Schizachyrium scoparium (Little Bluestem) seems to me to be difficult to transplant. They die on me when moved. What could I be doing wrong? The time of year? Adequately watered?
According to the Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses, Schizachyrium scoparium requires full sun, prefers good drainage or sloping ground, does not persist on highly fertile soils or in excessively moist conditions, and suffers if the crowns are crowded by mulch.
Propagate by seed or by division in spring.
Grasses are sensitive to soil level, especially when young. Ideally, the crown of the grass should sit just slightly above the soil surface. Planting too low can rot grasses and planting too high can cause them to dry out and die.
Mulch of all sorts can be an efficient method of controlling weeds and conserving soil moisture. Many species, such as Schizachyrium scoparium, cannot tolerate having mulch pushed up around their crowns, a practice that often promotes rot and disease at the base of the plant.
Source: Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses, by R. Darke, 1999, pp. 121, 276.
The Agapanthus in my greenhouse are budding. I would rather not have them bloom now. Can I set them outside to slow them down or would that do more harm than good?
If your Agapanthus has set buds and is beginning to flower, there is not much you can do to slow it down. Putting it outside will not harm it when the danger of frost is past.
My Fuji tree is infected with Cherry Bark Tortrix. Can the branches, leaves, and bark be used as mulch? What should be done with the wood? Can it be stored, and burned in our fireplace?
The leaves and branches can be mulched. The wood can be used, but it is a good idea to strip the logs of the bark and store the wood barkless. Removing the bark will destroy most of the caterpillars in the process. The wood is easier to chop when the bark has been removed, too! If you cannot remove the bark, use a mallet to tap the bark where ever you see galleries. This will most likely squash the caterpillars that are still in the wood.
I have a question about the common jasmine plant. Can it be planted in a pot and left on the patio all year round? It will be attached to a fixed trellis. What should we do to protect the plant in the winter?
We live in Langley BC, so our weather is quite similar to yours.
The American Horticulture Society’s A to Z Plant Encyclopedia reports that Common Jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is only hardy to zone 9. (Seattle is zone 8, Langley may be a touch cooler)
However, local author (I believe she lives in BC) Christine Allen reports that Jasminum officinale, also known as poet’s jasmine, is hardy in our climate if protected from cold, drying winter winds. I think if you move your pot against a wall out of the wind you should be ok.
I am trying to find the proper soil pH for growing Leycesteria ‘Red Shuttle’. I am hoping to plant it in partial shade next to rhododendrons (acidic soil). How will it do?
Leycesteria ‘Red Shuttle’ is the formosa species and should do well in any fertile soil, provided it is not highly alkaline (according to The Plant Care Manual by Stefan Buczacki (Crown Publishers, 1993).
Plants That Merit Attention, Vol. 2, Shrubs, (by the Garden Club of America, 1984, p. 172) states:
Needs sun for best bract and fruit color; prefers rich, moist loam; tolerates wind, drought, and air pollution…A handsome woodland shrub best in natural setting or shrub border. Needs sun for best flower and fruit color. May be pruned in spring. Partial dieback in winter not unusual; shrub rejuvenates the following growing season, often growing back successfully from roots….
Trees and Shrubs for Pacific Northwest Gardens (by
J. Grant, 1990, p. 239) states:
…This shrub is easily grown in any good garden soil in full sun but prefers a rich, moist loam. It may achieve a height of as much as 15 ft. in a sheltered position. The rootstock is perfectly hardy, but the top is occasionally cut to the ground in exceptionally severe winters. If pruned almost to the ground every year, which is one method of treatment, it will send up lusty 6-ft. shoots and flower freely during the latter part of the summer….
What causes my chrysanthemums to do the big flop? One even came out of the ground! We have had a lot of rain lately, and it seems like a lot of plants did the big floppy, from roses to sedum, and now the mums. Is it all weather-related?
Yes, certainly the weather contributes to the big flop. Certain perennials just can’t stand up to heavy mist and rain.
Some gardeners stake their flop-prone plants before they flop over, while others dig them up and grow things that don’t flop.
You can prune perennials to help prevent flop. Typically you cut a perennial back by 1/3 a few months before it flowers. This causes the plant to branch out, producing a bushier, shorter, less floppy plant. In The Well-Tended Perennial Garden (Tracy DiSabato-Aust, 1998), the author suggests that staking be done early: …after the first flush of growth but before full growth. The stems need to be sturdy, and flower buds should not be formed yet…[stake] without adulterating the normal habit of the plants. Follow the natural line of the stem. (p.63)
Will the evergreen magnolia, Michelia wilsonii, grow in Danville, CA?
It is suitable for your area in Danville (according to the Sunset Western Garden Book). As far as surviving the full sun in your hottest summers, you might want to check with a local nursery about that to be quite sure. The Sunset book says it needs partial shade in the hottest climates [that it grows in], and your Sunset zone appears to be 9, which suggests it has high summer temperatures. It may need to be planted where it will get partial shade.
I have some white pumpkins and I want to save the seeds and plant them next year. What should I do?
There are several varieties of white pumpkins, the most common being Cucurbita maxima ‘Lumina.’
Quoting from The American Horticultural Society’s Plant Propagation (ed. by A. Toogood, 1999, p. 300):
Leave ripe pumpkins for at least three weeks in a sunny, airy place at about 70 F to allow the seeds to mature. When the pumpkin starts to soften, cut it in half and flick out the seeds with a knife. If needed, wash off any flesh, then dry on paper towels before storing….The seeds remain viable for 5–10 years.
And quoting from Seed to Seed (by S. Ashworth, 2002, p. 29):
Home-saved seeds will retain maximum vigor when thoroughly dried and stored in a moisture-proof container…The two greatest enemies of stored seeds are high temperature and high moisture. Seeds that are stored at fluctuating temperature and moisture levels will quickly lose their ability to germinate…
When and how do I prune my lavatera tree? We used to think this plant was a bush!
Lavatera does tend to grow vigorously, and can get quite woody. You can cut a third off the top of each stem in late autumn, and then in mid-spring finish your pruning by cutting all the previous year’s growth to about 6 inches from the ground. Hard pruning will encourage flowering, and keep the plant more compact. New shoots may be slow to appear (may not happen until early summer).
In my experience, a small start of Lavatera turned into an 8 foot tree in one year, and because it was in a spot where a tree was not desirable, I took a cutting, then dug up the plant, and started afresh–but this may be an extreme solution to the problem!
My neighbor says his Deodar cedar tree is bisexual, and it’s the male cones that are making so much pollen this October. He seemed to be saying this was unusual, and that not all cedar trees were like this, with both male and female cones. What’s the story?
Cedrus deodara is monoecious, which means that an individual tree will bear separate and unisexual male and female flowers. If the tree had bisexual flowers, each flower would be ‘complete’ and ‘perfect,’ that is, with male stamens and female pistil in each flower. So it’s clearer to call the tree monoecious than to say it is bisexual. According to Wayne’s Word: An Online Textbook of Natural History, “about 90 percent of all flowering plants have bisexual flowers with both male (stamen) and female (pistil) sex organs. The remaining 10 percent have unisexual male and female flowers on the same plant (monoecious species) or male and female flowers on separate plants (dioecious species).”
Most conifers (like true cedar) are monoecious. The male pollen cones are 2 to 3 inches long by October, and are found in great number on the lower parts of the tree. Female flowers are tiny, and usually found high up in the tree. Female seed cones take two years to mature. You might wonder how pollination can take place if the female flowers are up high and the pollen is down low. Conifer pollen is wind-dispersed, so it might seem arduous for it to reach the female flowers up above. However, if you consider the geographic origins of the true cedars, you will notice that Deodar cedar is also called Himalayan cedar and like the cedar of Lebanon (C. libani) and the Atlas cedar (C. atlantica), its native range is mountainous. Imagine cedars growing on a sloping mountainside, and you can easily picture the pollen drifting downward to female flowers on the trees below.