Answer: I have seen grass grow in permanently sodden areas, but it won’t make a deep root system and thus will be very much subject to drought stress. Black Beauty will help with the drought problem. You should till compost (Chesapeake Green) and water holding polymers into the soil in the sandy areas. Feed with Turf Trust and Super Bio.

Question: I live in Parkton, MD (Northern Baltimore County). I would like to know what blueberries you offer that are the largest and sweetest, to grow in our area. I would like to plant the bushes either this fall, or perhaps next spring. Can you offer some suggestions as to which to buy? I would like to have a great abundance of berries from July to August, to pick, eat and freeze! I appreciate any information you could share!

Answer: Our web site, www.CarrollGardens.com describes the blueberries (Vaccinium) we carry. Some may be out of stock now, but a few unlisted varieties may also be available at the nursery. In general, the larger the berry, the fewer berries you will have. All the blueberries we carry do well in Maryland. A few hints for blueberry culture:

1. All require rich, well-drained, very acid soil in full sun. In these conditions, with adequate fertilization, they are the easiest, most reliable of all fruits.

2. All take several years to produce a good crop.

3. Bare root mail order blueberries usually do poorly.

4. Select several varieties. For a bountiful crop, blueberries require pollination of different cultivars. The more varieties planted together, the bigger the crop will be. Choose early, mid-season and late varieties for the longest possible crop.

Question: I just had two trees cut down; one was a walnut and the other was a maple. I had the tree people ground up the trees and the stumps. They left the wood chips in a big pile. Can I plant other trees right now in the same holes? And can I use the chips as mulch? How do I prepare the hole to plant the tree? There is mostly ground up stump with a little soil mixed in. Do I need to remove all of the wood? Also on the radio show last week you said you preferred bagged mulch to bulk mulch, but I didn’t catch the reason. Could you repeat it?

Answer: Walnut chips or stump grounds cannot ever be used as mulch. Walnut is poisonous to many plants. If the tree people left the walnut chips and the maple chips in two separate piles, you can use the fresh ground maple, as well as the maple stump grindings, as a one inch deep under-mulch covered with an inch of good mulch. Before you lay down fresh green mulch, be sure to sprinkle a granular fertilizer such as Plant-Tone or Cottonseed Meal over the entire area. When fresh mulch decomposes, it uses up the nitrogen that is in soil and you need to replace it. Fresh wood chippings should never be applied more than one inch deep; because in quantity they can heat to incredibly high temperatures. The heat, along with the by-products of decomposition, can severely damage some plants.

You can plant a tree immediately in the same place where the maple stump was ground out. But you must replace most of the stump grounds with top soil. No more than 20% of the mix can be fresh mulch. I am presuming that the stump has been thoroughly ground out and there is not a “plate” of wood at the bottom of the hole. I often come across trees that supposedly had their stumps ground out only to find out that only 1-2 inches has been ground out and further grinding or axing is necessary to plant a tree in the same hole.

Most trees will not thrive in the hole where the walnut was. I suggest you remove all of the walnut stump grounds and delay planting in that place for two to three years. At that time, restrict your choices to walnut tolerant trees.

I prefer bagged mulch because in the sun the bagged mulch heats up and sterilizes. I have seen several homes this year where the entire landscape has become infested with noxious weeds that came in with poor quality bulk mulch. Then you have two options.

1. Remove the landscaping, hold the plants in a temporary bed, kill all the weeds with glysophate (several applications) and replant the landscaping in the fall or next spring.

2. Remove all the mulch and hopefully all of the weeds will come along with it. In some cases, I know this latter option will not work; the weeds (thistle, nut sedge and wild morning glory) have already rooted into the soil below the mulch.

Question: I have been dividing up my Stella de Oro daylilies for years. I must have 50, all grown from 6 plants. After I divided last year, this year there is part of one plant that looks different; it appears not to be Stella de Oro. The leaves are larger, the blooms are taller, they are not the same shade of yellow and they don’t seem to rebloom. Last year you explained how my rose turned from yellow to red and from a bush rose to a climber. Did my Stella change in the same way?

Answer:  Your Stellas must have seeded themselves and one young seedling was at the base of the mother plant. Stella de Oro does not come true from seed; so the seedling is a different plant. When you divided the Stellas, you included this seedling along with one the divisions. If this rogue plant is pretty, just separate it from the Stellas and plant it somewhere else in your garden. Each seedling is unique. Congratulations on having a plant that no one else has!

Answer: I suspect you had a staggered hatch of gypsy moths. Spray the gypsy moth caterpillars in the evening with either Sevin or Orthene. You will not know whether the tree will resprout until next spring and its going to look ugly until then. Depending on how bad the damage is, some branches may sprout and some may not. Next spring cut out the dead branches. Monitor the tree very carefully for caterpillars. At the first sign of them, spray.