LADY BUG: SEPTEMBER OFTEN PROVES TO BE BUSY MONTH IN THE GARDEN

Summer of this year has almost gone. Mother Nature has blessed most areas with more rain and cooler weather than in the past few years.

September is a busier month in the garden than the past few months have been. Much planning and work is needed to insure a successful garden for next year.

Plant perennials this fall for a burst of bloom in the spring or summer to add charm, beauty and easy color to the garden. The "big six" of favorites include iris, peony, poppy, day lily, phlox and chrysanthemum, and many others whose qualities are superior.

For color all summer, choose golden coreopsis or rudbeckia. For shady spots, choose fluffy astilbe or the foliage of hosta. Dwarf gaillardia or coral bells brighten small space, and alyussm and candy-tuft are excellent for rock gardens.

Grow hibiscus, which is hardy and needs no winter protection in our area. Some flowers are 8 to 10 inches across and are highly showy. Some gardeners grow hibiscus for its ease. When given ample water it grows quite tall, but this problem can be handled by cutting the plant back in late fall or early spring. Cut back to the ground as they winter kill anyway. Their roots survive and send forth new shoots in the spring, when they may be divided, or they also reseed.

On Labor Day, the 20th annual Japanese Festival will return to the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. The three-day celebration begins Saturday, Sept. 3 and runs through Labor Day on Sept. 5.

Since the early 1970's the garden has held the Japanese Festival to the enjoyment of thousands of visitors. One of the largest authentic Japanese Gardens in North America, the Missouri Botanical joins the area's Japanese American organizations in producing the festival each year to bring authentic Japanese art, music, dance and food to garden visitors.

The world famous Tsugaru Shamisen Troupe, Kaze will perform Japanese folk music during the festival. St. Louis is one of only six cities to host these celebrated Japanese instrumentalists in their American tour.

CRAPE MYRTLE

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" that is how a lot of gardeners would probably respond to the recent efforts to improve the Crape Myrtle.

Crape Myrtle is just about the South's most favorite summer ornamental shrub, so why fiddle around with it?

There are several reasons. To being with, older selections such as Watermelon Red, frequently fall victim to powdery mildew, which ruins and foliage.

For the past several years, plant breeders have worked diligently to correct this problem and have successfully marketed about 10 new varieties, including Acoma, Biloxi, Hopi, Pecos, Tonto, Wichita and Yuma.

Incidentally, it is spelled "crape" in most catalogs and garden dictionaries, although occasionally you see it spelled "crepe" like a French pancake.

However spelled, it is a beautiful flowering plant and often is referred to as the flower of the South, where it does so well and often becomes a tree.

It is not a native plant and like many of our choice flowers, came to us from China in the 1700's. It was called "the tree of 100 days", that being the approximate length of its blooming period. Right now we are past the middle of its blooming.

Many crape myrtles in older neighborhoods were planted in the late forties as the country groomed itself following World War II. These trees in the south survived all the urbanization since, which speaks so well of them.

Sometimes it is difficult to grow herbaceous perennials, even the shade loving ones, under crape myrtles because they have vigorous roots. Growers should limit the plantings to ground covers for best results.

In choosing new plants, do not overlook the dwarf varieties. There is a good collection of them planted in the All-America Selection Garden on the SEMO campus.

More and more the smaller varieties are being used as accent plants, standing alone in new developments. Remember that selections vary not only in cold hardiness, moisture resistance and size. Ask about these qualities when selecting plants.

Plant in full sun. These beauties will not perform well in the shade. Our dwarfs definitely prove this trait. Not only is the bloom sparce, but they have grown quite tall and the plant lacks fullness.

Flowers of the crape myrtle are magnificent. Dozens, sometimes hundreds of tiny blooms are massed in clusters. The flowers may be so profuse that they will weight down the branches, giving the plant a weeping habit. Tiny individual blooms have crinkly edges, like crepe paper, which is the reason for the plant's common name.