me. Ohio.

While your blue hydrangeas are growing large with healthy green leaves, they are also growing bloom buds at the end of each cane. By fall these buds are mature, and at frost time are large, pointed, terminal buds. If they are not killed by the rigors of winter and if they are not pruned away they will expand into large blooms the following spring. Dont prune away any live wood until just after the blooming period. Then prune the plant back hard so new canes may develop and produce bloom buds for next year.