By Scott Aker
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, May 1, 2008

Q I have a hibiscus Lord Baltimore in my small city front garden. In the past decade, it has gone from being an exotic focal point for the whole garden to a monster, albeit a beautiful one. It devours all the surrounding plants. Can I cut back the root system without harming the plant, or am I better off removing it entirely? By the way, the stems remain as pleasing sculpture through the winter.

AThe hardy herbaceous perennial hibiscus that grows so well in the heat of our summers is indeed a giant in the border. You can reduce the size of the clump by lifting and dividing the plant now that you can see signs of life in the buds around the base of the dead stems. Replant with a healthy division containing three to five buds. You can give surplus divisions to others.

If you like the large flowers but want a hibiscus that is shorter and smaller, try Luna Swirl or Luna Red. Both are about half the size of Lord Baltimore.

Not so much a question as a follow-up to an earlier one: I have found that planting jalapeño or habanero peppers in a perimeter around the garden deters deer from entering. They take a nibble, get a taste of jalapeño and depart. If the perimeter is too large, plant a few bushes and spray them with a concoction made with blended peppers in water, liquid soap, water and an egg.

Deer repellents, including hot peppers, do provide some protection against deer browsing. Their success cannot be guaranteed, however, and is really determined by the number of deer in your neighborhood.

I once planted a double row of jalapeños in a vegetable garden, intending to make salsa when the tomato crop hit its stride. The deer in my neighborhood were apparently as fond of Tex-Mex food as I, and they daintily ate both the tomatoes and the peppers, creating interesting bonsai versions of said plants. My chips were without homemade salsa that year.

In my situation, a fence was not feasible. Since they had eaten the peppers, it was unlikely that a pepper extract would have any impact. I was forced to grow only onions, leeks and cole crops.

Mesh fencing and electric fencing have been shown to be more reliable than repellents when properly installed, and those options are my first picks.

Scott Aker is a horticulturist at the U.S. National Arboretum.