Leaf Spot – On Poplar, Maple, Sweetgum

Q: I have a sweetgum tree in my back yard that appears to be dying. The leaves have all turned color as though it was fall and they have black spots on them. What is this? A: I've seen similar symptoms on

Flowering Cherry – Sudden Death

Q: We came home last week from a week of vacation and found one of our cherry trees like this. It has since progressed to the entire tree – most of the leaves are completely brown. What is causing this? Wil

Slime Mold – On Wood

Q: We found on our deck banister a brightly-colored fungus. It is about 3/8-inch high. Are you able to identify it? A: Wow….very cool! It's a myxomycete…one of the thousands of kinds of slime mo

Trees – Why Fall Colors

Q: I have a simple question. Why do deciduous trees change color and lose their leaves? Is it because their roots or leaves get cold? A: My colleague, Dr. Gary Wade, says that it's the simple questions tha

Pesticides – Disposal

Q: I need to clean out a storage room on my carport that has many old containers of weed killer, bug spray and fertilizer. What is the safest way to dispose of them? A: The easiest way is to soak your chemicals

Plants – for Creek Bank

Q: Our property abuts Nancy Creek and when it floods the sandy creek bank (about 8 ft high) erodes and simply washes down stream. We prefer to plant something that has deep enough roots to stay when the floods c

Tree – Climbing with Spikes

Q: I work for a tree maintenance company. Recently, we worked in a landscape a few weeks after the homeowner had had a television receiver installed up in one of his pine trees. The installer had evidently used

Water Oaks – For Shade

Q: I am interested in planting some dogwood trees (for beauty) and some water oaks (for shade) in my yard. Are these good choices? When would be the best time to plant these trees? A: Theresa Schrum replies: &#

Kudzu – Other Uses

Q: As a chemist and a plant lover, you seem to be the best person to answer this question. What's the hold up on using kudzu to power cars? Think how many problems this would solve: no pollution, land under

Evergreens – Identifying

Q: I've found an unusual group of young trees at my back property line (in the woods). The bark is fairly smooth. It is an evergreen. The leaves look to be sort of a mixture between a Franklinia alatamaha

Spring Starflower – Identifying

Q: I discovered a flower growing in the back yard of my home. I'd like to plant more, but I don't know what it is. The leaves appear first in March followed by small white flowers with a touch of blue

Garden invading Animals – Repelling

Q: What can I do to keep critters from eating my pansies? A: Theresa Schrum replies: "There are products such as Ropel which will supposedly repel rabbits and other animals from your garden. There are a

Hardiness Zones for Georgia

Q: I've heard several people referring to Atlanta as being in USDA Hardiness Zone 8 and 8A. But I am under the conviction that we are in Zone 7A, formerly just Zone 7. Can you clarify? A: In 1960, the Unite

Deer – Eating Hosta

Q: I've heard about deer problems before…but now I've got one! Is there anything I can do to keep deer from eating my beautiful hosta? A: We went to Glen-Ella Springs Inn last week and saw the

Smilax – Organic Control

Q: We have a wooded area just beyond our backyard. We would like to be able to use this area, but there is a thicket of green briar as an undergrowth throughout the woods. I've tried pulling them up by the

English Laurel – As a Hedge

Q: I recently had some major landscaping done at my new house. The plan called for Dwarf English Laurel to act as a hedge shrub around the house. An error was made and regular English laurel was delivered and pl

Korean sweetheart tree- Finding

Q: I having a very hard time of finding this species of tree. I heard that it is a ‘sweetheart' of a tree. The botanical name is Euscaphis japonica. A: Since it was promoted by JC Raulston…

Butterfly Pea

Q: This flower is too pretty to relegate to an unseen portion of my yard where it is. Any advice that I can have on it would assist me a lot. A: You have a butterfly pea, Clitoria mariana. It is perennial from I

Hymenocallis (Peruvian Daffodil)

Q: This plan was given to my wife from a friend's mother's garden in Jacksonville. It sat in the ground without blooming for a couple of years, was transplanted, and didn't bloom for a couple mo

Virginia Buttonweed – Control

Q: At first I thought I had nutgrass but now I'm not so sure. Can you ID what I have? A: I'm not sure which is harder to control…nutgrass or the Virginia buttonweed you actually have. Buttonweed