Due to the wonders of technology, I received eight or nine questions in a less than timely fashion. If you wrote me this fall, I now have your questions and will answer them over the next couple of columns. I know one of you needed help winterizing mums and now it’s too late! Throw some mulch on them, and I’ll answer the question in more detail soon! Sorry about the delay. Q. Are there any […]
It seems Indiana gardeners were spending their time preparing for the holidays rather than reflecting on recent garden woes. That means I get a month off! Here are some often-asked questions that I have run before. Q. I didn’t get my spring bulbs planted this fall. Is it too late? A. Your best bet is to plant them as soon as possible. If the soil is not frozen, plant them immediately. When the ground freezes, mulch the […]
Q. How do you start and grow rhubarb? &emdash; Gerald Wicoff, Danville, Ill. A. Rhubarb can be planted in the spring as soon as the ground can be worked. Choose crowns of a known cultivar with at least two large buds. Valentine, Canada Red, McDonald and Ruby are recommended red cultivars. Victoria is a recommended green-stalked cultivar. Valentine tends to produce fewer unwanted seed stalks. Valentine and McDonald require less sugar in food preparation than many […]
Q. My Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ flops open in the center each fall and looks disastrous. What can I do?It’s too heavy to tie to a stake. Gary Kukulies, Lafayette, IN A. The upright sedums (now renamed Hylotelephium), need to be divided every few years to keep them from crashing to the ground in the fall. This task is best undertaken in the spring when the shoots are up a few inches. Lift the entire clump […]
Ah, the beauty of Mother Nature’s palette coming to life in the fall color of our forest and landscape plants. For some, this marvel is overshadowed by the chores of raking and disposing of fall leaves. What’s needed here is an attitude adjustment! Autumn leaves don’t have to become trash. On the contrary, they easily can be turned into valuable soil-enhancing organic matter. For many urban dwellers, who already have their yard waste picked up […]
Please tell me what I can do with squirrels? I plant flowers and tulip bulbs and other bulbs. Every day when I come home from work, my bulbs are out of the ground, and my flowers are eaten down to the roots. I just don’t know what to do. Can you help me solve the problem? – Mrs. John Bielefeldt, Chicago Heights, Ill. A. Exclusion is tricky but effective. Fencing or hardware cloth around the […]
Q: Enclosed are two pictures&emdash;one of my seemingly healthy primrose, the second one taken a few weeks later&emdash;not so healthy. Could you please diagnose this problem and suggest a cure or possible preventive treatment for later use? I enjoy your column very much. Thank you for helping. – Pat Ritter, Bloomfield, Ind. A: This is a direct result of our extremely wet weather this year. Oenothera species have many different names, including Ozark Sundrop or […]
Q: Three years ago, we planted two Bradford pear trees at our lake cottage. One bloomed for the first time this spring. It is on the northwest side and gets plenty of sun. The other tree has never bloomed. It gets full sun, has very healthy looking leaves and is planted on the south side of our cottage. What can we do to make this tree bloom? We also have a dogwood tree planted at […]
Q: I read your article about cat litter in the garden. Now I have a problem. We have had cat litter in the garden for years. Besides my throwing it out there, when my husband makes the garden in the spring, my cats are thrilled because they have a large, easy-digging, litter box. Now what can we do? Is there something we can do to neutralize all this? From now on, I can throw the […]