| The Garden Plot
Hosted by Adrian Higgins
Washington Post Garden Editor
Thursday, May 15, 2003; 11:30 a.m. ET Got a chronic case of green thumb? Like getting your hands dirty? Adrian Higgins, garden editor for The Post's Home section, is here to help. Higgins is a firm believer in "tough plants for tough times" -- the varieties that combine good looks with stiff resistance to disease and pests. He currently rules over a garden filled with spring bulbs, daffodils, ornamental onions, perennials, asters, yarrows, hostas and day lilies. Higgins, an avid organic gardener who believes chemicals are a last resort, also tends his own herb and vegetable gardens where he grows peas, garlic onions, lettuce, rhubarbs, radishes, carrots and more. Higgins is the author of two books, "The Secret Gardens of Georgetown: Behind the Walls of Washington's Most Historic Neighborhood" and "The Washington Post Garden Book: The Ultimate Guide to Gardening in Greater Washington and the Mid-Atlantic Region." The transcript follows Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Arlington, Va.: I have herbs and other house plants growing on my deck in Arlington. There are lamps along the sidewalk just under my deck, so my plants never are in the dark. I know blue and red wavelenghts are the ones needed for photosynthesis. Is there enough light coming from the street lamps to give me 24 hours of growing time for my plants? I've seen on TV where people can grow giant produce in Alaska because the sun doesn't set in the summer. Thanks Adrian Higgins: Street lighting does not provide enough lumens to feed the plant but it can in certain plants that need darkness to set flower (poinsettia, for example) disrupt that natural process. Your herbs should be unaffected. If you do notice that your herbs are stretching toward the lamp, however, turn the containers once a week.
Northern Virginia: Recommendations regarding new plants Due to the severe snow this past winter, the plants/bushes I had next to my front door need to be replaced (although the roots are fine, the weight of the snow snapped off all of the branches). The area in question is mostly shady, yet I want something that will have some kind of flower. What would you recommend? Adrian Higgins: You don't say what plants they are. it is quite possible that they will grow back if you give them year or two, though you must prune out or back any broken branches. Flowering in shade? Hostas, heuchera, fothergilla, hydrangeas, itea, sweet woodruff, lamium, azaleas, mountain laurel, pieris, and hellebores, to name a few.
Del Ray, Alexandria, Va.: What do you do when something eats all the leaves off of your fledgling, newly planted tomato plants? Will they grow back? I have a fake owl out as a scarecrow now. Any other recommendations to keep the critters away? We don't have deer in our neighborhood, but we do have plenty of squirrels. I've never seen rabbits. I once saw a big fat grayish looking thing waddling fast down my driveway; could have been a opossum, hedge hog, or ground hog. As a city girl, I have no idea which it was. I only saw its fat rear as it ran away. I don't have any holes in the ground so I doubt it's a mole. Any ideas on what might have eaten my tomatoes? Are there any natural, organic products that would make the leaves taste bad?
Adrian Higgins: It might be a cutworm, I don't think of slugs harming tomatoes. There is a hornworm that eats tomato foliage but they usually appear later in the season when you have more foliage to munch on. My only suggestion would be to replant with fresh seedlings but this time make a stiff cardboard collar around the plants until they reach knee height. I am very excited to say that we have a new vegetable garden columnist in the paper, Barbara Damrosch, and she will be tackling all these issues in the coming weeks.
Rockville, Md.: Hi Adrian --
Thanks for the chats. I want to put a path of wood chips or mulch along the side of my yard which is always a muddy mess in the rain but I'm concerned about possibly changing the composition of my soil. should I be concerned? I have hostas, ferns, rhodos and a few other plants in the area. Thanks! Adrian Higgins: Wood chips do extract nitrogen from the soil as they break down but if you keep them on the path and away from plant beds, that shouldn't be an issue. To allay any concerns, you might want to spread a little balanced fertilizer around plants close to the path.
Silver Spring, Md.: Hi Adrian,
I'm fairly new at gardening. At work, I won a raffle and got a bed of wonderful herbs -- rosemary, cilantro, basil and sage. I was wondering if it is too soon or too late to plant them? I'm also asking because the weather is pretty cold these days. Adrian Higgins: Yes, we have had a long cool spring and it has been wonderful. The key thing is that frosts are behind us, or I will eat my hat. All the plants you mention will do fine set out now, though the basil will sit for a while until the heat arrives.
Alexandria, Va.: What sort of shade/light do crepe myrtles need? Adrian Higgins: They need full sun, six hours of afternoon sunlight at least, or blooming will fall off precipitously.
Re: Broken Plants: They were rhododendrons. I didn't want to wait another 1/2 dozen years so I dug up the roots and put them in a pot instead. What about heavenly bamboo or camellia? Adrian Higgins: Both heavenly bamboo and camellias would be good choices, though the former can bounce back from snow and ice damage easier than the camellia.
Arlington, Va.: A tulip question: I usually let my tulip greens die off (i.e. turn brown) before I trim them back and stick annuals in the flower bed. However, this year, because they bloomed so late due to the frigid winter, the tops are still half green and half brown. I'd like to get my annuals in (impatiens -- yes, I'm unimaginative), but I don't want to interfere too much with the bulbs. Can I cut the tulip greens back now, or should I wait until next weekend to put my annuals in? (Actually, come to think of it, that might make it the first week of June, since my spouse will be on a long business trip and I'll be alone with two under 3-years-old.) Adrian Higgins: The only hope of perennializing tulips is to let their leaves run their course. They will soon wither. Be patient with the impatiens.
Arlington, Va.: My wife is getting window boxes for her birthday. They should arrive in a less than a week. What sort of flowers do best in window boxes with early and late afternoon sun? Adrian Higgins: Actually, early sun and late sun are two entirely different conditions because the later sun is going to be hotter and brighter. I would put sun loving annuals in the pm spots, such things as lantana and geraniums perhaps some wave petunias and some lesser lights in the morning boxes, such as nasturtium and bacopa. Do make sure that the containers drain but are big enough to not dry out quickly. You will still need to water them daily in high summer. You can purchase water retaining gel additives that keep the soil moist longer.
Arlington, Va.: Dear Adrian -- How short/long should one cut grass? I ask, because my husband and I do not agree. He wants the grass cut very short, almost cropped like a putting green, whereas I believe it should be left longer. He mowed our very, very over-grown yard last weekend to within an inch of its life, and now it looks yellow in patches. Is there a proper way to determine mowing length? Thanks Adrian Higgins: Even in this lush and verdant spring, the lawn should not be mowed at this latitude any shorter than 2.5 inches and I always keep it at 3 inches. Cutting it shorter stresses the plant and negates the grass's ability to shade its runners and roots from the sun. It is also harmful to lop off too much at one time, no more than an inch is best. In this moist spring, I am mowing twice a week. In England, where I grew up, grass was kept very short and even rolled to keep it putting green smooth, but even then during any period of warm weather, i.e. a heat wave over 65 degrees, the lawn started to go brown. The putting greens you see around here are excessively managed, planted with warm season grasses, created out of sand for drainage, and watered to death. They also demand frequent treatments of pesticides and fungicides. There is a price for beauty.
Bowie, Md.: I planted a "Little Gem" magnolia about 18 months ago. It did great last summer, even with the drought (I watered a LOT). This spring, there are obvious buds for flowers, but all of the leaves look somewhat mottled. They're not brown and dead-looking, as if they're about to drop off, they're spotted in various shades of brown. And I do mean ALL leaves. Can you help me understand what's wrong with my precious magnolia and what I should to help? Thanks so much! Adrian Higgins: I think it might be a little winter damaged. Keep an eye on it, the new foliage should come through clean and the old stuff will fall off soon.
Arlington, Va.: I would love to have an herb garden in my new back yard. What should I know before I get started? What herbs grow best in this area? Thank you so much for your informative answers! Adrian Higgins: Sunlight is the best resource. In full sun, the world is your oyster. If you have areas of shade, you will be relegated to such things as parsley. I have grown in partial shade sage, thyme and mint. Although most herbs actually do all right in poor soil, they respond brilliantly to enriched soil as long as it is well drained.
Washington, D.C.: Hi -- Can you suggest a low-growing (up to 12 inches) yellow-flowering perennial that would look good massed in a bed in full sun and would bloom all summer -- must be tough. I'd like to intersperse it with purple veronica (which is already in there) Thanks! Adrian Higgins: I would suggest Moonbeam coreopsis.
Arlington, Va.: I moved in to my house 18 months ago and took your advice and did nothing with the garden last summer to see what is there. One thing that came up last year was a bunch of iris leaves but only had one flower and this year I have leaves again but no flowers. Do I just need to get rid of them or is there something I can do to get them to bloom? Thanks Adrian Higgins: They either need lifting and dividing or replanting in a sunnier location.
Maryland: Timely question on the window boxes. Do you have a good source for window boxes? Haven't seen anything in stores I like. Suggestions? Adrian Higgins: I don't do window boxes because in America we have to have screens on the windows to keep the bugs out. That makes it hard to water from within the house. I did see some nice zinc boxes at Restoration Hardware, though I suspect they get pretty hot here.
Boston, Mass.: I have a very sunny, fifth floor apartment in Boston and would love to plant some herbs and veggies indoors in boxes and large pots. I am thinking that basil, mint and rosemary should work and maybe some cherry tomatoes. What else? And when can I plant them? Adrian Higgins: I am not sure if you have seen your last frost of the season, I suspect you have. I think all would be fine but don't expect the basil or the tomato to "take off" until July. Cherry tomatoes are vigorous vines and I would first build some sort of trellis on which to train it as it grows.
Ohio: My young rhododendrons have brown and yellow on their leaves and the bushes look thin and spindly. There are buds but they aren't opening, and I don't remember there being flowers last spring either, when I moved into my house. Are they hopeless? Adrian Higgins: Clearly it is ailing for some reason, whether it is from winter die back or the blight diseases that afflict rhododendrons. It is imperative that the plant be well drained, if you suspect that is a problem, I would dig it and move it to a site with lots of enriched soil and good drainage.
Silver Spring, Md.: Thank you for this forum. I have a rhododendron that is blooming, but very very leggy -- and about 5 feet tall. After it blooms can I prune it back severely, to about 2 to 3 feet even if there are no leaves left? I will to go one spring without blooms if it would help the bush overall and for years to come. Adrian Higgins: Yes you can pare it back and yes you will lose next year's blooms for doing so, but in time it will return bushier and more floriferous.
Arlington, Va.: I am a complete novice when it comes to gardening. I just bought a little herb garden for my dining room windowsill which gets lots of sunlight. It has basil, lavender, oregano and chives. I noticed in one of your previous responses that you said herbs will do well if they are well-drained. Please excuse my ignorance, but how do you achieve that in herbs that are planted in pots? Should I have some sort of tray below them and let the water run through and collect in the tray? Thanks for your help. Adrian Higgins: You can either water them in place, or take your pot to the sink and let water run through it. Do this once the top two inches of soil surface is dry to the touch. If you do use a tray underneath, make sure that the water is not sitting in it. That means the soil is waterlogged and not drying out soon enough.
Cheverly, Md.: I need to transplant some daffodils. The site I picked does not get enough light. I would like to move them now while I still know where they are. If I transplant them now can I give them some bulb fertilizer or do I have to wait for the fall? Thank you. Adrian Higgins: You might give them a soaking with a liquid fertilizer after planting. Try and keep as much of the leaves and roots intact as possible in moving them.
Washington, D.C.: Hi Adrian -- How does the pink coreopsis do here in D.C.? Is it as tough as the moonbeam? Thanks! Adrian Higgins: I think it is, not quite as brilliant and showy.
Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C.: I live in a row house. I'd like to put a window box in a second floor window that gets LOTS of sun and heat in the summer. Ideally, it would contain flowers that spill over the box and hang down the wall. Can you recommend a colorful annual that would work nicely in this location? Adrian Higgins: There is a blue flowering semi trailing annual called scaevola that would work. Mix in some trailing vinca, maybe.
Alexandria, Va.: I do not want to pay for a lawn service, but I would like to get the weeds and clover out of my yard. What are my options? What sort of time commitment does it take to get clover out and grass in? Adrian Higgins: They say that clover doesn't like alkaline soil, and I have tried to contain mine by dosing it with limestone, but it doesn't seem to have an appreciable effect. What I do is live with it until it spreads too far and then I rototill the patch in September and reseed with a good turf type tall fescue that soon grows and keeps the clover at bay. You could use some standard weed killers, but I would rather live with the clover.
Lake Ridge, Va.: Thanks, Adrian, for last week's note to a fellow sore-backer on moving boxwood. I'm considering moving a 10' tall plant of some 26 years from the front yard to the edge of the rear yard -- which fronts on a utility easement, recently scalped for a new gas pipeline. There used to be an intermittent stream/seep there, and now we have pools of standing water (can you say mosquito/West Nile virus time?) and I'm pretty sure we'll have that as a perm condition, since the utils got its pipeline in and could likely care less about proper reveg. My question is: will the transplanted large boxwood do well with "wet feet" and the open expanse of field? Adrian Higgins: No, constantly wet soil will kill the boxwood and many other evergreen shrubs. Consider replacing it with redtwig dogwood or a willow shrub called rosemary leafed willow.
Shaw, Washington, D.C.: Hello,
Do you know where I can send a soil sample to get tested?
Thanks! Adrian Higgins: Call UDC extension office at 202-274-7166
Washington: I always learn so much from these chats! I have a Japanese Yew planted right up against my house. It has grown to about 6 feet high and 4 feet wide, and it's really in the wrong place. I'd like to move it to a new garden, but I'm not sure in what order to proceed. Should I start around the dripline to "prune" the roots, prune the branches and then move it in a couple of months? Or move it and then prune the branches? It would be much easier to move if I can cut if back first, but I don't want to kill it by doing things in the wrong order. And--if there's any waiting periods involved, as in between pruning and moving, how long should I wait? Thank you for your help. Adrian Higgins: Yews have deep roots and are difficult to transplant. What I would do now is root prune it with a sharp shovel, maybe 24 inches from the trunk all the way around. Do this again in September, and then move it next February or March.
Somewhere, USA: Adrian, How bad is ivy on a house? I live in a duplex and have ivy growing in between my neighbor's door and my own. I like to keep it off my stairs, but like the look of it on the brick between the our entrances. I have heard that it is not good for brick, but wanted to get the skinny from you. Thanks.
Adrian Higgins: I don't think it is that bad. I have seen it crumble mortar, but old and decayed mortar. I would worry about it covering wooden siding in shady corners because it traps moisture and induces rotting.
Arlington, Va.: "What I do is live with it until it spreads too far and then I rototill the patch in September." Do you dig up the turf/clover first, or just till it all in? I, too, have been attempting to mitigate clover with lime, but only seem to accomplish getting my shoes white. Adrian Higgins: I till it, then rake out as many of the clover rhizomes as possible before smoothing and seeding.
Washington, D.C.: I don't know if this is a question more for Kim O'Donnel or for you. Well here goes... I've recently started cooking with cilantro but I just don't use it up quickly enough and most of it goes bad. Can cilantro be grown in a pot indoors? Also is it one of those plants that will just grow out of control? I don't want to end up with too much and have the same problem I had before of too much cilantro and not being able to cook enough to use it all up. If it's a manageable plant how would I go about growing it? Do I need seeds or can I grow it from a stem with root? Thanks! Adrian Higgins: I would grow it from a plant, now. It doesn't like summer's heat, so it then flowers and goes to seed, at which point the taste goes south. You could then replant in mid to late August so that the cilantro remains content during the cooler later summer, early fall season. It is too late to start from seed now for the early crop. You could sow seeds in early August for the second one, though.
Arlington, Va.: I planted two small mountain laurels two years ago. One is lovely, blooming with new leaves; the other, planted three feet away dropped all its leaves except for one branch that is putting out a few new leaves. Can it be saved? How? Adrian Higgins: I can't tell you except that it is possible that soil conditions can be dramatically different in a very short space. Mountain laurels do best in acidic humus enriched soil where the roots can remain moist but not wet. The roots are best grown in shade and the top in the sun. Don't write off any plant that has defoliated. The chances are it will grow a new set of leaves. But it is stressed and needs coddling. If you know the soil conditions are not right, you need to move it.
Fig Tree?: Any chance you can suggest a fig tree that will survive and fruit in the Maryland/D.C. area? Thanks. Adrian Higgins: Many do, and even if the top growth dies the bush will grow back. Two popular hardy varieties are Brown Turkey and Marseilles.
UpperMarlboro, Md.: Thanks for taking my question (two of them actually). First, my lily-of-the-valley's came up bountifully, but they will not bloom. I cut back the leaves last year -- is that the problem? Also, is it okay to plant peony bushes (already blooming from a nursery) right now? Thanks! Adrian Higgins: Yes, I think cutting back the leaves caused the plant to build insufficient sugars for blooming this year. Peony can be planted in flower, just make sure that you are not ham fisted, that the plant crown, the point where the stems emerge from the roots, is set a couple of inches below the grade, and that the top foliage is supported if needed. Make sure you have a sunny site for it. We started late today but I think we have done the full hour and other voices are calling. See you next week, when we will find ourselves entering the rose zone.
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