Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / April 21, 1977, edition 1 / Page 9
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SECTION B 'Thursday, April 21,1977 Mirror-Herald Living Today Hobby Sets Her Lawn Ablaze With Color 'I'.T \ , •) ■% ’ <> 1 3^' • <•. tii.- PRETTY PIC1VRE — The flower gerdena »t the this aeaaon of the year. Some of Violet Dlxon’a han- Marlon Dixon home oft Shelby Road are picturesque at dlworfc are pictured. “tfe- V \ S-fi , W % - fjl Ji 'ti'*!! L -•! I ‘J rij ^ '£* -lil f . j' ^S .r-^ ■; Mil. OOLDR OROUPINOS - Chrlstmaa Cheers form a dogwoods, an Ideal setting for the many asaleaa that border among the pine trees with a background of Violet Dixon has used to enhance her gardens. Violet Dixon will tell you that her favorite hymn Is "God Who Toucheth Barth With Beauty" and when you visit her flower garden off Shelby Rd. you will understand why. Spring Is the beautiful season of the year at the home of Violet and Marlon Dixon and their yard Is abloom with 1,000 colorful azaleas which Mrs. Dixon has enjoyed as a hobby for 20 years. Veteran Interviewer since l#t8 at the Employment Security Com mission here, Mrs. Dixon, native of Kings Mountsdn, got her green thumb from her parents but was Introduced to the azalea hobby by a co-worker, Glnny Moss (Mrs. James) Gibson when she fell In love with Christmas Cheers and flowering Hexe at the Gibson home. Violet said she went home Im mediately and planted Christmas Cheers among the pine trees at the lower edge of her front ywd. After that, she started buying a few plants each Fall and Spring and soon her husband and friends knew exactly what gift to buy for anniversaries. Soon, her yard was full of gorgeous azaleas against a background of pine trees, dogwoods and camellias. Mrs. Dixon, who shares her flowers with her friends and local churches, Including her own. Kings Mountain Baptist, says there’s a magic about her hobby. "When I’m troubled or blue, I never need a trsuiqulllzer,” says Violet. "I get among my azaleas and flowers, begin digging or mulching and the depression soon passes.’’ She recommends that other friends try her hobby but cautions them that the secret of successful gardening, the believes, is sharing with friends and neighbors. Mrs. Dixon’s husband, Marlon, also a Kings Mountain native and building contractor, admits he doesn’t help much with the flowers but respects his wife’s hobby and keeps the woods In the background cleared of grass and debris and helps Mrs. Dixon haul dirt and transplant dogwood trees. Die Dixon home Is situated In an Ideal setting for azalea growing with a background of pine trees and dogwoods, as these flowers love acid soil and a mulch of pine needles and the shade and filtering sunlight are Ideal. Some azaleas get hurt by the cold of winter, but Violet soon learned the types best suited to our climate. Occasionally, she has had to move some types to more protected areas In order for them to produce abundant blooms. ’These plants can be moved successfully most suiy time of the year. If you remember to shovel a large amount of dirt under the plants and water well. However, she moves her plants mainly In the months from October through April, usually selecting a damp, rainy day. Some of her favorites are Hlno, Cliristmas Cheer, Hexe, Red Wing, Pink Coral Belle, Pink Perlcat, Snow, Rosebud, Formosa, President day and others. Color groups of red and white or pink and white which bloom at the same time are beautiful together, such as Christmas Cheer, Hlno and Snow Azaleas. Pink coral boUes and Snows are beautiful to«ettsr and dttfarsBt *adoa s< giBk Story & Photos by Lib Stewart are also suggested for your garden. Solid orchids or purple beds make pretty showings. At one side of the Dixon yard are President Clays. Below the house are two orchid beds. Nothing Is more beautiful than to plant red or pink azaleas among white dogwoods, says Mrs. Dixon. When Violet Dixon began her hobby she said she began reading materials regarding their growth and care. One of her favorite columns was written weekly by Mrs. L. L. Huffman In Die Charlotte Observer. She advocated watering azsJeas at leut six Inches deep during hot, dry seasons suid a three Inch mulch of pine needles, oak leaves or old sawdust, but preferably pine needles. Do not put tot fertilizers, such as cow manure, SLTOund them and don’t dig around them as azaleas root grow near the top of the ground and digging will soon kill them. Topropogate, Violet buries part of a long limb on the ground, places dirt suid a large rock around them and came grille wlU be a MW plant A She also "air layers" on top of the plant during the blooming season or just after blooming, using root tone, old moss around the trees soaked In water, wrapping the scraped psirt of the stem and moss with plastic. Nice plants are produced In this way and will bloom the next season. Violet always attends Southeastern Garden Show In Charlotte to learn more about color groupings and has used some of their suggestions In her own yard. Daughter, Sheila, senior student at UNCe, doesn’t participate In her mother’s hobby but enjoys It Other member of the Dixon family Is daughter, Elsdne (Mra. Jay) Powell, Jr. of West Columbia S. C. Mrs. Dixon has shared her flowers with her daughter and son-in-law and their two children, Stephanie, age two, and Shannon, five months, and when the Powells moved from Georgia recently to South Carolina, they left behind their mother’s handiwork for the new owners to eitjoy, a yard ahlaia with colorful .1 - 'V A? 'j! •••- r ■ • ’ ... f ENJOYS HOBBY - VloM DIxoa stands la IBs yard ad Bar haass ai Shelby Bd. which la ablaae this aaaaoa ol the yaar with tislsrlal aaalaai hy. “Tty It. Taan Iks H,” aha tal h / Spring Welcomed With Show GU- :e Kl Open Gate Guden Clubbers tire Inviting Kings Mountain area citizens to "Welcome Sweet Springtime,” a flower show featuring table settings of exquisite china, ^ver and crystal with floral arrangements. May 8 from 10 a. m. until S p. m. at Dellinger’s Jewel Shop on West Mountain St. . ’Die show Is free and ail Kings Mountain garden clubs will provide table decorations and arrangements to be judged by out-of-town judges. Prizes will be awarded to first, second, and third place winners. A feature of the day’s activities, which are free and (^n to the public, will be a spring luncheon at Kings Mountain Country Club with serving from noon until 1:80 p. m. Cost of the luncheon Is $8.50. Individual Ubles wUl be decorated In various periods of history with appropriate settings and centerpiece enhancing the motif. Over 100 invitations have gone out and Include poetry by A. Rubin stein which reads; "Welcome Sweet Springtime”, We greet them tai song, flowerets awake ye, burst Into bloom; Springtime Is come and / sweet summer Is nigh. Sing, then ye birds O sing.’ -oOo ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCED Mr. and Mrs. T. L. Bumgarner of Dallas announce the engagement of their daughter, Debra Ann, to James Buford Ware, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. James Buford Ware of Kings Mow tain. ’Die bride-to-be la a graduate of North Gaston High School and Cameo Beauty College. The prospective bridegroom Is a graduate of Kings Mountain Senior High School, Gaston College and Mississippi State University. (Xir Saviour Lutheran Church of Dallsiswlll be settlngfor the couple's weddlngon June 18that 7 p. m. In the evening. -oOo- IT’S A BOY Mr. and Mrs. Gene Hwtslnger, 806 South woods Dr., announce the arrival of their second son, ’Todd Dwayne, April 10th, Cleveland Memorial Hospital, Shelby. ’The baby weighed eight powds, IS ounces and Is grauidson of Mr. and Mrs. Palmer Smith and Mr. and Mrs. William Huntslnger, all at Kings Mountain. Other member at the family Is two-year old Chad Eugene Smith. Mrs. Huntslnger Is the former Janet Smith. 'C5 3^3 ■raiNO SOBNE - VtoM DImi Is ahnaat Mdden by the colorful asaleas blooming In her yard off SbeBy Rd. The Kings Mountain woman’s hobby at » yamta has yeedaeod ass thousand sialws which she shares and neighbors.
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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April 21, 1977, edition 1
9
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