Q I hope you can help me find a firethorn bush. I live in Pottsville and am looking to buy one. I ordered one a few years ago from a nursery but now can’t find one.
I am moving and need to find a bush to plant in my new yard. If I don’t have one, I will miss it and so will the birds.
A Firethorn bush is commonly sold as pyracantha. It is usually available at nurseries, and I would even bet you could find it at most garden centers at larger retailers. It was commonly used espaliered on houses, but today even dwarf forms are available. Pyracantha does have thorns, and there are varieties with orange, red and even yellow berries, and yes, the birds do like them.
Q I recently planted a couple of blackberry bushes. I seem to have read some time ago that you do something to prevent the berries from coming on the plant the first year, is this true?
A While we do recommend removing the flowers on strawberries the first year to let the plant get established, that is not the case with the bush fruits like blackberries and blueberries. While they probably won’t have much production the first year - they set fruit on the older wood - they should give you a good harvest in year two and beyond. Remember that once a blackberry cane bears fruit, it dies, to be replaced by new canes that will bear the following year. As soon as you harvest the fruit this season, remove those canes that had fruit to give your new canes plenty of room to grow.
Q I have three plants that I need your coaching with. First is a Chinese snowball - when and how to prune? Second is the bridal reef - when and how to prune? And last, I have a forsythia that I found on sale last year in the middle of the summer. I planted it, but it suffered, even though I watered it. This year, it seems that only one branch is alive, but barely. It had no blooms this year. Should I cut away all the dead and prune the one stalk or should I replace the entire plant?
A Chinese snowball bush should be pruned immediately after flowering, if pruning is needed. For the “bridal reef,” I believe you are referring to bridal wreath spirea. It also should be pruned, as needed, after flowering. As for your forsythia, I think it needs some foliage to help manufacture food to help it rebound, so I would not prune it this year. Keep up with watering this season, fertilize lightly now and worry about reshaping it once it has something to shape. You can plant another one to keep it company, but if there is still one branch alive, it still has life left in it.
Q I have seen some vining type of plant with pale yellow flowers that are just lovely. They seem to be all over the hotel on University Avenue that is now the Clarion. Are they some different variety of Carolina jasmine with a paler bloom, and if so where do I get one? If not, what are they?
A The plant is a thornless rose called Lady Banks rose or Lady Banksia. The most common variety has a pale yellow double rose, but there are also some single yellow and double and single white varieties. They only bloom once a year, but when they are in bloom they are spectacular.
Q My lawn has gotten thinner and thinner as my trees have gotten taller and shadier, and weeds seem to be taking over. I have every weed known to man growing right now. What should I be spraying with? There are dandelions, violets, wild strawberries and wild onions.
A Lawn grasses grow thicker and stronger in full sun. The more shade you get, the thinner the turf and the more weeds you will get. Thin, weak grass can also breed more weeds in the sun.
The stronger the turf, the more competitive it is and the fewer weeds you will have. All of the weeds you mentioned are perennials, meaning they get stronger the longer they live, and they come back from the root system. I do not recommend using weed killers as the lawn is greening up, but once it is totally green, you could use a broadleaf weed killer to knock down some of them, but also before it gets too hot. All that you mentioned are also quite tenacious weeds, and one application is not going to kill them. Since they also thrive best in cool weather, as the heat increases these weeds will gradually go dormant, only to be replaced by summer weeds. Try to thicken your turf or replace it with a ground cover if the shade is intense. We do have lawn weed calendars on our website that can also help.
Different lawn grasses will tolerate shade and chemical sprays better.
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
HomeStyle, Pages 33 on 04/27/2013