Recent Q&As
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Q&A – What kind of tree is this? -A: Sumac
Question:
This tree was in the backyard, when we moved in. Can you please tell me what it is. Should we keep it? Answer: UT Extension Horticulture Specialist Carol Reese identifies this as a smooth sumac. She says that sumac will form a colony if you don’t keep up with it and remove the root suckers. An individual plant could grow to about 20’. If it is a female it will have clusters of red berries in the fall which provide the main source of winter food to bluebirds. Related Resources: Plant of the Week: Sumac, Smooth Smooth Sumac Sumac |
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Q&A – I have a strange bloom on my tomato plant. What is it?
Question:
I have a tomato plant in full sun in a container. Today, I noticed a peculiar bloom on it. It looked like a sunflower with a number of regular tomato blooms surrounding it. Is this normal? What type of tomato plant makes this flower? Has it been cross bred with something else? Answer: Many larger fruited tomato varieties will occasionally produce these large blooms – called megablooms. It is where several ovaries have fused together. The large flower will form a very large but misshapen fruit. This happens on tomato varieties like Beefsteak and Big Zac. Related Resources: Tomato Growing Tomatoes in the Home Garden |
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Q&A - Is fall a good time to divide my hostas?
Question:
Is now a good time to divide my hostas? Answer: UT Extension Horticulture Specialist Carol Reese says you can divide a hosta any time of year. They are tough. Fall offers a good time to let their roots get established over the winter. Alabama A&M University Extension Specialist Rudy Pacumbaba recommends pulling them apart instead of cutting the root ball to reduce damage to the plantlets. Related Video: Dividing Hostas Related Resources: Hostas Growing Hostas |
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Q&A – How do I prune my new raspberry plants?
Question:
This past spring I planted some red everbearing raspberry plants. They are primocords so I wanted to know how to prune them later this winter. I don’t want to ruin them as they don’t produce this coming spring. Please advise. Answer: There are two different kinds of raspberry (biennial[primocane/floricane] and everbearing) and each has its own pruning requirements. UT Extension Horticulture Specialist Carol Reese describes how primocane/floricane raspberries work. The plant will send up a primocane that will not bloom or set fruit the first year. The second year the same cane is called a floricane and will bloom and fruit. It will then die and can be removed. While the floricane is fruiting the plant will send up a new primocane for next year. Pruning consists of removing the floricane after it dies. The primocane can also be tipped to increase fruiting the next year. Everbearing raspberries fruit on the first year’s cane and then again on the same cane the next year. Alabama A&M University Extension Specialist Rudy Pacumbaba says the canes will fruit from the top down. In the winter or early spring prune off the part of the cane that has already fruited. The rest of the cane will fruit again the next year. As it is not definitive what kind of raspberry plants these are, do not prune until after next year. That way you can see if they are primocane or everbearing and prune correctly. Related Resources: Pruning and Training Caneberries (Blackberries and Raspberries) Growing Raspberries in the Home Garden |
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Q&A – When is the best time to plant daffodils?
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When is the best time to plant daffodils? Answer: Daffodils should be planted after the ground has cooled. UT Extension Horticulture Specialist Carol Reese says if the bulbs have already gotten a little chill they might immediately come up if planted in warm ground. Alabama A&M University Extension Specialist Rudy Pacumbaba recommends making sure the soil is moist and they are planted right side up. They should be planted in a hole three times as deep as the bulb is tall. They do not require any fertilizer or soil amendments. Related Videos: Planting Bulbs Related Resources: Spring Flowering Bulbs: Daffodils Spring-Flowering Bulbs |
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Q&A – I have lots of ivy on my tree. How do I get rid of it without killing the tree?
Question:
I have a large mass of ivy that is climbing my tree. How can I get rid of it without killing my tree? Answer: The best way to get rid of ivy on trees is to cut the ivy vines at the base of the tree. The ivy in the tree will die. UT Extension Horticulture Specialist Carol Reese says it will take years for the dead ivy to fall out of the tree, but it will eventually come down. She also recommends cutting and spraying all the ivy shoots that come up from the ground until the roots die. She recommends spraying glyphosate on the young leaves and shoots to kill the roots. If you do not want to use glyphosate, you will need to dig up all the new shoots until they stop coming up. If using chemicals do not use brush killer as that will harm the tree, just use plain Glyphosate. Read the label on the chemical to make sure glyphosate is the only chemical in the bottle. Related Resources: English Ivy Control Ivy Removal in a Home Landscape English Ivy (Hedera helix) |
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Q&A – My plum is blooming in the fall. What should I do?
Question:
I have a Plum Tree that bears fruit and is in full sun. This past Saturday (October 19) I noticed it was blossoming. Why is it doing that in the fall? Will this impact it's fruit production in the spring? Should I trim it? Answer: The last few months of this summer were very hot and dry. UT Extension Horticulture Specialist Carol Reese says the tree thought is went dormant. As soon as the weather cooled and rain fell, it came out of dormancy and started blooming. This will not have a long-term impact on the tree, but it will probably produce less fruit next year. Don’t prune it now, wait until the normal pruning time in late winter. Related Resources: Plum Home Garden Plums |
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Q&A – My pansies had blooms when I planted them. Now they don’t. Why?
Question:
In early October I planted pansies. They had blooms on them but have not bloomed since. What happened? Answer: There could be several reasons for this. UT Extension Horticulture Specialist Carol Reese thinks the plants may be putting their energy into root growth or may not be getting enough sunlight. Alabama A&M University Extension Specialist Rudy Pacumbaba wonders if they were fed with a high nitrogen fertilizer which stimulated leaf growth instead of flower growth. You should use a complete fertilizer. Some nitrogen is good to help with plant growth. The phosphorus and potassium contained in fertilizer will encourage flowers. Related Resources: Success with Pansies in the Winter Landscape: A Guide for Landscape Professionals |
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Q&A – How do I take care of Boston Ferns especially in the winter?
Question:
I have several Boston ferns hanging from my front porch. How do I take care of Boston Ferns? Do they need to come indoors for the winter? Answer: In the South (zone 7 and higher) you can keep Boston ferns out most of the winter. Alabama A&M University Extension Specialist Rudy Pacumbaba says if it is going to freeze you should bring them in. He also says that the soil in the pot needs to stay moist. Rudy says you need to keep up with them and remove the brown fronds or they will create litter. Indoors the ferns will just survive, not do any serious growing. They should not be fertilized while indoors. UT Extension Horticulture Specialist Carol Reese does not like ferns but she says if she did keep one, she would probably bring it into the garage for the winter then in the spring cut off all the fronds when it went back outside. Related Resources: Boston Fern, Nephrolepis exaltata ‘Bostoniensis’ Growing Ferns |
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Q&A – When should I cut back my pampas grass?
Question:
When should I cut back my pampas grass? Answer: Pampas grass provides movement and sound in the garden during the winter. It also provides shelter for wildlife. UT Extension Horticulture Specialist Carol Reese does not cut her pampas grass until late winter. Pampas grass will come out of dormancy early in the spring and she tries to cut the old grass just before the new shoots start to come up. Related Resources: Pampas Grass Ornamental Grasses |