DEAR READERS: Several have written in about ants and hummingbird feeders. Here are a few suggestions they had:
• Ants don't like water. Make a water barrier.
• The easiest and least messy way to stop ants in their tracks is by using an anti-ant moat. You hang it from your existing mount. Put up the moat and then the feeder. Basically, the moat is a cup that holds water that ants won't cross, and that can be refilled each time you replenish the food. I have used them for three years and they are great.
• I found an ant moat at the local hardware/discount store and it works great. No more ants!
• To make your own, all the materials necessary are a wire coat hanger, an empty Cool Whip-type container, a small piece of wood and epoxy. Cut the bottom end of the coat hanger and bend a hook on one end. Pierce the container and a small piece of thin wood with the coat hanger, pulling the wire through. Bend the other end of the wire and apply epoxy to the inside and outside of the hole in the container, attaching the wood to the bottom to provide additional support for the container. After curing, install this barrier between the feeder and its hanger and add about an inch of water to the container.
Q I have a butterfly bush (buddleia) that I planted early this summer. It has bloomed quite a bit for as small as it is. I wonder if I should prune it to help it grow taller since it hasn't grown much taller at all, but has spread out a lot clear down to the ground.
A Do you know what variety you planted? Many of the new varieties are quite short at maturity. One I particularly like is "Lo and Behold," and it will grow wide rather than tall. Wait to do any pruning until late February. The plant should continue blooming and growing now, and at this time of year you don't want it wasting any energy trying to regrow after pruning.
Q I forgot to prune my azaleas this year after they finished blooming. Now I'm afraid it's too late. Should I just selectively prune the wild branches and leave the rest?
A It is too late to prune azaleas. Many of our spring-blooming plants already have flower buds set for next year's blooms. The milder growing season has helped plants thrive this summer, and they are ahead of schedule. If you prune now, you will be removing flowers.
Q I have some heritage raspberry plants that are 3 years old. The plants look good, great color and growth, but they have never bloomed. I have them in two separate beds. One gets morning sun, and the other one gets evening sun. I had these plants in my old home garden, and they did well. What do I need to do to help them produce?
A Raspberries need a minimum of six hours of sun to produce flowers. That could be the only reason I can think for absolutely no blooms. I have one in a pot on my deck that barely gets six hours of sun, and I get a small crop every year, but I know I would get more if it had more sun. See if you can't increase the sunlight, or move them to a new location this fall.
Q Our property and the adjoining property have 25 dogwoods we planted 25 years ago as good-size trees. One of them looked like a lower limb was shriveling up, and a week later the whole tree looks dead. It's 30 feet from two other dogwoods that look great. Suggestions?
A Inspect the damaged tree. I would suspect either borers or crown canker. Look for any wounds or damaged areas on the trunk from the base up. Dogwoods are sensitive to damage from weed eaters and lawn mowers and, once damaged, often die within a few years. Sometimes they succumb just to the disease, and other times borers finish them off. You would see evidence of their presence by holes in the trunk.
Janet B. 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 email her at
HomeStyle on 08/09/2014