Q My neighbor and I have a rabbit that is eating our hostas. He's not eating the leaves, just tearing the plant up and maybe eating some of the leaf stems. Is there anything that we can do to stop this? The animal is ruining our plants. When he's done, it looks like the hosta was run over with a lawnmower.
A For animal problems, you need to try as many things as possible. Some people have luck with a small fence around the garden, others use lion urine, sprays of raw egg or animal repellents. Many of these treatments need to be reapplied after rain or irrigation. Scare devices might also help.
Q At the beginning of the summer, I had a beautiful yellow hibiscus on my patio until the deer ate all the leaves. I kept watering and fertilizing it and it recovered about mid-July (lots of green leaves), but it still has not bloomed. I fertilize it with Osmocote smart release plant food. I spray it occasionally with deer repellent to prevent a repeat of the deer buffet. What do I need to do?
A Tropical hibiscus plants bloom on the new growth. They like full sun -- a minimum of six hours, but more is better. I, too, use the slow-release fertilizer at the beginning of the growing season, but I supplement with either a water-soluble or granular, faster-acting type every two weeks or so in the summer. With as much rainfall as we have had (or the amount of watering we need to do when it is drier), the nutrition in the soil gets leached out. Tropical hibiscus can continue to bear flowers until a killing frost. Mine still had some blooms in December. But check the nutrition and the sunlight. Let's hope you see some blooms soon.
Q I have several healthy pots of a groundcover. I want to plant these in several beds but wondered if I should try to carry them through winter in pots, or would it be best to go ahead and plant them now?
A What type of groundcover do you have and where are they growing? If the plants are hardy, like monkey grass (liriope), ajuga, Asiatic jasmine, etc., and they are already living outside, then by all means plant them in the ground and get them growing. If they are in containers indoors, then leave them inside until next season. If they are only moderately hardy, wait until spring to plant them outside -- that will give them time to get established and build a strong root system before they have to survive winter.
Q I have three crape myrtle trees. One has no suckers; one tree has a few suckers; and the tree in my front yard has so many suckers I can hardly keep up with cutting them down each week. It looks like a small forest around the base of the tree. Are there any alternatives to physically cutting off the suckers, such as a spray or other chemical application? I am exhausted.
A Some varieties of crape myrtles sucker more than others, as you have found out. Chemical controls won't work, as they could hurt the mother plant as well. Try getting to the suckers early in the summer when they first get started, and try cutting slightly beneath the soil line. Then mulch around and see if that hinders them a bit.
Q I have had a mother-in-law's tongue plant for years. For the first time it produced some unusual growth in the center. Is it a flower, and if so, why did I get one? I have never seen it before.
A Sanseveria or mother-in-law's tongue is a tough houseplant. It will tolerate extremely low light or intensely bright light, and it thrives on neglect. It is one of a few houseplants that can bloom indoors if it gets bright light and even moisture. The bloom spike comes up in the middle of the plant and has small, white, spiky-tufted balls of flowers. Usually, once your plant has bloomed, it will do so again every year as long as the growing conditions remain the same.
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
jcarson@arkansasonline.com
HomeStyle on 09/10/2016