Fall Leaf Festival Always A Fun Event

Fri., Oct. 15, 1999

Phyllis Stephens The Spokesman

The Spokane Parks and Recreation Department will hold its annual Fall Leaf Festival at the Finch Arboretum, Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. - come rain or shine. It’s free and there are activities for those of all ages.

If Mother Nature cooperates, there should be a huge pile of leaves for the kids to romp through. But whether she does or doesn’t, there will be plenty of activities to keep little ones busy, all staged by the Corbin Art Center.

We older kids have a lot to keep us busy, too. We’ll be visiting hands-on demonstrations and displays by the WSU Master Gardeners, the Spokane Community Gardens, the Inland Empire Lilac Society, the Inland Northwest Arborist Association, the Urban Foresters, SCABCA, Campfire, Girl Scouts, the Inland Empire Garden Club and rose specialists from Manito Park.

Also in conjunction with the festival, the Master Composters will be hosting a compost fair, sharing all the ins and outs of composting.

And as a friendly reminder: Please be considerate of the neighbors bordering the arboretum. Don’t park in front of or in their driveways or on their grass.

Growing things

This year marks the 100th birthday of the showy, golden-yellow hallmark daffodil named King Alfred.

But according to the Netherlands Flower Bulb Center, King Alfred may have taken an early retirement decades ago. In fact, the King Alfreds in your garden may not be Alfreds at all.

For decades, the highly touted King Alfred has gradually been supplanted in commercial trade by a host of other hearty yellow daffodil hybrids such as Golden Harvest, Yellow Sun, Dutch Master and Standard Value. As these new, better and stronger, look-alike hybrids became available, growers turned to them.

Any one of these cultivars make bigger, better bulbs that produce more flowers than the original King Alfred. Their trumpets and golden yellow colors are also finer than the original.

Though many of us still clamor for the King, perhaps it’s time to allow him to retire and acknowledge his worthy successors.

What’s new

Is it true that bone meal is the best bulb food? According to Frans Roozen, technical director of the International Flower Bulb Center, at one time bone meal was considered an excellent bulb fertilizer, but times have changed.

Most bone meal today has been so thoroughly processed the essential nutrients have been literally boiled out.

Spring-flowering bulbs actually need no fertilizer for their first season of blooming. A healthy Dutch bulb will already contain all the food it needs to support one season of spectacular growth.

Bulbs left in the ground to naturalize will benefit from well-rotted cow manure or special bulb fertilizer when the shoots first appear in spring and again the following fall.

Storage how-to

Because begonia tubers can be costly, it’s prudent to save them. After the leaves have been blackened by frost, snap the withered stem off with your hand. It should snap off right atop the tuber. Gently rub off any loose soil from around the tubers and set them in a warm, dry spot to cure.

After they have dried, store them in a shallow box on a blanket of vermiculite. Try not to let them touch each other. If for some reason, one begins to rot, it may infect the neighboring tubers. Cover the tubers with vermiculite and store them in a cool, dark room.

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