Vacation for a week

QuestionI will be going out of town for 7 days. These are the potted trees we have in the backyard:3 banana plants that are trying to survive, 1 Mexican Lime,1 navel and 1 washington orange.Will it be enough f

Coffee plant leaf bronxing

QuestionI have (had) a flourishing coffee plant, in a large pot with what I believe is good soil. It has not failed to continually grow new leaves and is doing so now. It is normally indoors since I live in Nova Sc

Long Island

QuestionIve been a gardener for many years, but lately have been getting bored. Recently I developed an interest in tropicals and I feel the excitement again! Could you give me a list of plants that woul

Dying Palm Trees

QuestionQUESTION: Hi,Im a janitor for our church and we have about 5 palm trees. Weve had them for about 4-8 months (I know thats a pretty broad date range but they actualy got them when I was in college in another

Pony Tail Flower

QuestionHI. My outdoor pony tail about 1.5 metres tall has recently flowered. It was transfered to the ground from a pot about 4 months ago and flowered with-in 2 months, now the flower has dried out and it just a l

Figs

QuestionI have a garden in the tropics (16 degrees N) and have ficus running wild. Will fruiting figs grow and is it possible to graft fruiting figs onto wild ficus AnswerMichael, if you have Ficus Benjamina

elephant ear transplanting

QuestionI was given full grown elephant ears a few days ago. I planted them as soon I got home. The ears are on the grown. Did i kill it or does it take time to adjust to a new location? I watered it well and added

Bouganvilla and frost

QuestionHi Nick! I was given a Bouganvilla in a container as a gift. I had great luck with them in warm climates, but now I live on Whidbey Is. in Washington state and Im told they need to come inside fo

white flies on orchid tree

QuestionMy huge orchid tree (12 tall) is infested with white flies. The leaves are too high to reach to spray and the root system is very huge. It seems the only sensible thing to do is cut it down. &nbs

black elephant ears

QuestionHi Nick, I dug up my black elephant ears which were planted by my pampas grass as they werent getting enough water (greedy pampas)! I put the starving plants in pots and babied them to health on

dried out bougainvillea

QuestionDue to a recent 2 week holiday my bougainvillea has been completely neglected and totally dried out! Is it possible to rescue it? I know that the plant comes from a very dry climate but Im not su

starting queen palms

QuestionHello,id like to know how to start growing queen palms.It seems no one knows how! Thanks. dave AnswerHi Dave, here in Florida where I live there are volunteers popping up all around our mature Queens; the p

planting white birds of paradise indoors

QuestionHi, I just bought two white birds of paradise that are 6 feet tall and would like to plant them together in the same pot to keep indoors. What is the best size pot to plant them in if they were each original

Flower what kind is it

QuestionHi Nick, I have a corn like stalk plants that grow about 5 feet,with a beautiful smell that come from white flowers that bloom. The stalk dies and then grows again. About 2 times a year. I

tree fern and palm fungus?

QuestionQUESTION: I live in Huntington Beach. CA and I have just discovered that two of my many palms and ferns have what I think is a fungus located at the base of their trunks (ground level to approx. 12 inches) a

dwarf plumeria

QuestionHi, we have a dwarf plumeria that has been attacked by white fly and the goo is all over the leaves. we have sprayed and it seems like the flys are gone, but the goo is still there and the tree is no

Fungus on Bird of Paradise

QuestionI have a bird of paradise that has a white fungus looking thing on the leaves, what do I need to get rid of it? AnswerHi Jackie, sounds like a scale infestation, you need to apply a horticultural oil (organ

dracaena question

QuestionI broke off a piece of a dracaena marginata (the kind with narrow green leaves with red margins) from a friends plant. There is about 2 inches of stem with about 8 inches diameter of bushiness; it was

Pinnapple Plant

QuestionQUESTION: I have this pineapple plant and it has a little fruit probably about the size of a tennis ball! It has turned yellow and I was wondering if it will get bigger or if I need to take it off the plant?

pygmy palm dying

QuestionIve got a number of Pygmy palms here in St Pete...Ive noticed that at least one tree in each group(typically 3) seems to be dying. The fronds are shriveling typically from the stalk outward...in many cases t