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Archives for July 2009

Cutting Scarlet Love Apples

[ad#promo-content-atf-200-left] Question: At what time are scarlet love apples (Solanum integrifolium) cut and how are they dried for winter? M.J.H., Nebraska. Answer: Harvest Solanum integrifolium, scarlet love apple, before they are fully ripe, as soon as they have colored completely. Wrap each separately in paper and store in a cool dry place.

What is an Offset?

[ad#promo-content-atf-200-left] Offsets – Short shoots that rise up next to a mature plant and can be used for propagation.

Consider the Container

Much of the fun in arranging flowers comes from having the right container. Containers actually speak to the designer, suggesting a direction, a period, a setting, a textural combination, a color combination or a mood. A bright yellow cookie jar would surely say a bright happy bouquet of daisies, a casual arrangement of marigolds or […]

What is a Nutrient Solution?

[ad#promo-content-atf-200-left] Nutrient Solution – A scientifically balanced blend of fertilizer and water that eliminates the guesswork of feeding your Plants.

Pyracantha has Fire Blight

Question: My large plant of pyracantha has fire blight. My plant is flaring up, one branch at a time. Nothing I have tried stops it. I cut off the affected branch, but the disease recurs. The leaves turn an odd red-brown and dry up on the plant. I have seen the same thing on azaleas […]

What is a Node

[ad#promo-content-atf-200-left] Node – The point on a stem from which a new leaf or stem will grow. Cut below the node and insert the node in water, and roots should develop.

Yucca’s Plants Best Friend… a Tiny Moth

“Don’t duct me. Don’t spray me. Don’t swat me. Please!” This could very well be the earnest plea of the tiny yucca moth, whose scientific name is Pronuba yuccasella. Without this tiny moth to pollinate the creamy-white waxen blossoms of the yucca plant, the beautiful Yucca filamentosa would soon die out, for it would fail […]

Yucca in the Landscape

Yuccas appropriately used in a garden give a feel of the plains or desert, much as rhododendrons would remind one of the Northwest forest, spruce trees of the Rocky Mountains, magnolias of the South or flowering cherries of Washington, D.C. Yuccas must be carefully used in a garden, for they are accustomed to dominating the […]

Cherry Plum Tree Shoots

[ad#promo-content-atf-200-left] Question: I have been offered some of the shoots that came up around a cherry-plum tree. Will these shoots produce the cherry-plum fruit, or will they produce something less desirable? Mrs. E.O., Minnesota. Answer: The cherry-plum, Prunus cerasifera, is not a grafted variety. Since it grows on its own roots, sprouts that come up […]