The Japanese beetles that are eating your plants will soon become grubs that will devour your lawn roots and kill large portions of your lawn. Apply Mach 2 now to best control these grubs (and also sod webworms). The absolute deadline for applying Mach 2 is August 15th. But immediate application is definitely preferable. If you have had a large Japanese beetle population in your yard this year and you do nothing, unless you are in the midst of a long summer drought, almost surely you will have to replace large portions of your lawn in late fall.

Question: I have planted several packs (seed) of Heavenly Blue morning glories. The flower is not blue, but instead, purple. This has happened for 3 years now. The first year was the only year I actually had blue flowers. I did plant moon vine in the same location (as combination planting) and have never gotten any flowers from that. Any idea why? Are glories like hydrangeas in that the color is determined by soil PH?

Answer: Unlike hydrangeas, the color of true heavenly blue morning glories is unaffected by soil. I believe you are buying mislabeled seeds -- a common problem. Immediately before planting, I suggest you buy seeds from several packagers, the most reliable you can find, and keep track of which packages contain correctly labeled seeds.

Moon flowers take a long time to get started and they can be difficult to germinate. I suggest you soak moon flower seeds in water overnight and start them indoors in mid-late March.

Question: Can you propagate suckers from a crape myrtle tree?

Answer: Yes, presuming the suckers come up with some root (often they do not), they should be removed from the mother plant and transplanted in the spring, just before the new leaves form. You will increase your chance of success if you just sever the lateral connecting root from the mother plant one spring and dig up the sucker and transplant it the following spring. In general, the larger the sucker the better the chance of obtaining some roots with the sucker.

Question: Hi - questions from a novice gardener...

1. Is there such a thing as a rose plant that will climb quickly on an arbor and also has no thorns? If not, what else would be a colorful climber, that won't scratch my little grandchildren as they go through the arbor?
2. I have purchased some miscanthus grass (malepartus & cabaret) from you. My neighbor insists that I must cut them down low in early spring. Is this true?
Thanks.

To look their best next year, Miscanthus grass must be cut to the ground sometime between late fall this year and early spring next year.

Question: Hello Alan, I have one concern, I have crabgrass and I am not sure how to get rid of it. I also have brown spots in my grass? What should I do?

Answer: First, be sure you have true crabgrass by sending us a sample, bringing some into our store, or bringing your sample into another reputable garden center. Lots of folks mistake other weed grasses for crabgrass and not all weed grasses are controlled the same way. Once you determine that you do indeed have crabgrass, you can spray with MSMA crabgrass killer immediately. Applied this late, MSMA probably will result in only a partial kill, but the remaining crab grass will be so set back that they make less seed. Several applications of MSMA will be needed.

In October, the frost will kill any remaining crabgrass, but new crabgrass will germinate from seeds next spring. You can prevent all of these seedlings from germinating by applying Dimension Crab Grass Preventer in the spring at the same time the yellow forsythia shrub finishes blooming. No matter what you do this summer and fall, if you are not going to have crabgrass next year, the Dimension treatment is absolutely necessary.

Without knowing more about your brown patches, I cannot be absolutely certain. I suspect you have brown patch fungus. I suggest fertilizing the whole lawn with Turf Trust now at half strength and spraying at least the brown areas with Messenger Harpin protein at the same time. Hopefully the brown areas will stop spreading and green-up without using powerful fungicides.