In the garden

Acanthus bears breech for Janet Carson's In the Garden column.
Acanthus bears breech for Janet Carson's In the Garden column.

Q The drip line of a large tree is about 15 feet northwest of my vegetable garden. I get plenty of sunshine. But my concern is that tree roots are sucking nutrients and water from my garden. Is there anything I can, or need to, do to eliminate tree roots from invading my garden? We prefer not to cut the tree down.

A As long as you are getting ample sunlight -- six to eight hours daily -- you should be good. The extra care you give your vegetables with water and fertilizer will be appealing to the tree roots, and they will come for a visit, but just make sure you water and fertilize enough to keep the vegetables going and you should be fine. When planting the garden each season, remove any roots that have invaded, but more will probably take their place. I would not remove the tree.

Q I have daffodils and paperwhites that are no longer blooming but producing very lush foliage. Both bloomed the first few years of planting, but now I get very few blooms. The plants seem to multiply each year, but do not produce more than one or two blooms per area. They are in a sunny location. Do I need to dig them up and get new bulbs? I live in Hot Springs Village. In Wisconsin I had daffodils and paperwhites blooming and multiplying for years from the original bulbs. Can you tell me what I need to do to get them to bloom?

A Paper whites are not an ideal plant to put in the landscape, as they don't require chilling to bloom, and often emerge in late fall to early winter and get zapped back by heavy frosts before the flowers fully open. They are usually used as a forced bulb indoors, and then tossed. Your other daffodils should bloom yearly. I can't imagine they got too crowded in just a few years to keep them from blooming. They are usually one of our best repeat bloomers. If overcrowding or lack of sun is an issue, by now you have waited too late to solve the problem and get flower buds set for next spring. What flowers they are going to set have been set inside the bulb now. They typically set their flower buds for the following spring immediately after bloom. If they did not bloom, they should have had plenty of time to set flower buds. The foliage is still green now, but their work for the year is done and they will soon be going dormant. I would add a few new bulbs next fall and compare.

Q We have a 30-foot holly tree and some of the leaves are turning yellow. We snipped them off the first time it happened this spring and now leaves are turning yellow again. There is a honeysuckle tree next to the holly tree that has been there for many years. We were curious as to why this is might be happening. Would appreciate any help you can offer with this. We live in Fayetteville.

A Are the yellowing leaves all the way to the tips of the branches, or behind the green foliage at the ends of the branches? Evergreen plants do shed old leaves and some shedding can be dramatic -- turning yellow and falling in large numbers. If it is predominantly old foliage, I wouldn't worry. If the yellowing is taking the entire branch, take a plant sample in to your county extension office to see if they can diagnose a problem.

Q In spring of 2012 I bought a Carolina jasmine. It's a good 12 feet tall with lots of green leaves. The trouble is there are no flowers. I'm not sure if it must mature before flowers appear. I just gave it a good dose of Miracle-Gro and I am hoping this may help. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

A How much sunlight does the plant get? Carolina jasmine -- Gelsemium sempervirens -- is a wonderful evergreen vine that needs at least six to eight hours of sunlight to bloom. If grown in the shade, it will just be a green vine. If you are pruning it past the middle of June, you are also interfering with blooming, as they set flower buds in the fall before going dormant. The past two cold winters have also caused some damage to plants growing north of Little Rock, which could have nipped some blooms.

Q I'm hoping you can help me identify this plant (reader sent a photo). It's growing in a bed of Asian jasmine. Overall it's about 2 feet tall. Each frond (?) or leaf is about 12 to 16 inches long and 11 inches wide. I was also wondering if it can be divided. A friend wants one if so.

A It looks like Acanthus, commonly called bear's breeches. It is a lovely perennial for the shade. The foliage is attractive, but the flower stalk of purple flowers is quite showy. You are a little late to divide it -- I would wait until fall or very early in the spring when it emerges. If you have some plants that are growing by themselves, dig them up and move them, but make sure to keep it well watered during root establishment.

HomeStyle on 05/09/2015

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