Comment from Alan: “Grubs, Grubs, and Grubs” I have been to several homes this week where the lawn service supposedly treated for grubs. The only treatment that works for grubs at this time of year is Dylox. The grubs come to the surface and die within 24 hours of the Dylox being watered in. So either the lawn service isn’t using Dylox or they are putting it down in insufficient strength. So even if you have a lawn service, I encourage you to dig a few samples from your lawn and check for grubs. Even if you applied the Dylox yourself, I encourage you to check to be sure that you applied the Dylox sufficiently to kill all of the grubs. Incidentally, for several reasons, even lawns that were treated with Milky Spore are loaded with grubs this year. These lawns should also be checked and Dylox applied if necessary. Don’t wait for the lawn to turn brown, check now before the grubs can do all of their damage.

Question: My lawn has large areas that have turned from purple to brown and stopped growing. What should I do?

Answer: Undoubtedly you had crab grass which is a warm season grass. It turns purplish when the temperature cools and brown with the first killing frost. Crab grass is annual and there is nothing much you can do for it now. There is probably more good grass than you realize mixed in with the crab grass. I suggest you cut your grass short to gather up as many seeds as possible. Then fertilize this fall with either Turf Trust or Turf Tone so the grass can fill in from below amongst the corpses of the dead crab grass. In the spring when the forsythia blooms, apply Dimension Crab Grass Preventer to the whole lawn. This will prevent from germinating the many thousands of crab grass seeds that have already been dropped.

I suggest feeding your evergreens after Thanksgiving and in early spring with Cottonseed Meal and Kelp Meal.

Answer: This year I have noticed many hydrangeas, not just Endless Summer, with late buds that are exposed and trying to open now. I expect these buds will freeze and not open, which on many varieties of hydrangeas means no flowers next year. When new growth starts next spring, the Endless Summer will make new buds, whereas most other hydrangeas will not. Because of it’s prolific, long-season bloom, I suspect that every year the last few buds on Endless Summer will freeze out, but Hydrangea Endless Summer is just too new for me to be sure. This hydrangea does not require any pruning for best performance. If you desire to shape your Endless Summer or if it starts to grow too big, the best time to prune is in the spring just before the new leaves emerge.

Question: A few weeks ago I bought some of your Colchicum The Giant and they bloomed almost immediately after I planted them. Are there other types of bulbs that bloom in the fall?

Answer: Yes, there are several. There are other varieties of Colchicum including the white and the double which looks like pink miniature water lilies lying on the ground. It is aptly named Colchicum Water Lily. There is Sternbergia lutea which has deep waxy yellow crocus-like flowers. Sternbergia perennializes best in a hot, sunny dry place. There are several varieties of true fall blooming Crocus including crocus sativus (saffron crocus). For late summer and early fall bloom, there is the tall-growing pink-flowered hardy Lycoris squamigera, also called “Magic Lily”, “Resurrection Lily” and “Naked Ladies”. All of the above bulbs send up their foliage in the spring and their naked flowers in the late summer and fall. So they look the best planted amongst low-growing perennials. For very dry, shady spots you can naturalize the fall blooming Cyclamen neapolitanum (hederifolium). It has handsome marbled heart-shaped foliage and miniature pink cyclamen flowers. It will thrive in the most inhospitable dry shady spot, for example among the roots of a maple tree.