In the garden

Q I have a small colony of trout lilies growing in my backyard and I would like to move some of them to a different flowerbed. When and how should I do this?

A The trout lily is a wonderful native plant that grows from a small bulb-like structure called a corm. The plant is considered a spring ephemeral: It blooms, grows a bit and then dies back quite quickly in the spring. Mark where the plants are,and as the leaves begin to die back, gently lift some of the plants and harvest some of the corms. Move them to a location with similar conditions - shade, organic matter, etc. Plant at the same depth they are currently growing.

Only harvest from your own property - never dig from the wild.

Q My husband is itching to scalp our Bermuda lawn. It is pretty long, but only one person in our neighborhood here in Maumelle has done it so far.

We’ve pre-emerged and continue to post-emerge. When can we mow?

AI would not rush to mow for the first time, since it is already a late spring and who knows what more weather may come our way. Normally Bermuda grass does not fully green up until April, but you can be mowing winter weeds if you have them, to prevent seed set. When you do officially mow for the first time, do not scalp the lawn. There is a difference between setting the mower at a lower setting for the first mowing of the season and scalping the lawn - getting almost to bare soil. Scalping does a lot of damage and can actually hurt your permanent lawn and give weeds a foothold. Removing old foliage helps lawns begin the greening process, but don’t go too low.

Q A tree outside our house is about to bloom. Not sure what the tree is, but when bloomed out is very white and sheds the bloom shortly. The trunk on the tree is covered with little holes. Is this “normal” for this type tree or is it some boring insect? The tree looks healthy, but I wonder if it’s infected with some sort of insect and will die if not treated. I have seen several of these trees in the area, and all seem to have these holes in the trunk.

A My guess is it is a flowering pear, like a Bradford. The holes that are covering the stems are caused by woodpeckers or sapsuckers. They find a tree they like and revisit it frequently, making holes in lines up and down the tree or encircling the tree.

It normally doesn’t hurt an established tree, but it is not the most attractive look either. You can try to discourage them by using a tree wrap around the trunk or hanging scare devices for a while. Once the bird moves on, it may find another tree to visit.

Q My neighbor has had a large garden for years and expressed chagrin over being plagued by pests ruining her squash.

Her garden is planted in the ground. Mine will be a raised garden with new soil.

Do you think that because of our close proximity, I will have the same problems?

Also, I would like to plant an Asian pear and a Granny Smith apple, both trees that need another for pollination. Can they pollinate from each other, or does it have to be the same kind of tree to do the trick? Again, my friend has a pear tree on her property but says that it has some disease that causes the fruit to go bad. Will that affect ours too?

A Squash insects don’t care if the plants are in a raised bed or in the ground. They visit and attack when they find squash, so pay close attention and try to prevent damage. Apple trees need another apple for pollination and will not be pollinated by a pear or vice versa. If your neighbor has a pear, you should be fine on pollination there, as the trees don’t have to be side by side. Some varieties are more resistant to disease than others, so look for disease resistance. Pears tend to be much more disease resistant than many other fruit trees.

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 email her at

[email protected]

HomeStyle, Pages 33 on 03/22/2014

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