Q&A – Ask Neil Sperry: April 21, 2022
Welcome to our newest feature here in e-gardens. I’ve gone to this since Facebook changed their formatting and made it difficult for readers and me to interact efficiently. For the near-term, this will be a work in progress, but here’s how we’re going to start.
• Each week I will choose 8-10 of your questions to answer the following Thursday evening.
• Please give me a first name or initials so I can refer others to your question when needed.
• I must have your city to consider your question. Texas is a very large state, and I need it to give an accurate reply.
• I will select questions of greatest general reader interest.
• Questions accompanied by one clear, medium-resolution photograph will be given high consideration.
Note: Much as I’d like to do so, I will not be able to reply to individual questions.
Here are this week’s questions…
Dear Neil: What plants could I use against the west side of my house to soak up the sun and heat in the summer? G.E., Abilene.
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Dear Neil: What can I do to stop my tomatoes from cracking around their stems? O.L., Waco.
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Dear Neil: I have a very healthy rose-of-Sharon. It has lots of buds, but it never blooms. It is about 4 feet tall, and it’s covered in buds. But in its five years, it has never flowered very well at all. Suggestions? R.O., Richardson.
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Dear Neil: What are the variegated red and tan gumball-looking things that are falling from our red oak? They’re about an inch in diameter. C.S., Dallas.
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Dear Neil: Will plants like fig ivy and English ivy growing up tree trunks harm the trees? S.F., The Woodlands.
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Dear Neil: We have a lot of shade from 40-foot oaks we planted ourselves many years ago. We have Asian jasmine groundcover beneath them in part of the area. We now need additional groundcover since there is almost no sunlight. We have used Roundup to control bermudagrass in the bed in the past. It did no harm to the jasmine or the trees. Are there other groundcovers that will also tolerate the weedkiller spray? G.H., College Station.
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Dear Neil: I’ve heard all my life that mushrooms growing in your lawn are an indication that the grass is healthy. Is that true? A.K., Huntsville.
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Dear Neil: My three pomegranate trees make beautiful blooms and tons of fruit. However, the fruit never turns red. It stays yellow and has a very poor flavor. If I leave them longer, they tend to rot. What can I do to get pomegranates? R.P., Arlington.
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Dear Neil: I have several crape myrtles that have been in our backyard for 10 years, yet they have never bloomed well at all. What does it take to make them flower? H.C., Round Rock.
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Dear Neil: You mentioned tomato plants and the fact that when they wilt badly, blossom-end rot is likely to occur. A man told me a year or two ago that Epsom salts would solve the problem, so I used it last year and I had no blossom-end rot. Give it a try. L.K., San Antonio.
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Dear Neil: I have a small fig tree that was planted several years ago. It puts on lots of small fruit in the spring, but they all fall off as the weather warms. I have no fruit by early summer. Any idea of what the problem might be? J.J., Corsicana.
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