Q Not to beat a dead horse on what to do about this abundant shrub still looking so awful around town, but at this point what little flowering they can muster has occurred on mine and is being followed by some sporadic leafing. My experience with the green variety (as bonsai) is that hard pruning got me nowhere. That is to say, all new growth seemed always to come only from the very tips of branches and almost never from older, harder wood farther to the interior. That alone caused me to abandon the variety as suitable bonsai material. For that reason, I am reticent to hard prune my bushes back to branches at least a quarter inch thick. Any new thoughts on these plants? For honestly, they look so lousy now they don't seem worth keeping unless they'll take a hard prune and come back strong.
A I have been quite surprised at how much most loropetalum have begun to leaf out (and even bloom) in the last week. That being said, if you have large bushes, they might have more top growth than interior bottom growth as top buds are more dominant. Let them fully leaf out and enjoy as many blooms as possible, and then prune if you need to. I have pruned my purple-foliaged ones hard many times, and they bounced back quickly. There are many varieties, and size and vigor are determined by variety. I am not expecting to do much in the way of pruning on my shrub forms. I always have to do some thinning on my tree-formed ones to keep the trunks exposed.
Q I am sure you are inundated with questions regarding the chance of survival of all our plants after this winter. I have been looking for the answer online to no avail, so thought I would come to you. I have a lot of loropetalum in my landscaping. They all have obvious leaf burn (I would call them dead and crispy, LOL, but they are not being shed). And all the plants have pretty purple blooms in abundance like usual but no live leaves. Will the flowers produce new leaves? What do you think are the chances of survival? I read "prune the dead branches." Well, if all my branches have blooms they aren't dead, right? But they need leaves to live, right? So confused!
A This is definitely the question of the week. I have had more than 20 questions about loropetalum. As I stated above, the ones I have seen all over Central Arkansas are coming out quickly now. They always bloom before new foliage comes on, so be patient a little bit longer. I see leaf buds all the way up and down the stems on the plants I have examined closely. I know they still don't look great, but I think, in time, they may come close to full recovery. It is unusual to have a brown plant with pink flowers!
Q We started ivy from little sprigs 15 years ago. It spread across azalea beds, up a wall and into a shaded area in our side yard. All was well until two years ago. It started dying in the shaded area and is now continuing to die on the wall. We are afraid we are going to lose it all. We treated with Triazicide as recommended by a local garden center. It has not helped. We have removed large portions of dead ivy. Thank you for any help you can give us.
A Ivy can be an invasive plant and usually doesn't get slowed down by much. Since you like its spreading habit and it has been around for 15 years, you need to do some more investigation as to what is causing the problem. I would suggest digging up a section of the plant that is in a transitional zone — some dying, some healthy. You need roots, stems and leaves in the sample. Take it to your local county extension office and let them send it to the disease diagnostic lab for an accurate diagnosis. There are a lot of sprays out there that could help, but you first need to know what you are trying to cure. Pesticides can be specific for insects, diseases and weeds, so proper identification is the first step to control.
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