In the garden

— Q My granddaughter returned from a trip to Hawaii and brought me a stalk from a plumeria plant.

It did have some directions for care and planting with it, and I went to the Internet for more information.

But I would like any hints or suggestions you might have for the care of this plant in this part of Arkansas (Cabot). Any help or ideas you have would be greatly appreciated.

A It is amazing that the tiny pieces of plumeria stalks that are sold in plastic bags at every souvenir shop in Hawaii actually grow and turn into flowering plants here.

We had a Master Gardener in Hot Springs who did the very same thing, and once they started flowering, he was hooked. He started buying the plants and wound up with many of them - in all colors. They are quite fragrant and so showy when flowering. The plants are not winter hardy, so you have two options.

One is to put the plant indoors for the winter, inside a heated house or greenhouse. Or you can lift the plants out of the soil in the fall and store them, bare root, in a garage or under the house in the crawl space. You can also root cuttings to share with friends. Wait for all chance of frost to pass and then plant outside. They won’t bloom usually until mid- to late summer but will give you a couple of weeks of outstanding display. They need at least six hours of sunlight per day outdoors.

Q My lawn is zoysia and is currently dormant, but I’m having a lot of bluegrass appear. There is too much of it to pull by hand. If I act quickly, can I spray the bluegrass with Roundup and not damage the zoysia?

A Unfortunately, you cannot spray zoysia with Roundup. Even though it looks totally dormant during the winter, there is a layer of green close to the soil line that could be damaged. Annual bluegrass is a tough weed to kill once it starts growing. Revolver is probably your best option.

Another option is to keep it mowed as it begins to grow and set seed in late spring.

Bluegrass is an annual weed that will die out with warm weather, but it sets a prolific amount of seed before it goes, which makes your weed problem worse each season. A pre-emergent in the fall can also help prevent it from growing.

Q Every March I remove all the leaves from our flower bed and add 3 to 4inches of shredded hardwood mulch. This fall I blew all the leaves from my lawn into the beds, and it is 3 to 4 inches of leaves. Right now the bottom part of the leaves is wet.

Should I remove the leaves and add the mulch? Would it hurt perennials and bulbs to add mulch over the leaves? Is there any advantage either way?

A It depends on what you are growing. Leaves make great mulch in their own right, but I prefer them shredded, not whole.

Whole leaves tend to pack down too much and can inhibit the germination of seedling flowers or more tender bulbs. They make a great weed barrier, though, around woody shrubs. They also aren’t as attractive whole as shredded. If you have mainly woody plants, it shouldn’t be an issue, but smaller herbaceous plants can be hindered under large wet leaves or a heavy layer of smaller leaves.

Q I have taken up ornamental grasses used as foundation plantings on the north side of my house and am completing redoing the beds, which measure 10 feet. I am being really selective and want some evergreen shrubs that I can intersperse with color as seasons change.

Cannot find shade-loving shrubs that don’t grow 20 feet tall! Would red tip photenia work? We have some on the south side of the house and they are lovely.

A Do not plant red tip photenias - not only are they disease-prone, but they will grow 15 to 20 feet tall. There are many great shade-loving shrubs that don’t get over 4 to 6 feet tall. Aucuba, cleyera, Illicium, plum yew and mahonia are all shade lovers. Leucothoe, sweet box and skimmia are other choices. Boxwoods and hollies will grow in sun or shade, and if it is light shade, you can grow camellias, azaleas and hydrangeas. They do best with filtered sunlight or morning sun and afternoon shade. You ought to plan a trip to Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs - it is a botanical garden where you can see plenty of options for your yard.

TIP

When it comes to animal problems, we are always on the lookout for new solutions for control, or at least prevention. Here is a tip passed on by a reader. I would like to hear about your results:

“The squirrels were tearing up the flower pots with flowers on my porch. My daughter told me to try putting mint in the pots. I had some mint tea bags, and I put one in each pot - no more squirrels!”

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 03/02/2013

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