 |
Return to News14.com
Ask Anne Clapp - Archives Page 22Return to Ask Anne Clapp Archives - Main Page Question: Hi Anne. I have just purchased Leyland Cypress Trees. I have planted them about 12 feet apart. I do not want them to form a privacy hedge. They were planted 12 feet apart totally for Aesthetics. Will spacing them out 12 feet apart provide enough space to prevent them from joining together to form a privacy hedge. P.S. I have heard that the Leyland Cypress trees grow 15-20 feet wide. Can you please tell me how far I should place them for what I am trying to accomplish. Thanks, Torrance Anne Clapp: The ultimate size of a Leyland Cypress depends on the cultivar and the growing conditions. A 30 foot tall tree is expected to be about 6 feet wide - in general the diameter is 1/5th the height. In England the Leyland can get to be 100 feet tall but in the southeastern US they do not seem to get that tall. The trees grow quickly, up to 3 feet a year, in the first two or three years and then growth seems to slow down. The spacing you have used will not create a privacy hedge for many years. At the time they provide too much screening you ( or the next owner of the property) may want to remove every other plant. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: It was “Attracting Birds to Southern Gardens” written by Thomas Pope, Neil Oldenwald and Charles Fryling, Jr. The publisher is Taylor Publishing Company of Dallas, Texas. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Hibiscus will lose leaves during the year and they usually turn yellow before they drop off. It is a plant that suffers from transplant shot when it is brought into a warm dry home or office; that usually causes the plant to lose several leaves. You may be watering the plant too much; it should dry out some before it is watered and do not allow the plant to stand in water more than an hour. The top inch of soil should feel dry when you water the plant. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: If you had the work done two weeks ago and didn't water during that time you probably won't have much germination with your seed. There are still some warm days that may let the seed that the birds haven't eaten germinate. A light watering each day is usually recommended to germinate seed. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: There are several herbicides labeled to kill grasses but hot broad leaf weeds or shrubs. Poast is one, Grass-b-Gone is another. There are others. Be sure to read the directions carefully before applying them. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Some banana trees are hardy in the Raleigh area and just need to be mulched well. They die back to the ground and come up from the roots each year. Some cultivars need to be surrounded with a cage filled with mulch to protect the trunks. Many people dig them each year (the root balls are not very large) and stack them like logs under the house where they will not freeze. They are then replanted each year after the danger of frost is over. If you haven't been in the property long I presume you did not have to deal with the plants there last year; I suggest you find out from the previous caretaker of the bananas how they took care of those particular plants. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: I would prefer waiting until spring to plant the verbena. That will give it plenty of time to develop a good root system to carry it over the winter. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: It is the end of the season for crepe myrtles so they are beginning to go dormant. The change of color to gold is the natural change of color for fall before the plant loses its leaves. The spots could have been caused by insects or a fungus. As long as you rake up the leaves when they fall and get them off your property there should be no cause for alarm. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: There is a chemical on the market called Turflon Ester, made by Monterey Chemical Co. in California, that will kill Bermuda grass in a fescue lawn. The treatment starts in the early summer when the Bermuda is actively growning. You spray, wait for a few weeks and spray again. It usually takes a full summer to get the Bermuda under control. Roundup, carefully applied, will kill the Bermuda in the bed of nandinas, the grass killer from Ortho will also kill the grass in flower beds without killing the broad-leafed plants. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: I would check in the soil around the base of the affected Leyland to see if you see any sign of an insect or animal that might be living under the plant. The signs you describe are often due to drought or roots not being able to get water to the plant. Large ant or yellow jacket homes under a plant, voles or mice making a nest under a plant also cause similar symptoms because they are allowing the roots of the plant to dry out. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Tropical hibiscus does not tolerate frost so I am assuming you have a winter hardy plant outdoors in Minnesota. The plants are easier to transplant in the late winter or early spring as soon as you can work the ground in your area. If you decide to move the plants this fall, after the leaves have been killed back but before the ground freezes, it would be better not to cut the stalks back. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Daisies and Black Eyed Susans may be cut back after the first frost but you do leave the little rosette of leaves at the base of the plant to grow during the winter. Do not put mulch over the little rosettes during the winter. Chrysanthemums that are not pinched back in the spring may bloom early in the summer. If you keep them pinched back until mid-July they bloom in the fall. Chrysanthemums may be cut back to ground level. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Lemons grow well and produce fruit where temperatures do not drop below 32F (freezing). The tree needs fertilizer in the spring when new growth appears. In your climate nothing special needs to be done to the tree before winter. --------------------------- I want to cut them down to provide more sunshine in the winter. I thought about leaving the trunks in the ground to serve as fence posts and after stripping the branches off using the rest as the fence rails. Is this a bad idea or should they be be shredded for mulch? Thanks, Randy from Wake Forest Anne Clapp: I cannot find any information that gives me precise information on the rot resistance of Leyland cypress (x cupressocyparis leylandii). It is not as resistant as white cedar (chamaecyparis). It is more resistant than pine. The Leyland cypress at the Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, NC have been in the ground for 30 years. There are Leylands growing in England – where it is cooler and less humid – that are more than 50 feet tall. The trunks would probably provide fence posts for several years. Unless the remaining wood is more than 3 inches in diameter it would probably not be long lived as fence rails. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Trees often lose leaves during periods of hot dry weather. When it occurs in late August the plant may go into early dormancy and leaf out the following spring. As long as there is a green cambium layer just under the bark of the tree it is probably still alive. Just nick the bark at the tip of a limb lightly with your fingernail or a knife to see if the wood is still alive. I would leave the plant alone until next spring. When it starts to leaf out fertilize the plant lightly at the drip line of the limbs and water the plant well if rain is sparse. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: The taste of your peaches may have more to do with water, sunshine and air temperature. Peaches do like hot weather, sunshine and good rainfall. Many areas had a cooler than usual spring and rain was sparse or too abundant to the point we had flooding. Peaches do not like soggy soil and sugars do not develop in the fruit unless the temperatures are warm enough. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Gardenias often lose leaves in late August and early September. If the leaves that are turning yellow are at the end of the limbs closest to the trunk of the bush it may be seasonal leaf loss. If the leaves are turning yellow down the length of the entire branch the problem may be caused by root problems from too much or too little water. Gardenias need moisture during hot weather but they do not like to have wet feet from their roots standing in water so be sure the ground drains well. Also check the base of the plant to see if there are signs of a vole or mouse eating the bark of the tree. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Large camellias do take a bit of care when they are transplanted. They need as much root as you can give them. Dig the hole twice as wide as the rootball on the plant but you need to dig the hole so that at least two inches of the rootball is above the ground. Mix the soil you dig out of the hole with some finely ground composted pine bark, some composted cow manure and leaf mulch. Horse manure usually has too much ammonia for camellias. Put the plant into the center of the hole and put the new soil mixture halfway up the rootball, water well then continue filling the hole and water that in. Use the rest of the soil mixture above the ground level to cover the edges of the exposed rootball and give a mounded look around the plant and a "moat" around the new planting so you can water the plant without the water running off to other areas of the yard. It is better not to prune the plants back. They need the leaves to produce food for new roots. I also disbud the plants so the plant does not bloom the first year it is moved. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: My usual list for shade-loving ground covers includes Periwinkle (Vinca minor), Ajuga reptans (some of the new variegated forms really brighten up the area), strawberry geranium (Saxifraga stolonifera), Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens), Pachysandra, wild ginger and hellebores. Japanese painted ferns also make a lovely woodland groundcover. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: It is never wise to put top soil over the roots of trees with exposed roots. It disturbs the circulation of oxygen to the roots and will eventually harm the tree. A better solution is to plant a groundcover that will not need to be mowed between the roots of the trees. A natural area under the tree will be an easier solution in the long run. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Squirrels eat the berries and nuts off all kinds of plants. They will do some damage – breaking limbs when they jump and occasionally gnawing on the bark – but the damage is usually not serious enough to hurt the plants. The squirrels are hungry and looking for food, the dogwood seeds are there and they eat them. The birds will be unhappy – but the dogwoods will survive. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Make cuttings from the current growth tips. I root in moist sand without any rooting hormone. Cuttings take about 6 weeks. I have the best luck with cuttings made from May to September. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Sometimes keeping a jade plant pinched back will keep it short with a thicker trunk. Most of the plants that are shaped that way are cultivars that have a short stocky shape to begin with. The palnts that look more like a rose are not true jade plants but a succulent with the common name hens and chicks. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Mums bloom during the fall – and some bloom very late. If flowers have been pinched off the new blooms will form later in the fall. Several of my chrysanthemums bloom in late November so I do not expect to see buds until early October. If the foliage is extremely lush and green you may have fertilized the plants with a bit too much nitrogen – that will result in lush foliage and few if any blooms. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: I've always liked Clethera alnifolia (Sweet pepper bush), Lindera benzoin (Spicebush) which is a real butterfly attracter, Clethra alnifolia (Summersweet), Leucothoe (known as dog hobble), Myrica cerifera (Wax myrtle), Itea virginica (Virginia sweetspire), Callicarpa Americana (Beautybery), Ilex vomitoria (Yaupon holly) among the native shrubs. There are lots of perennial plants for color as well. The North Carolina Botanical Garden at Chapel Hill is a good place to go see native plants. It is just off the 15-501 bypass not far from the intersection with NC 54. They have some for sale near their visitor center and they do have some lists of native plants that might help you as well. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: A Leyland cypress will easily get 6 to 8 feet in diameter so plant it about 4 feet from the fence. Dig the holes twice the width of the root ball of the plant and no deeper than the depth of the rootball of the plant. Break up the soil that you take out of the hole so it is in small clumps. Place the plant in the hole and tease the roots out of the rootball so they are no longer crowded and there are tips of roots that will be able to make good contact with the soil you put in the hole. Fill the hole about a third of the way up the rootball and add a little water to settle the dirt around the bottom of the plant rootball. Add more soil to the hole and water again. Add enough soil to fill the hole to the level of the top of the rootball of the plant and water again. Use the remaining soil you took out of the hole to make a small moat around the outside edge of the hole. That will allow you to water the plant more easily during the first year it is in the ground. Mulch the area outside the moat to keep the soil moist and cool. Do not fertilize the plant until next spring when new growth starts. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: There are two possible solutions for your miscanthus. Cut the plant back now to tidy up the area. To make it look a bit more interesting you can use a can of acrylic spray paint on the clump. I did a show on that last winter using a combination of colors to liven things up a bit – gold, orange and green. Another solution is to use a jute twine and tie the clump of grass together. I tie the center 2/3's of the clump upright. Put one strand around the clump about a foot from the ground and then put a second length of twine around the clump about 2 feet from the ground. Use a third piece of twine to pull up the rest of the grass around the center portion that has been tied and tie it in place. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: The brown spots could be from insects or from a fungus disease. A plant that has been in the ground less than a year needs to have water the equivalent of an inch of rain each week for good root development. The plant is watered once a week so the water gets deep into the soil. I would take a branch with the spotted leaves to the nursery where you bought it to see if they can identify the problem. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: This year's foliage won't be on the tree much longer. Fall is here and the current crop of leaves will fall. On the off chance that the spots on the leaves were caused by a fungus be sure to rake all the leaves from under the tree when they fall and get the leaves off your property so they can't re-infect the tree. New trees need the equivalent of 1 inch of water around their root system a week during their first year in the ground. If the tree has put on new growth it still has a functioning root system but be careful not to over-water. The plant should put on new foliage next spring. If that foliage has spots on the leaf it may be from a fungal disease. Willows seem to catch lots of fungal diseases – most will not kill the tree – so if the spots start again next spring you may want to spray with a fungicide. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: I don't know what part of zone 10 you live in but in Hawaii we didn't worry about the roots of schefflera growing above ground. That is the natural habit of the plant. It won't harm the house unless there is a crack in the foundation but you may want to root prune the plant on the side nearest the foundation to keep the roots in bounds. --------------------------- I thought Okame Cherry Trees were supposed to be one of the earliest blooming trees? If you have any answers as to what the problem may have been and what I can do to solve it. It is the beginning of fall, and I live in Dallas, N.C. Thanking you in advance. Anne Clapp: Okame cherries are one of the earliest cherry trees to bloom in the spring – and so if we have a freeze just before they are supposed to bloom the blooms get frozen and don't open. Another possibility is that the tree was planted in the fall last year and didn't set blooms because the tree was growing a new root system last year. Don't worry about the Japanese beetles – they did not have anything to do with the blooms on the tree. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Pruning hydrangeas to keep them compact is one way to prevent the problem of weak stems. You may also want to change to a fertilizer that is lower in nitrogen to prevent leggy growth. You prune Annabelle as soon as it finishes blooming. As for the white blooms turning green - that is the natural growth habit of the plant; the blooms are white for 4 weeks at the most. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: The arrangements of bamboo often get a black stem rot. Plants growing in water often do not get the nutrition they need after several months so they do develop disease problems. The only way I know to control the problem and keep it from spreading is to cut out the infected part of the plant or remove the entire cane of bamboo. In an intricate design like your pineapple that is difficult to do without changing the appearance of the plant. --------------------------- Anne Clapp: Camellias do have some leaves turn yellow and fall in September and October. As long as they are the older leaves near the center of the bush we consider that normal leaf drop. In most other cases the yellow of leaves and death of the plant is caused by a phytoptera root rot that is often a problem when the soil around the roots of the plant is too wet. Camellias like a cool moist soil but they do not like poor drainage. Plants get pruned in the spring when they finish blooming. They get a light fertilization just when the new growth starts showing in the spring. I use cotton seed meal but fertilizers formulated for acid loving plants work quite well. The plants really do not need a lot of nitrogen to stay healthy and produce good blooms. As long as you keep the plants healthy they do not need winter protection in the Raleigh area and points south and east. |