QUESTION
I have enjoyed my Paper whites, now they have had it. How should I cut/store them for next year? I have been surfing the web with no luck. Can you help?
Lisa

ANSWER
I presume that your paper whites have been grown in a pot for indoor display. If so they will be exhausted and the only thing to do is plant them in the yard, they will not be much good for a couple of years but will flower well after that.

QUESTION
New to gardening. Can I place my Seed potatoes into plastic boxes or even lined with newspaper please. Cannot find wooden boxes as suggested in gardening books.
Thank you.

ANSWER
Plastic itself as a material will not harm the potatoes. If you use a plastic box there must be ventilating slots in the side and floor of the box, plastic will not breath like wood. Confined in a plastic box without ventilation the potatoes will sweat and rot.

QUESTION
Dear Sir, We have a south facing window in front of our house that overlooks our various bird feeders. The only problem is that there is not much cover for them from the wind, hawks, cars going by (its not a highly travelled area). We have a Japanese maple as well as a Sugar Maple in our front yard but that is it.

I was wanting to plant some type of evergreen shrub/hedge about 7-10 feet from the feeders in an arc shape or just to border our front lawn (35x45 feet) on two sides. What evergreen shrubs/hedges do you suggest? I want something that provides cover but also protects from the weather elements and probably be in the 3-5 feet height range - with pruning.

So far I have come up with (in no order): Canadian hemlock, Boxwood, Firethorn, Holly which of these do you suggest or have any others?

Thank you very much!!!
Daryl

ANSWER
Good winter cover evergreen shrubs for small birds; Berberis Stenophylla; yellow flowers in early summer, plant has small thorns. Lonicera, Baggesen's Gold; Small close leafed golden at times. Aucuba Japonica, variegated Laurel, Handsome winter shrub.

Vibernum Tinus; pink winter flowers, good for giving protection to small birds during the winter, both from the weather and from predators and good for feeding winter moths.

QUESTION
I have blackberry bushes that were full of fruit last year. I would like the same this year. What kind of fertilizer should I use and when? The previous owner took care of this; it is all new to me. Are there any other tips on keeping them healthy and producing berries?
Thanks for your help. Heidi

ANSWER
You need high potash, high phosphates, low nitrogen fertilizer, apply March-April. Sometimes the berries develop mould as they begin to ripen, spray with an anti fungal (blight) spray. Do not spray in the heat of the day.

Do not spray ripe berries, dangerous to you and to any wildlife that might eat the berries. If your plants are the cultivated varieties, prune the growth after fruiting, cutting off any wild growth. If they are the wild types cut them down severely after fruiting.

QUESTION
Hello, I have a magnolia that is about 7 yrs. old I believe its a Ricky or rustica rubra, it has never bloomed. why? How?
Thank you. Jean

ANSWER
The soil is probably too acid, spread some garden lime around the tree about two pounds should be enough. Do this now, or when the snow has cleared, according to where you are.

Feed with a HIGH potash fertiliser after the leaves are fully out. A mineral feed in summer would also help. The tree should flower next year, but no guarantees. Soil testing kits are widely available at garden outlets.

QUESTION
Help!! We just got an 8-month-old puppy that likes to dig. With our warm winter so far this year 2006, (Chicago land area) she has had a field day and I'm afraid I won't have any bulbs growing this spring!! A few well-meaning friends suggested placing mothballs in the soil where she likes to dig, saying she won't like the smell. My question to you is this: Will putting mothballs into the soil harm the soil in any way as it disintegrates? I don't want to harm the soil for any future plantings.

ANSWER
I am afraid that I am no expert dog trainer, so I can't help there, but mothballs will not harm the soil. You could always pray for a hard frost. Or make a soil box for your puppy too play in.

QUESTION
Help I have a little lawn but I want to do a dressing for it I have heard of sand and lawn seed mix how do you do this please regards Dave

ANSWER
The procedure is to spread the mix thinly and evenly over the lawn, then roll in with a heavy roller. You can spread by hand or use a seeding machine, available from tool hire stores. You will need to protect the area from small birds that like grass seeds for breakfast. Garden lime spread over the area after sowing and rolling will keep birds off and will benefit the soil quality as a bonus. Best sand to use is sharp silver grit sand if you are making your own mix. March or April is the time to do the job, your seeds will rot if applied now.

QUESTION
Need suggestion as to how (and when if temperature is an issue) to remove English Ivy from brick. This Stuff is eating my house!

ANSWER
Now is the best time before fresh new roots start as spring arrives. These new roots can easily be left in the brickwork joints. There are specialist weed-killer sprays available, which will kill ivy and it would be best to spray any new growth that appears in spring with one of these preparations. Most weed killers will not kill mature ivy because the wax coating on the leaves is not penetrated and the mixture just runs off the plant. Valecroft

QUESTION
I have a juniper I cut back and tried to reshape. Now where I have cut, it is all dead. Do I cut out the dead stuff and fertilize. Or how do I get it back into shape? Please help, Thank You
Lauri

ANSWER
Feed with a high nitrogen fertiliser, also feed with a handful of Epsom salts as a mineral feed. New growth should appear in the spring, but it will be a long job for the plant to re-establish itself. It could be easier to discard the present specimen and buy a new bush and this time trim it lightly as the years go by. Valecroft

QUESTION
Hi I have been told that bronze leaf begonias are cross breeds I would like to try this for myself what 2 types of begonias would I need if you can help me on this thanks JO.

ANSWER
It is highly unlikely that you would be able to find a pure breed of begonia; all on offer are cross breeds or hybrids to give them their correct description. If you did find true begonia strains from specialist seed collectors, the high heat levels needed and the microscopic work needed to fertilise the flowers, would render the whole process beyond reasonable effort.

QUESTION
Hi,
Could you please suggest something to plant in front of my ugly green composting bin which will both help to obscure it a little and yet not take off life Jack-in-the-Beanstalk by being close to this source of nutrition. The bin sits on soil right at the bottom of my small (70ft long) garden. At present it has a Cornus sanguinea and a Hamamelis Mollis behind it. Now while the Witch hazel is largely unaffected by any seepage from the compost, the Cornus has grown hugely, so that in summer it is out of all proportion with the rest of the garden (although its winter stems are a delight). The only thing I can think of to replace the Sanguinea with is another rose, but we're looking at the end of the garden that has the least sunshine and light, except in high summer, and the air down there doesn't circulate much, so aphids and other creepies might be a problem. I tried planting gladioli all around it, but they just didn't come to anything. Oh, and behind the Sanguinea and the Witch hazel is the glass of the little greenhouse, SOS not another spreading shrub, please.
Thank you for any ideas. Pamela

ANSWER
I would suggest a weeping cotoneaster. This is an evergreen plant that is covered in coral coloured flowers in spring, and then covered in red berries through the winter. The shrub can be trained up a pole to the desired height and will form a neat bush weeping down to ground level. Valecroft.

QUESTION
Hi I have a small garden that is mostly shade some sun in the morning and evening. I have a camellia, it is about 2 or 3 ft high but it has only bloomed once. It is a great looking shrub but I am so disappointed that it won't bloom, I have worked around it, and give it miracle grow. But nothing. I also have a jasmine vine and bougainvillea that won't bloom. Please help me!! Do I need to do something to my soil?
Thanks Sissy

ANSWER
Camellia like an acid soil, so a generous application of garden peat around the plant will help here. Also feed with an acid fertiliser, as sold for heathers.

You mention that the shrub gets some sunshine morning and evening. This would suggest that the plant could be facing south, a camellia should not face south, the flower buds are formed before winter and freeze solid in a night time frost then thaw out slowly during the day. If the plant is facing south, the buds thaw out too quickly and the bud is severely damaged and lost.

Therefore, no flowers on an otherwise healthy bush. The reverse is the case if you live in Australia New Zealand etc.;

Your jasmine vine and bougainvillea would benifit from an application of garden lime to raise the Ph level of the soil.
Valecroft.

QUESTION
Hi there
I live in Vancouver.
My house is built on rock and there's very little soil so I have a container garden consisting of about 100 pots of various sizes. The largest one is about 3' high and about 3' across. At the moment, it is occupied by a rose tree, which had been carelessly dug out of its original home and has not flourished since I brought it here. I want a continuously flowering tree or shrub there. So I chose a Lantana and, on Sunday, went to buy one.

When I got to the cash register, another customer who, she told me, is a professional gardener, said to be careful because Lantanas are only truly perennial in hot climates. She said that, each winter, I would have to move it close to the house or into a garage. Well it's a 6' tree and I can't see anyone digging it up each winter. And the people at the nursery didn't seem to know anything about it. The exposure in that spot is full sun daily until about 4:00.

The climate here is hot from May-late August, with enormous amounts of rain from November to March/April. We get two or three snowfall events each year--snow often melts immediately, sometimes it may stay for a day or two. It usually only freezes at night, if it freezes at all. My question is, if I plant the Lantana, will it die after the first year? (Lilac is one option but it doesn't flower long enough. The only other option is another rose tree.) Thanks very much.

ANSWER
Lantana is a warm climate species and though you could protect in winter by moving into a frost-free but well lit area, it hardly seems worth the bother. Day length could affect flowering ability. Better to buy something that is naturalised to the area.

QUESTION
Please advise. I want to plant a few sweet cherry tomatoes this spring but I have no idea what variety is the sweetest and best growing? I've looked online and every company claims that their tomato is the sweetest. They can't all be right. What would you advise for a sweet tomato to grow in southwest Missouri? Thank you. Dave

ANSWER
A Particular Tomato can be sweet in one zone and be useless in others so I cannot advise a right variety. Best to ask at your local garden outlet, which variety is best for the area. Or better still, you could contact your local University agricultural/horticultural outreach department, for impartial local advice.

QUESTION
We live in the Southeast part of North Carolina and about three or four years ago we planted a Rose of Sharon. We were very careful to plant per instructions and each year we get an abundance of buds, however, very few if any open. We trim the shrub, fertilize etc. The shrub looks very healthy, no bugs and last year had so many buds it pulled the branches down.

Could you please explain why the buds do not open or suggest something we might try to help in this matter? Thanking you in advance, Rita

ANSWER
You are being too kind to your plant. Rose of Sharon is a scrubland plant and thrives on poor conditions. They are a popular plant for public amenity plantings, etc. and will stand much abuse. The buds on your plant are probably rotting inside due to too much soft growth, a result of overfeeding.

Just turn your back and ignore the plant and flowers should soon appear.

QUESTION
I live in central Virginia. The weather has been so warm that my tulips are coming up. Is there anything that I can do to save them? I don't believe the weather will stay warm long enough for them to bloom!

ANSWER
Below a certain temperature tulips will simply stop growing and resume activity when conditions are again tolerable. The only danger is rodents eating the leaves, but tulip leaves are not very tasty. Even if the flowers are damaged or wiped out by a frost, the bulb should survive providing the leaves survive. The leaves are necessary too produce the food for next years flower.


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