Janet Carson is a horticulture specialist for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Write to her at P. O. Box 391, Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or e-mail her at jcarson@arkansason line. com QI need some help with the identification of this plant.
The stalk is similar to a lily, and it has one long slender leaf that doesn’t show up in the picture. The cluster of berries is loosely attached, are fluid filled and have a hard white seed inside. It is growing in the edge of the woods behind our house, but we have never noticed it before.
AI believe you have some Jack-in-the-pulpit plants (Arisaema triphyllum ). This is a native wildflower. It grows early in the spring, blooms, then dies down, leaving the naked seed stem. Another nonnative with a similar fruit is the Italian arum which also matures in the fall.
QThis is the second time this summer that mushrooms have popped up in my raised flower bed. Should I do something to the soil before planting annuals next year ? Anything I can add or spray now to stop them ?
AIt just means you have spores in the mulch or soil; when they get enough moisture, the spores germinate and you get mushrooms. The mushrooms usually don’t hurt anything but some people don’t like them. Rake up the offending mushrooms, aerate the soil, put down fresh mulch and they eventually should stop reappearing. QI enjoyed your article about moon flowers. I have moon flowers also, but the leaves are large and heart shaped like large morning glory leaves. The flowers open at dusk and close early the next morning. The seed pods are purple with three thorn-like protrusions from the end. Are there different types of moon flowers ?
AThere are two different plants with the common name moon flower. The one described in the article was the moon flower bush, Datura inoxia. What you have is the moon flower vine, Ipomoea alba. It is a morning glory. It is also an annual which you need to save seeds from to start for next year. The datura moon flower is a perennial in most of the state, but can also be started from seed. Both are night blooming with large fragrant white flowers, but unrelated. QTwo years ago I bought a wisteria tree and it still has yet to bloom. I planted it in full sun which I thought it needed in order to produce those beautiful flowers. It gets these long shoots growing out of it, but I just cut those off to keep the tree round-looking. If I let them grow, they would be hanging on the ground. Should I be cutting those shoots off or is that what produces the flowers ? If I need to move the tree, where would a good place be so I could just let it climb ? It is very susceptible to those pesky Japanese beetles. What can I use to ward those pests off without damaging the tree ? Another thing I noticed is the roots come to the surface and are growing above ground. Should I cut them off at the ground level ?
AWisteria is a prolific grower and can easily overtake a trellis or outgrow its shape if it has been tree-formed. Any pruning that is needed should be done soon after the plant leafs out. Usually, wisteria blooms before the foliage appears. It then sets flower buds at the end of summer / beginning of fall for next year’s blooms. If you are continually shaping the plant all season, you are cutting off potential flower buds. Prune severely early, and hopefully that will suffice for the season.
Wisteria can be a bit slow to begin blooming, but once it does you should have blooms annually as long as it is in full sun.
Surface roots could mean you have very rocky soil, and they have nowhere else to grow. Cutting them off could damage the plant. I would suggest a layer of mulch over the top of them.
Japanese beetles can be difficult to control. Insecticides applied as the plants leaf out can be used as a preventive spray. Try Bayer Advanced Tree & Shrub Insecticide or, for adult beetles, malathion, Sevin or Orthene, all of which can give you some control.
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