Question: I seem to remember that the target date for spring rose care is the middle of March in zones 6 and 7.  Could you let me know exactly what it is I am supposed to be doing?

Answer: This is a great question, and one that we have been getting often this time of year.  In our Garden Club Newsletter Archive, we have a very informative article on Spring Rose Care.  Visit the Garden Club Newsletter Archive and once there, click on the link under the heading Roses dated 03.14.03.  There you will learn  what you need to be doing.

Use a light, professional soil mix, like Fafard. If you use an 8” flower pot you should be able to make 6 or 8 cuttings in the one pot. Dip the cutting end in rooting hormone powder and insert it into the soil about 1 1/2 inches deep. (Use a pencil to make a hole so that the soil doesn't knock off the hormones as the cutting is inserted). Press the soil firmly around each cutting with your fingers. If you feel the cuttings are a bit too hard and mature, use a liquid hormone called Dip 'n Grow. It works really well on hard-to-root woody cuttings. 

Water lightly and cover with a clear plastic bag, with a few small holes for ventilation, tied with a string around the pot. Place the pot in a bright window without direct sunlight. Hold the bag up with a stake so it doesn't touch the cuttings. Check the pot weekly to be sure the soil has stayed lightly moist and that none of leaves have rotted. If any leaves have rotted or fallen off, remove them. After about 6 weeks, check to see whether or not the cuttings have rooted. If they have, remove the plastic bag. Once rooted, the cuttings should be fed with SeaMate (1 tablespoon to the gallon of water) with every other watering. Do not separate and repot the cuttings until 2 months after initial rooting.

Question: My rhododendrons became infected with a fungal disease I believe; leaves would turn black & drop off. This has spread to my peonies. Same symptoms? We have pulled out the rhododendrons, tried a fungicide on the peonies, but are waiting to see what happens this spring. Do we need to remove the mulch that was below the rhodos & the peonies & treat the ground...if so...then what do we do before planting anything else in the rhodos place? I would like to plant more hydrangeas or viburnums there. I have questions about hydrangeas...at a later date! Thank you for any help you can give me. We live in zone 7 in NC.

Answer: I doubt you had the same fungus on the rhododendrons and the peonies, or that it spread from the rhodos to the peonies. Neither viburnums nor hydrangeas will be harmed by what remains of the rhododendron fungus. 

The fungus treatment you used on the peonies last year will do nothing this year. So, you do need to treat the peonies this year and I suggest you also spray the top of the mulch in all areas while you have the spray mixed. Spraying the mulch surrounding the peonies is particularly important, but you do not need to remove it. If it's getting thin, after spraying, you can cover with a layer of fresh mulch. However peonies should never be mulched with more than 2 inches of mulch in total and no mulch should immediately surround the shoots. I trust you cleaned up all the old dead peony foliage last fall. If not, do it now. I suggest you spray the peonies and surrounding mulch 3 times this spring. Use Bordeaux mix just as the shoots emerge, then use Captain 10 days later and follow up with Cleery 3336 in another 10 days. On the later sprays, be sure to thoroughly  spray the underside of the leaves as well. At the first sign of re-infestation (blackening in the leaves), reinitiate the spray program. 

Are you sure your soil isn't too heavy and moist to successfully support peony and rhododendron culture? If so, transplanting the peonies or amending the soil with compost and coarse sand is in order. Or the very least, spray the soil with Super Bio beneficial microorganisms every 2 to 3 months.

Question: I have an apple tree that I need to plant that was shipped to me. It is 3 feet tall and the roots are bare. The soil in my yard has a lot of clay in it. What is the best way to prep the soil and to plant the tree? Thank you.

Answer: Listed below is a copy of the instructions we enclose when shipping bare-root apple trees. 

Choose a well-drained location in full sun. Dig a broad hole (large enough to accommodate the roots when fully spread out, plus 6 inches all around). As long as the drainage is good, the hole need not be more than 3” deeper than the root mass. Mix the soil you remove with 1/3 humus or compost such as leaf grow. Remove the tree from the plastic bag and spread the roots out laterally in the hole. Back fill with enough soil mix so that the top most roots are no more than 1 inch beneath the soil surface (natural ground level). Continue back-filling and tamp the soil mix firmly around the roots with your fist. Fill with soil to ground level; use the remaining soil mix to form a water-holding collar around the edge of the hole. 

Water thoroughly, filling the well (remove the nozzle from the hose and force the soil around the roots by pressing the end of the running hose into the soil). Stake with 2 tall stakes, wire and an old hose to protect the tree. Mulch with 2 inches of good quality double shredded wood mulch (absolutely no more than 2 inches). Fill the collar with water again, if possible using SeaMate root stimulator and Super Bio beneficial microorganisms. Do not use “blue water” fertilizers. Water 2 to 3 times a week during periods of drought. 

Fertilize with a 100% natural organic fertilizer, such as Cottonseed Meal and Kelp Meal, once the leaves are full-size and then again in the fall. Fertilize again every spring and fall. Allow the stakes to remain in place 1 to 2 years. 

Apple trees often leaf sparsely the first season. The next year, normal full leafage will occur. Young trees often shoot leaf clusters from the base. Remove these shoots as they occur.

Question: Dear Mr. Summers;

I listen to Paul Parent's Garden Club on WTKK 96.9 in Boston on Sundays. I called, & mentioned my grass, & sod problem, (my land cover is always in the shade). Either the grass never grows, or it does grow sparingly for a while & then dies. I believe I live in Zone 7.

Paul instructed that I choose Jonathan Green's Black Beauty Grass. Will this mixture survive and flourish in the shade in my zone?

Paul also mentioned something about a seed splitter. I'm not quite sure what that is. Can you help me? Thanks. If this is ok for my location, then I can purchase some.

Answer: I disagree with Paul. Black Beauty grass seed is for sun to part shade. In my experience, Black Beauty requires at least 4 hours of good sun to thrive. I suggest you use Jonathan Green's Shady Nooks. It is the most shade tolerant mix I have found. Shady Nooks will grow well in the Boston area. But, it is possible to have places that are so shady that no grass seed will thrive. I suggest spring planting of grass seed in shady areas. I suggest 2 plantings of Shady Nooks (this spring and next). If Shady Nooks doesn't live, then no grass will endure and you should give up on grass and plant a ground cover or use some other non-grass design solution.

A "slit seeder" is a motorized seed planter you can rent to seed large areas. I wouldn't even consider a slit seeder on areas of less than 10,000 sq feet, absolute minimum.

Question: I have had a cumquat tree for three years. It goes outside during the summer and inside during the winter. This year I noticed that the leaves have a shiny, sticky surface on most but not all of the leaves. What is it?

This is the second spring/summer that we have lived here. Last year, the chipmunks virtually destroyed everything that I planted. Any remedies or should I just enjoy Alvin and Theodore? 

Enjoy your Saturday morning radio show and will be up to the store soon!!!!

Answer: Your kumquat probably has scale, a brown shell-like insect on the leaf undersides and branches. I suggest you leave it alone until you put it outside in mid-May. At that time remove as much soil as you can and repot it in a different pot. If the pot is valuable, scrub it really well with sudsy ammonia. Otherwise, just trash it and use a new one. At the same time, spray the plant with ultra-fine horticultural oil at the 2% rate. Spray again in a month, making sure to apply when the temperature is not scheduled to go over 80 degrees for 24 hours. Feed with Sea Mate (1 tablespoon of liquid concentrate to a gallon of water) every time you water. The kumquat should not suffer too much until mid-May but to prevent spreading the scale to other houseplants, you should isolate the plant for the next 2 months. 

Spraying oil in the house is really messy and scale multiplies slowly but surely. As an alternative solution to waiting, if we have a warm morning, you can move the kumquat outside, spray it and bring it inside in the afternoon once the spray dries. If you follow this procedure, the mid-June spraying may not be necessary, but the May spraying and the repotting will definitely be needed. Monitor the kumquat for recurrence of scale. It can be difficult to distinguish new ones from those that you have killed. If you squish them, the dead ones are hard and empty. Scale is difficult to eradicate; at the first sign of reinfestation, spray with the oil; but never when the temperature is forecast to exceed 80 degrees for 24 hours and never more than once in 30 days.