MAY 19, 2007

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

My oak leaves are buckling and falling off. What’s wrong?

Answer: This spring was an unusual one with a lot of rain. As a result, we are seeing some diseases on oaks that we haven’t seen in a long time. They are typical in East Texas where it does rain a lot more, but not so much here. One of the main ones is oak leaf blister. Oak leaf blister causes the leaves to buckle a little a bit as they’re forming. As the shoots are coming out and the leaves are developing their shape, it infects them and causes areas of the leaf to buckle and then later turn brown. Sometimes those leaves fall off.

There’s nothing to do about it now. The disease is past since the conditions are no longer suitable for it to develop. It’s primarily an early spring problem, especially when it is so cool and wet. The trees will recover soon.

past Questions of the Week →

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Gray Santolina

Gray Santolina has a number of good features. Number one, it’s a gray-plant so it breaks up the sea of green in our landscape. It makes a nice groundcover and it’s one of the plants that deer would rather not eat if they have other things that they prefer. About this time of the year it starts to bloom with little yellow button-like flowers. But it is as a textural groundcover all year that we value this plant. You can mass plant it in beds to create a large swath of gray. It’s nice to set off a darker color, such as purplish or burgundy color foliage behind it, or flowering perennials like Indigo spires. It’s extremely tough and especially likes our hot dry conditions. Avoid planting it in shade or poorly drained soils, since it will show its displeasure by rotting.

past Plants of the Week →

PLANTING TIPS OF THE WEEK

• Feed the tomatoes
• Plant okra, black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes
• If you’ve used lawn weed killers in the past, now’s definitely a time to stop as temperatures rise.
• Maintain vigilance against pests and disease before they get out of hand. If an insect or fungus has completely taken over a plant, it’s probably best to remove the plant.

more Planting Tips →

THIS WEEK’S FEATURES

Marcus Young from Bloomers in Elgin revives the hot weather wilts with dynamic designs for summer.

Marcus Young's plant list: