Live Q&As

We will be moving in the coming months (not sure when exactly), and I'd like to take the peonies with us, as they belonged to my grandmother's aunt. Am I better off digging them up now and storing them (how/where?) or should I wait and possibly need to dig them up in the dead of winter? Once we are at the new house, do I plant them right away, or should I wait til spring?

My home backs to a wood lot and deer graze in my backyard regularly. Can you recommend any dry shade plants that deer won't eat? Thanks.

What small evergreens could I try In my shady, dry, narrow side yard bounded by a concrete wall and a sidewalk? I have had good success with siberian iris, ferns, lilly of the valley, but in winter I'm left with just hellebores and some big empty spots. I have thought of skimmias but what else might give us some winter presence? Thanks.

Adrian, I AM SO HAPPY YOU ARE CHATTING! (I really HATE that they took you off the regular chat lineup, BTW.) At any rate, question is this: Is it okay to rake leaves into perennial flower beds, borders, etc. as cover during the winter? Or is this just being too lazy?

Thanks for your article on dry shade. I suppose the book you discussed also lists some ferns that do well in dry shade. Christmas fern and southern shield fern are two that can take some sun and dry shade here in AL.

I have been composting food scraps, lawn clippings and fall leaves for about a year now, and finally have something worth spreading. Should I mix this into my garden soils now, in the fall or wait until sping? Thanks!

Hi, Adrian. Enjoyed the article today. I have a back yard garden shaded by 10 or so mature tulip poplars (.3 acre lot). How do I know what to have pruned to let in a bit more light? Is it on a branch by branch basis, or pruned up to a certain point?

I have several shrubs (salix integra, yellow-twig dogwood, Korean lilac) that need to be pruned. Is now the right time to do it? (I live on the upper Eastern Shore.)

Hi, Adrian. The weather here in Northern New Jersey is unseasonably warm. It reaches the low 30s at night but daytime temps are reaching 60 and beyond. My question is: Should I cut down perennials like hostas, ferns, catmint and epimedium now, or wait until it gets consistently cold and they fade more? Everything is still pretty green. Thank you.

Adrian, I just moved into a townhouse that has areas I am able to plant in the front and back. Everything was covered in weeds, which I have now pulled. I plan to put some tulip and daffodil bulbs in this weekend (it didn't really freeze, so I'm hoping that's okay) and another area I am going to use as an herb/vegetable plot. However, I'm left with a strip of earth about 2' x 6' and two strips of earth that are about 3' x 5'. Can you suggest something I can plant now that would fill these areas in? I'm not looking for ground cover, but rather some short (preferably flowering) bushes or plants that will look nice after their flowering period is over.

Such great timing! I just closed on a new home that comes with large built-in planters on the patio (and a few potted plants as well). Having always been an apt-dweller with no outdoor space, my "gardening" is limited to a bonzai and a few ferns I've managed to keep alive. But I'm excited for this potential. My question: Any special steps I should take to help the plants in the planters survive the fall, frost and winter? There's bamboo and a few other stalk/leafy (seemingly hardy) plants, but I'm a total novice. Would trimming them back this late in the season do any harm? (It's become a bit overgrown in the months we were under contract.) Will they survive any D.C. snow and cold on their own, or would covering with mulch help? The potted plants will be indoors before the first frost.

We have one spot in our yard that has poison ivy. We keep pulling it, we put a raised bed on top of the place where it had been, but our neighbors don't control it in their yard, so it keeps coming over into ours. We have a toddler and a dog, so we'd rather use non-toxis means to rid ourselves of it, but really want to be rid of it. Any hope for us?

Thanks for chatting! My roses, Knockouts and others, are still budding and blooming. I think I'm supposed to be cutting them back extremely and protecting them with a few inches of mulch for the winter, which can get pretty cold in southcentral Pennsylvania. But I can't bear to whack them while they're still flowering! Can you please tell me how late in the winter I can safely prune them? Thanks so much!

I live in New Hampshire and the October snow storm crushed my lilacs.  I have broken branches everywhere. Do I just cut below the broken area and hope for the best next spring? Is there anything else I should be doing to make sure they come back strong after losing at least half of the branches?

Thanks for already answering the question about dividing hostas. This Sunday I will be dividing by beloved Hosta "June". I living in a row house in B'More with a giant London Plane tree in the backyard. June is planted between two roots and is badly overdue for dividing. Any special tips? Also, I think I need to divide my Helleborus Orientalis, too. I've never done that. Anything I need to look out for? Thanks for today's chat, Adrian. I miss your regularly weekly chats.

We put in a new planting bed a year and a half ago where a yew hedge used to be. It gets a bit of sun for a few hours a day, but is under high shade of big oaks. We have already lost three or four lamiums (dead nettles, for real!), one of two heucheras, and a rhododendron suddenly started declining (whole branches of leaves curled up and turned brown) this August. Our basic soil is clay, but garden center installed the plants with lots of topsoil, and we keep light bark mulch on it. What to try?

We bought a house with mature gardens that include fall mums, plus some that I bought last year came back, so I planted them as well. I pinched them all up until July 4 or so and the ones that came with the house bloomed in October. The others are just now about to bloom and I am afraid the cold might get to them before they totally open up. Should I not have pinched them? Thanks!

With the first few frosty nights, our front lawn starts resembling a field of straw. Many years ago we tried removing the top layer and replanting with bluegrass seed, but it was overtaken by the stray roots of zoysia again. Any suggestions for a solution for our half acre front yard? ( It would have to be done by someone else, since we are past the lawn-renovation expiration age.)

I live in New York city and occasionally, though not typically, my rosemary can survive the winter outside. I was thinking of bringing it in this year, but my apartment doesn't get much light. Am I better off leaving it in the cold where it can get more sun, or bring it inside where it's warm but not sunny?

As you mentioned, potted plants need to be heartier because they are more exposed and get colder. Is there a way to insulate potted plants for the winter to keep them warm? What would happen if I wrapped the pots with insulation? Or if I buried the pots in the ground for the winter. Would this help keep them warm?

Adrian, based off your answer to the question re: top-dressing the garden now with compost, does it matter if some food scraps are still noticeable as food scraps? Also, since I have lots of earthworms in my compost, I'm assuming putting all of this onto my garden and other beds is preferable, so they can get into the soil before it (and they) freeze in the compost? Or is it okay to keep them wintered over in the compost heap? Thanks!

I have been sporadically cutting the vines that are killing the trees in the wooded area near my house (I think the property belongs to the county) and was wondering if this is futile. The trees are better off of course. But am I approaching this the right way?