Question: I read an article in a magazine that suggested spraying roses with mild dish soap (like Ivory) and water to eliminate black spot on roses. Will this work? Do you have a better suggestion? My home is going to be on our community Garden Tour in June this year and I want my roses looking their best. Please help me.

Answer: In my experience, soap will not eliminate (or even significantly lessen) black spot on roses.

I suggest spraying with Messenger harpin protein as soon as the leaves get full size. Repeat every three weeks. At the very first sign of black spot spray with Infuse every two weeks, but continue with the Messenger.

Question:  My husband purchased the house we live in three years ago. The house was nine years old at the time. The lawn seemed to be neglected and I must admit we have not tended to it until now. My problem is that the lawn is in such poor condition I don't know where to start. Our front has a small hill which is bare of grass. It was all weeds. Now it is mostly mud. My question is where to start in the spring, do I weed or feed or plant grass seed?

Answer: I call your attention to our lawn care program. To answer your last question specifically, I do not recommend spring over-seeding of a sunny lawn. Instead I recommend you use the spring and early summer for fertilization, crab grass prevention and weed control. Then you can over-seed in late August or early September. My experience has been that in sunny areas, grass seed that has been planted in early fall establishes much better than spring planted grass seed.

Question: In a recent newsletter you speculated that chickweed can be controlled by spraying with certain lawn weed killers in the winter. I never got to spray my chickweed. Now that it has gotten cold can I still do that?

Answer: For control of winter weeds like chickweed you should spray when the temperature is at least 45 degrees. In the winter, on actively growing winter weeds even under the best of circumstances, control will be much slower. Usually, weeds that normally die in one week in the spring will take two or more weeks to die when sprayed in the winter. These weed killers work best when the temperatures rise to 45 degrees or more for several days immediately after spraying.

Question: I am thinking of using Pachysandra as a ground cover. Is all the Pachysandra the same or are there different types?

Answer: In addition to the common ground cover Pachysandra which is widely available, there are several specialty Pachysandras that make even better ground covers. I know of four specialty varieties. Variegated Pachysandra has creamy leaf edges with some creamy speckling on the inside of the leaf. It is the slowest growing of the various Pachysandra. Variegated Pachysandra really brightens up a dark, shady area. The variety Green Carpet has many more flowers than common Pachysandra. It is also darker green, lower growing and more sun tolerant than common Pachysandra. The variety Green Sheen has deep green leaves that are so shiny they look as if they have been dipped in lacquer. Cut leaf Pachysandra is the fastest growing of all and has leaves that are deeply serrated at the tips. The good news is that these Pachysandra are starting to become available by the flat of rooted cuttings, which makes them much more competitively priced with common Pachysandra.

Question: Two years ago I got a yellow shade Impatiens (not a New Guinea Impatiens) that bloomed beautifully. Last year my yellow Impatiens weren't nearly as nice. The flowers just didn't open up properly. What did I do wrong?

Answer: I am not sure you did anything wrong. I know of 2 yellow Impatiens for shade. One is grown from seed. The other one is grown from cuttings and is named Fusion Glow. This is the one you want. It has soft yellow flowers with small orange centers. And, they all open easily and fully under a variety of conditions. It likes morning sun and afternoon shade and grows about 15 inches tall. Fusion Glow is a real winner.