Question: We recently started planting our daily plants. As the name suggests, the flowers last only one day. How long can a plant continue to produce new shoots and when can it be divided?
Answer: Fortunately, your plant may have more buds and more buds. Expect daily flower displays to last for more than a month. How well a plant works depends on the amount of care it takes. One grower once told me that Daily Lee was mostly an aquatic plant. What he meant was that they needed a lot of water to thrive. They are often listed as drought tolerance, and although they may be, the best growth is when they have the right water. At least one species known as a grooved lily thrives in moist conditions. Perhaps the best time to split the daily chunks is after flowering. Growers often cut back the leaves and old flower stems, splitting some fans of the stem into small clumps. They are immediately planted in garden beds and are given consistent care to water and fertilizer.
Q: One of the Southern Magnolia trees from over 20 years ago appears to be decreasing. Is this because of lack of rain? Are there any supplements we can give it? We’ve been increasing the amount of watering.
A: Established magnolia are drought-resistant, but if the weather is consistently dry, you can suffer from stress. The email photos showed the tree with yellow leaves and leaves loss. Dry weather may speed up the decline in this leaf, but this time of year is not unusual. If southern magnolias look bad, they’ll probably have been through a few weeks of spring as they change their old leaves. Supplying moisture needs does not require excessive watering twice a week for irrigation to get wet. Usually, this old one gets all kinds of necessary nutrients from fertilizers applied to nearby lawns, shrubs, and ground cover. It’s not harmful to apply fertilizer that could boost your tree a little. Using lawn fertilizer at the grass rate would be everything that comes out under the spread of the branches and past the drip line.
Plant Doctor: I want to add summer colors to my flower bed. What would you suggest?
Q: I plan to plant a variety of shells in partially shaded areas, but I understand that they can be 5 feet tall. Can you trim these plants to smaller sizes without damaging them?
A: Yes, the zinger can get a height of 5 feet or more, and the chunks can grow equally wide. They can be pruned, but trimming can stop the shoot growing and leave brown stubs and possibly yellow leaves. Allow as long as possible growth before performing corrective pruning. Then, if necessary, cut down the chutes between the leaves to avoid noticing the stub. You can also open the plants a little and new shoots can fill in the blanks.
Q: I planted a zoisia that hit a bed in my garden. I was told I had to cut it out and dig it out. Is there another way?
A: Zoysia can be a grass that covers the feet, but it becomes invasive and plantes decorative flowers, shrubs and ground. Hand removal works, but you need to constantly pull or dig the above and underground buds. Fortunately, among the decorative plants listed on the product label, there are several herbicides available to spray invasive weeds. Such herbicides found at the garden centre include fertile Over the Top II and Orthograss B-gon. Carefully read and track their labels to prevent damage to the plants you want to grow. Each of these products may need to wait several weeks for sufficient control after application.
Q: My little Meyer lemon was really good. It was packed with flowers, and quite a few developed small lemons. All of these have fallen. What can you do to prevent this from happening again?
A: Keep paying attention to your small or perhaps young trees growing like shrubs with multiple trunks. Fruit plants only keep what they can support and remove the rest. Unfortunately, this can cause most or all of the fruit to fall from young trees or shrubs. In March, May, August and early October, we treat Meyer lemons like citrus fruits with fertilizer use. Use citrus fertilizers found at local garden centres. To maintain the vitality of the lemon, it is recommended to apply a light nutritional spray to each flash of new growth. Moisten the soil to prevent stress affecting fruit drops.
Maybe you’re in a garden in Central Florida
Q: I had a beautiful hydrangea plant until its flowers dried. I should cut them off and the plants grow?
A: It seems you’ve found the difficult way that hydrangeas are “water pigs.” Simply skip watering for a few days and the plant will remain in the container or on the ground without any seriousness. If you don’t notice it, the leaves and flowers die and turn brown. If the plant’s stems are still green, there is hope for recovery. They either separate or cut the fading flowers and leaves, but leave the stems. Next, make sure your plants have the water needed to moisten the soil. Once the surface starts to dry out, it’s time to water. Excessive
Q: I noticed that some of the bromeliad plants died a year or two later. Is this normal?
A: I’m happy to know that the plants are normal as the old parts fade and the new ones fill the blanks. After bromeliad flowers, the parent plant slowly decreases. This process can take more than a year, and by the time the plant turns brown, something new is filling the space. Gardeners have the opportunity to expand their collection by producing 6-8 inches of growth and deleting derivatives after they begin to form roots. In many cases, new shoots can be snapped from the parent plant or cut with a knife. The old, decayed bromeliad portion is then discarded.
Tom Maccubbin is an honorary urban gardener at the University of Florida Cooperative Expansion Services. Write him: Orlando Sentinel, PO Box 2833, Orlando, Florida. 32802. email: tomac1996@aol.com.
