Question:  The following is in response to literally dozens of questions we have received over the last week-- all about evergreens (especially hollies, yews, junipers, Leyland cypresses, rhododendrons and azaleas) that have turned brown and look like they are dying---winter damage.

Answer:  In almost all cases where I have done a physical inspection, the plants are partially alive and will re-grow. I’m sure the tips are dead and there is plenty of life well into the plant, but I can’t be sure about the intermediate branches. I suggest refraining from any pruning until the new growth commences and you can determine what is alive and what is dead. Meanwhile I suggest fertilization and bio-stimulation of the root system with products like Cottonseed Meal, Kelp Meal or Seamate, Grow-plex G and Super Bio. I have the most hope for the hollies and the least hope for the badly damaged yews, junipers and Leyland cypresses.

Question:  Last year I started a new garden along a fence line by laying newspaper over existing turf to kill the grass. This plot measures about 9 by 40 feet. I want to plant some vegetables, and permanent shrubs, etc in this area. This spring I inspected the area to find that it has been overrun with weed onions. What do you suggest to rid the area of these weeds and ready my soil for planting?

Answer:  These onions are not easy to eradicate. You can lift them out carefully with a spading fork, but some will surely escape because they form little bulbs that cling loosely to the mother bulb. When you lift the mother bulb, these little bulbs just fall away into the soil to sprout later.

Another method is walk all over the onions to wound the leaves. Then spray with a liquid lawn weed killer to which you have added a liquid spreader sticker. Use either Gordon’s Amine 400 or Gordon’s Trimec lawn weed killer, plus the spreader sticker. Using this method, complete eradication also takes a couple of years, in my experience. I suggest you forgo planting vegetables in any year you treat the bed with lawn weed killer. In fact, I would not plant either perennials or vegetables until the wild onions are totally under control. (You can carefully spot treat around shrubs in subsequent years).

Question:  When we moved in four years ago we had a well established thriving lavender garden. Three years ago I mulched the lavender bed with hardwood much. That year the lavender withered and all of the roots were black, damped off and rotten. I waited another year then pulled the old lavender and replanted. This time I put a bit of fireplace ash around last winter. The lavender bloomed last summer after planting but now they all look dead. What do you think is causing their death and root rot?

Answer: The following is my reaction to your problem:

1. Possibly you planted the wrong variety of lavender—not all lavenders are equally hardy.

2. Is the spot too wet?

3. I have had the best luck growing straight Lavender angustifolia or a Lavender intermedia (a French lavandin) such as Provence. Choose a spot in full sun all day long. Prepare the soil with 1/3 coarse sand, 1/3 Chesapeake Blue crab compost and 1/3 native top soil. Test the soil for PH. Ideal PH is about 7.5. If the soil needs to be made more alkaline, use Heart and Soil (or wood ashes) mixed into the soil when planting. Lavender should be mulched in the fall with 1” of coarse sand only. Never use wood mulch. Fertilize only in the spring with FertileGro. Use no liquid fertilizer. I suggest a new location; but if you must use the old one, treat the soil with Super Bio. Trim lavender back by one-third to one-half in the early spring. They should never be trimmed in autumn.

Question:  I would like to line my driveway of my new house with some kind of flowering tree. At my old house I had Bradford pears and they were an absolute disaster. As soon as they got nice and big they split apart in the storms. When I talked to you in the garden center last week you recommended “hedging my bets” and planting clusters of different kinds of trees. I understand where you are coming from, but I am a gambler and we really want to line our driveway with a single variety of tree that would make a dramatic display when it blooms.

Answer:  As I recall, your driveway was over 100 feet long and was wide open on both sides. For a fabulous display I suggest medium pink flowering Japanese weeping cherries. Just be sure to set them about 20 feet in from the edge of the driveway so that delivery trucks don’t break off the pendulous branches.

Question:  Our temperature has been rainy and unseasonably hot and my grass is growing like crazy. How often should I cut the lawn in the spring?

Answer: Determining when to mow should be based on the growth rate of the grass, not on the calendar. To keep your lawn looking its best and healthiest, remove only about one-third of the leaf blade each time you mow. Another good practice is to change direction with each mowing. This keeps the turf growing in an erect, upright position rather than leaning in the direction it was mowed.

Keep your mower blades sharp, especially if you are using a rotary mower. Dull blades rip and shred the grass instead of cutting it, making the grass weaker and susceptible to diseases. It also leaves the grass pale and ragged a day or so after cutting. A dull blade is one cause of clippings that fail to eject cleanly and lay in clumps on top of the lawn. With a rotary mower, the blade should be sharpened at least twice a year.