A little information we received from a customer concerning a question in the newsletter last week:

"I just received your newsletter, informative as always, thanks! Concerning the woman with the chipmunk problem, my cat has brought many a chipper into my house... I’m not sure if this method would be as effective outside, but I found wiring a walnut half to the trip-pedal in the have a hart trap to work quite well, otherwise, they just sneak off with it! Just thought I’d pass it along!"

We would also like to remind you that this is the time to put up your birdhouses. I noticed there are lots of birds looking for new homes. So, now is the time to clean out your old birdhouses or put up new ones, since the birds are actively seeking real estate.

Question: I have a large lawn and can only afford one application of Dimension Crab grass preventer this year. I have not applied my Dimension because the forsythia isn’t blooming yet in my area. I am going out of town Friday and I don’t expect to be back for 2-3 weeks. If the weather is warm, I am afraid the forsythia will be passed blooming when I come back. What should I do? Would I be better to put down the Dimension early or late?

Answer: I believe Dimension to be the most forgiving and longest lasting of all the crab grass preventers. Unlike other crab grass preventers, Dimension also kills very young crab grass seedlings as well as germinating seed. I suspect you will have almost 100% crab grass control even if you apply the Dimension right after the forsythia has finished blooming. I am certain it would be more effective to wait and apply the Dimension a little late than to make one application a little early and have it lose effectiveness before all the crab grass has sprouted.

Question: While driving around, I saw a low, soft yellow forsythia with green stems. It was planted on a sunny, steep bank and it seems to be hugging the bank and holding the soil. What was the name of this forsythia and do you recommend it as ground cover? The plants I saw were only about 1 ½ foot tall and made quite an attractive display. It has been blooming for almost a month.

Answer: I don’t believe you saw forsythia, I believe you saw the winter blooming Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum). It makes an excellent ground cover and is especially useful on steep hills in full sun to light shade. It has pendulous stems and matures at about 18 inches tall. Although it is leafless in winter, the green stems are quite handsome and it does root wherever it touches the soil. If you mulch well and keep the weeds from growing between the plants, Jasmine nudiflorum can be planted 3-4 foot apart. I have known one installation where economy was important and the Jasmine was planted 5 feet apart, but it took 3-4 years to fill in and thoroughly cover the bank.

I consider winter blooming Jasmine to be a much more desirable ground cover than Juniper. You might consider planting it in sweeps combined with St. John’s Wort (Hypericum calycinum) which also has yellow blooms. But it blooms in the summer.

Question: My yard is quite shady and I am determined to try some roses. A week or so ago you said that Knockout roses are very shade tolerant. Is Blushing Knockout equally as shade tolerant as the Red Knock Out? Which do you recommend?

Answer: I haven’t done a side-by-side test, but Blushing Knockout is at least as shade tolerant as the Red Knockout. (Sometimes plants with lighter color flowers seem to be slightly more shade tolerant than those with darker colored flowers). Blushing Knockout was found as a sport (mutation) on the Red Knockout. It should be the same in all other respects except color. In my opinion, Blushing Knockout is the choice for shade. The lighter color will show up better and probably blend in better with the whites and soft colors that tend to predominate in the summer shade garden.

Incidentally, several readers expressed surprise that so many Blushing Knockouts could have been grown from a single branch sport of Knock Out in so short a time. This is not an uncommon occurrence. Lots of new plants are intensively propagated from small mutations on mother plants. Rose Autumn Sunset was a mutation of Rose Westerland. Rose New Dawn was a mutation of the old Rose Doctor Van Fleet. Hosta June was a mutation of Hosta Halcyon. Hosta Loyalist was a mutation of Hosta Patriot and Patriot was a mutation of Hosta Francee. And there are literally thousands of other examples.

Question: I need to do a lot of transplanting of trees, shrubs and evergreens this spring. Everything is so crowded. But I am a little bit unsure about timing. How do I know what to transplant and when?

Answer: In general the ideal time to transplant is as the leaf buds are starting to break dormancy--just as they are starting to unfurl, up to the point they are about ¼ developed. You can transplant a few weeks earlier with almost no decrease of survivability.

In general, deciduous shrubs and trees break dormancy before evergreens.

The old timers used to say that you could transplant even the most difficult-to-transplant trees and shrubs when the leaves are as big as a mouse’s ear.

Question: Many of my evergreens look awful. My burford holly is all brown, my camellia buds are dead and the leaves are brown and my boxwoods look half dead. It didn’t seem like this was such a bad winter. Last year was what I thought was a much worse winter and the plants looked better. What happened?

Answer: Last winter when the weather was cold, we had snow cover. This year the ground was frozen for a long period of time and the plants could not take up water. There were several cold, windy nights when there was no snow cover to protect the plants from drying out while the ground was deeply frozen.

Just because the leaves are brown doesn’t mean the stems are dead. Before you cut back, I encourage you to wait and see where the new sprouts emerge.

Burford holly, Nellie Stevens holly, and to a lesser extent Foster hollies should not be planted in open, exposed areas in zone 6. Over the last several years, many have let down their guard and planted in zone 6 plants that are reliably hardy only through zone 7. A substantial amount of the damage that was seen this year is a result of this practice.

Question: We have a potted Norfolk pine that is about 3 feet high and very full. We water it about every 3 days but it is dying in spots and we have no idea what is causing it. We have not used any fertilizer yet and was wondering what to use?

Answer: If the Norfolk Island pine needs water every three days, either the location is too hot and dry or you are over-watering (unless you give it very little water each time).

Norfolk likes to be in a cool, sunny place. Pot in a clay pot with a good professional soil mix like Fafard. Put the pot in an oversize plastic saucer filled with pebbles so the water can evaporate through the plant and add humidity. Mist the foliage with clear water weekly. The pine does not like a wet soil, so allow it to dry out a little between waterings. Water thoroughly so the water runs through the pot and maintain the pebble tray so the water is one half inch over the pebbles. I suspect you will be watering every 5-7 days. Use Seamate at the rate of 1 tablespoon of liquid concentrate to the gallon of water every time or every other time you water the plant. Seamate does not go in the pebble tray water. If you can, summer your pine outdoors in a shady place.