Q Are these trees goners? I saw them outside a retail shop. They had been neglected but are currently in rather wet soil as if the person responsible had neglected them and just figured that out. I love hinokis and would offer them a good home but don't know enough about their recuperative powers. Your thoughts?
A If they are free to a good home, give it a shot, but I would not buy them. Most of what I see that is brown is on the tips, and there is green underneath. Even the ivy looks bad in the pots, so repot them in good soil with great drainage. Put them in a protected spot for the winter, and next spring, give them a haircut and see what happens.
Q I hope you can give me some insight as to why the cherries on my Nanking cherry tree stay green, hard and do not ripen. The tree is several years old, is approximately 12 feet tall and has several trunks. It blooms every year, and green cherries set abundantly, but they never turn red or soften — just hard little green balls. Any ideas on what is going on with it? Is there anything I can do to get edible cherries?
A Unfortunately, I don't have a good answer for you. Arkansas is not a big cherry-producing state. Most sweet and tart cherries do better in cooler climates, although some gardeners do have limited success with some of the tart varieties. The fact that yours are setting fruit and not ripening lets me know that they are getting what they need to set fruit — sunlight, pollination, etc. Normally Nanking cherries would be ripe in June or at the latest mid-July. Do the cherries persist into fall? I do know that some fruits will stop the ripening process when they get too hot or dry, but never ripening is a new one on me. Next year, if this happens again, take some of the fruits and a small branch into your local county extension office so they can send it to the diagnostic lab to see if there is something else at play. Sorry I can't be of more help.
Q Shall I cut my clematis to the ground? I have dead leaves on two vines. They had flowers until two weeks ago, so they must be the late-blooming variety.
A There are many varieties of clematis. The Clematis Society breaks them down into three categories — Groups 1, 2 and 3. Group 1 is the type that only blooms in the spring and is quite vigorous. If you have room, they can be allowed to grow, unpruned, for years. If they need pruning, it should be done soon after flowering in the spring, since their flower buds are set when they go dormant in the fall. Group 2 blooms twice a year, in the spring and again in the fall. If they need pruning, do so only after the spring flush of flowers. Group 3 is the late-flowering clematis. These should be pruned hard every year before new growth begins. It is not recommended to prune clematis in the fall or early winter as they can die back too far and not come back the following spring. Several types of ornamental plants have persisting dead foliage this season due to the early hard frost.
Q I planted some fig trees around five years ago. They get about 6 feet tall each year, and then they die down to the ground with the winter here in Northwest Arkansas. Even though they get quite large, they just don't produce any fruit. Any suggestions? I feel like they get at least six hours of direct sun and sufficient water to get this green and bushy — the last two years I did throw a cup of general fertilizer on each them: nada. Thank you for any insight.
A Fig trees are capable of setting fruit on new growth, so sometimes we get production when they die back with winter cold. If yours are dying back totally to the ground each year, the plants are spending their energy on producing a tree, and not fruiting. We used to call fig trees "fig bushes" back in the '80s and '90s, even in Central Arkansas, since they often died back to the ground here, too. Now we rarely have much damage, and the trees produce a goodly amount of fruit. As I see it, you have several options. You can grow it as a nice ornamental plant and not worry about fruit. You can put it into a large container and move it to a protected spot for the winter to allow it to come back from the tops next season. You can try a more cold-tolerant variety. "Hardy Chicago" and "Ventura" are two cold-tolerant figs that produce even in Canada. And lastly, you can try to protect it. I have seen gardeners build a chicken wire cage around the tree and fill it in with leaves, putting them in lightly instead of densely packing them. Then wrap the outer wire layer with landscape fabric. Leave that on until spring and then release the leaves; watch to see if the tree comes back from the top. The more sunlight they receive, the better.
Retired after 38 years with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, Janet Carson ranks among Arkansas' best known horticulture experts. Her blog is at arkansasonline.com/planitjanet. Write to her at P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, AR 72203 or email
jcarson@arkansasonline.com
HomeStyle on 12/14/2019