Gardening Q&A

Q:On a recent edition of Virginia Home Grown, you mentioned that you use leaves as mulch for your plants. How do you shred your leaves, and do they really need to be shredded?

Answer: I shred most of my leaves with the lawn mower. Also, I get a lot of leaves from my neighbor, who gets hers up with a riding mower with a bagger. However, I don't think you need to shred all of them before you use them. Start with a base layer of unshredded leaves, as long as you mat them down good and cover them with shredded leaves. After a few rains, they'll settle in on their own. I can't bring myself to buy mulch when I get all these leaves for free.

Q:I have a weeping cherry tree planted three years ago that's currently about 8 feet tall. Some branches at the crown are about ½- to ¾-inch in diameter and have grown straight up, making the tree unattractive. Should these limbs be pruned at the crown, and if so, when?

Answer: Look at the base of the branches that are growing straight up. Check the point where they meet the trunk of the tree. Only the branches originating from the graft and above that will have the weeping feature. Those below the graft are from the original root stock, which is not weeping. You can remove any that are coming from below the graft whenever you notice them.

Q:I am collecting my grass clippings as I mow. However, they are full of crabgrass seed things. Can I put these clippings in the compost pile? I usually spread the compost in my garden and sure don't want to carry crabgrass seeds into the garden.

Answer: Grass clippings are an ideal nitrogen source for a compost pile. Good compost requires nitrogen to speed up the bacteria growth that speeds up the decay of the carbon materials you use, like tree leaves. You can use the crabgrass clippings with seed heads in your compost pile only if you let your pile really heat up. The temperature in the center of your pile needs to get between 130 and 150 degrees to kill those seeds. One way to increase the temperature is to prevent the pile from totally drying out and turn it regularly. The turning distributes bacteria that speed up the decomposition. If you aren't sure if your pile is getting that hot, it would be better to leave them out of the compost pile.

Q:I brought home a new shady garden treasure from Manteo's Elizabethan Gardens several months ago called leopard plant. It appears to be doing well, but I'd love more of them. Can you share how you best propagate this plant?

Answer: Leopard plant, farfugium japonicum also known as ligularia, might be an interesting addition to a shade garden. According to my friends at Sandy's Plants in Mechanicsville, it is hardy in Zone 7. It's an evergreen that grows well in an environment similar to ferns and hosta. It prefers a moist soil and grows in clumps about 2 feet wide with glossy, leatherlike leaves. In the fall, it produces yellow flowers on 12to 18-inch stalks, but its major feature is its leaves. As for propagating it, the best way is to divide the roots into clumps in the spring just as you would hosta or daylily.

Q:We have a row of peonies that bloomed OK this spring but now have some kind of mold on them. Is it OK to cut them down now, or do we need to treat them?

Answer: Peonies do get powdery mildew, and they are also subject to sooty mold. The mold is black and will wipe off of the leaves. Powdery mildew is gray or white and will not rub off.

This late in the season, I'm not sure either one is a serious problem. The leaves should have done their job, and you can cut them down anytime now. When you do cut off the leaves, be sure to put them in a plastic bag and dispose of them with your trash.

Richard Nunnally is a freelance writer and host of WCVE's monthly gardening show, "Virginia Home Grown." He can be contacted at .