In the garden

— Q We live in Northwest Arkansas and have what we think is an elephant ear tree; the big leaves look like the elephant ear plant. We like the tree but it is in a bad location. It is at the corner of the garage.

During the growing season it extends over the sidewalk and grows higher than the roof line. We continually have to keep it cut back. I would like to move it but am not sure when the right time is and, most importantly, how big the root system is. The trunk is about 5 inches in diameter. I am pretty sure some of the roots are under the sidewalk and driveway and maybe under the garage foundation. Any ideas?

A There is no such thing as an elephant ear tree. I think you probably have a royal paulownia tree, or empress tree - Paulownia tomentosa. Its leaves are huge when it is in a juvenile state. As the tree ages, the leaves get much smaller, and it blooms with purple flowers.

The resulting fruit are woody capsules that pop open and scatter seeds everywhere, which can germinate and come up in flower beds, etc. It is not a hugely desirable tree, but many people like them. You can move it in the fall when it is going dormant. Take as much of the root system as you can easily move in a root ball.

Q Some neighbors and I in our Stagecoach Village community near Otter Creek have side yards on the north sides of our homes that are exposed to the public, so we’d like to put some shrubs against those north walls.

However, the areas get no sun, even during summer months. Do you know of any shrubs, bloom-producers or not, that will live and grow in areas where they get no direct sunlight? I’ve read that caladiums for lower growth can live in total shade, but we’d like to have some shrubs for some north windowless walls.

A There are numerous shrubs that do well in deep shade. Look at aucuba or gold dust plant and fatsia, which is hardy through central Arkansas;

both are shade-tolerant evergreen plants. Leucothoecomes in variegated or green, with standard-size and dwarf varieties available. Otto Luyken laurel, boxwoods and hollies are also pretty variable and will take shade. Illicium is a native shrub that will bloom in the shade. For light shade with filtered sun or morning sun, you can grow hydrangeas, camellias, azaleas and gardenias, but they do need some sunlight to bloom.

The plants I listed first can take pretty heavy shade quite well.

Q What should I do for my clumps of pampas grass? Cut back in early March, close to the ground, but with a little higher mound in the centers ... the centers have not started growing. We cleaned out the old debris when cutting back. They are 4 to 5 years old.

We must be doing something wrong. Should they have been cut flat to the ground?

Any help you can give me will be appreciated.

A If you missed a few years in the past cutting it back, the old growth can die back to the crown and cause the center of the plant to rot. Unfortunately, you need to dig up the plant at that point and throw away the dead crown or you have a green doughnut in the landscape, and it won’t set any plumes - the main reason people are planting it. I think it is easier to plant a new one or a different ornamental grass. Rarely can you cut pampas grass level with the ground; usually 12 to 18 inches is about the lowest you can take it.

Q Can you identify this plant? I found it in the woods around Rison. It was also growing along the road. It isn’t much of a plant, quite viney, with stickers, these puffball pink flowers and a long central root.

A The plant is commonly called sensitive briar, Mimosa microphylla.

Janet Carson is a horticulture specialist for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Write to her at 2301 S. University Ave., Little Rock, Ark. 72204 or e-mail her at

[email protected]

HomeStyle, Pages 35 on 05/12/2012

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