Question:  I want to plant a perennial around my mailbox. It is in a mostly sunny area except for late afternoon. I like color, but I am not sure what I should be looking for. Do you have any recommendations? Something that blooms spring to autumn would be nice if it exists.

Answer:  The longest blooming perennial of any is the Stella de Oro daylily (Hemerocallis). It blooms yellow, but there is a similar daylily in pink called Rosy Returns. They both bloom in cycles from late spring until frost. The arching grass-like foliage looks particularly handsome around a mail box. I usually underplant these with daffodils for spring color. Blues and purples blend well with either the pink or the yellow daylily. So you could plant a clematis vine in blue or purple to climb up and over the mail box. These plants make good horticultural companions as well as color companions, because the arching daylily foliage shades the roots of the clematis and keeps them cool--a requirement for successful clematis culture.

Question:  I have a problem with growing dianthus. I've tried to grow different varieties - previously Zing Rose and Kinsey Blue to no avail -- and last year I added a Bath's Pink to a new rock garden I opened. It was huge this spring and bloomed beautifully. However the longer it bloomed the more brown it started getting in the center and now it is completely straw colored with only a couple of strands that are the pale green it should be. I trimmed it back to about two inches. Is there anything I can do to revive it? It is in completely full sun at the bottom of a slope hanging over a timber-- well it was hanging over until I trimmed it back. Do I need to add lime to the soil or do they go dormant or something?

Also, every year at this time all the leaves on my perennials look beautiful but as the spring and summer progress there becomes more and more holes and bite marks on everything - especially Hosta, and I noticed already long cuts on the edges of my Liatris. How do I prevent this from happening? Would a regimen of spraying with liquid Sevin keep the insects from munching on the leaves? I appreciate any advice you can give. I am a regular listener of your radio show and I read your newsletter every week. I have learned a great deal from you. Thanks! You are priceless!

Answer:  Let’s do the leaves first. I suspect you have slugs and/or snails. Bait generously with Bonide Snail, Slug and Sowbug bait throughout the summer. Be sure to put the bait under something like a board or a propped up flower pot saucer so the birds don’t get it. You can attract the slugs to the bait with lettuce leaves or melon rinds.

As for your dianthus, I don’t have a definitive answer, but I suspect it rotted. Dianthus likes very well-drained, alkaline soil, although I have known them to thrive for years in less than perfect conditions. I suspect the soil at the bottom of your slope is too moist, heavy and acid. I doubt your dianthus is going to revive to amount to anything much. Unlike many dianthus which are short lived, in the right spot Bath's Pink and Kinsey Blue are true long-term survivors.

I suggest you try again with Bath's Pink. Choose a spot in full sun to almost full sun, where the soil is naturally well-drained (further up on the slope?) Make a large hole and mix the soil with coarse sand, Chesapeake Blue Crab Compost in equal thirds. Mix in a couple of handfuls of Heart and Soil (processed wood ashes). Press the plant very firmly into the soil. Use marble chips as a mulch so the growth is not laying directly on the moist soil or wood mulch. Protect from rabbits, which love dianthus, and slugs which like to hide under the matted foliage.

Question:  I have been following your lawn care program and my lawn looked really great this spring. I have noticed the color is starting to lighten and I was wondering if I should fertilize again now. We have had a lot of rain where I live. I applied Dimension crab grass preventer when the Forsythia bloomed and so far I don’t see any crab grass. At the same time, I applied Confront for broad leaved weeds and a lot of them have disappeared, but at least some of them didn’t die completely and seem to be coming back. What do you recommend I do now?

Answer:  I suggest an application of fertilizer now. Use either Espoma 100% Organic Lawn Food at half strength, Turf Trust at half strength or Jonathan Green Organic lawn food at full strength.

Hard to kill weeds often require 2-3 applications of Confront for a total kill. It sounds to me like you need at least one more.

In most seasons only one application of Dimension Crab Grass Preventer is needed. Our spring has been so summer-like and wet that I suspect the Dimension is not going to give total crab grass control all season. If your season has been like ours in the mid-atlantic region and you want to be sure you don’t have any crab grass, a second application would be a good idea.