Lawn edges turning brown could mean sprinkler problem

Here are some questions I encountered this week.

Question: Why is my lawn turning brown along the edges?

Answer: Sprinklers work on the buddy system: "I'll water under your sprinkler if you water under mine."

Here is how to see if your sprinkler system is working right: Using your shoe, push down the sprinkler that has the brown lawn around it. Watch for water coming from the other sprinklers. If your shoe only gets a few drops on it, open up adjacent sprinklers to deliver more water.

Q: Why are my Anna and Dorset Golden apples dropping?

A: They are ripe. Yes they are tart. It takes cool weather to improve the taste. After a couple of bites you won't mind the tartness. If you leave them on the tree they go mushy.

Q: Tell me about amaranth.

A: It is an ancient grain whose growth and production have enjoyed resurgence in recent years. It does very well here and uses very little water.

The American Indians use it as a food crop. Use its seeds in flour, sprouted, as a green or cooked whole. It is easy to grow and comes in several varieties, some of which grow along roadsides.

Q: Does the flowering color of lantanas make any difference on how they behave? Our yellow one is blooming and our lavender doesn't in their hanging baskets.

A: Dennis Swartzell says color has nothing to do with plant behavior. He finds hanging baskets dry out quickly and that significantly affects their flowering. In fact, if you see lantanas not blooming, they need more water.

Q: Why are the twig-ends of my African sumac dying? Checking closer, it looks like someone slit the twig with a knife.

A: This is cicada damage. Theses insects spend three to five years feeding on roots until emerging from the ground to mate. You'll find their skeletons stuck on trunks and walls.

The male cicada sends out its shrilling mating call to females. Later she makes saw tooth cuts in tender twigs to lay eggs. In six to seven weeks, grubs hatch and drop to the ground and begin feeding on the roots. They are difficult to control, because after mating they die but the twigs shed. Swartzell calls this nature's way of pruning.

Q: What are the small funnel-shaped holes in the ground with piles of powdered soil around them?

A: Antlions create these ingenious pitfall traps. As insects pass by, they become trapped in the sandy funnel and turn into food for the antlions.

Q: What is the creamy-brown big wasp that flies low near the ground?

A: It is a beneficial cicada wasp and frightens those who see it. It stings cicadas, which paralyzes them, and feasts on them in an underground nest.

Q: What is the 3-inch-long giant beetle we found in our palo verde?

A: It's a palo verde beetle. It's a clumsy insect attracted to porch lights. Like cicadas, it spends most of its life feeding on palo verde roots. It emerges from the ground and flies around looking to mate, lay eggs and die. After hatching, the grubs return to the soil.

Q: Do we need to replace our palo verde that snapped off in a windstorm?

A: No, start it up again by keeping it watered. Expect several sprouts, so thin them out.

Q: Is it OK to plant an ash tree over our leach field?

A: No! Roots eventually find the moisture and plug the sewer lines. And if you go on an extended vacation and don't use the facilities, the tree might suffer.

Q: Why do palm fronds turn brown at the tips?

A: Palms are tropical plants and are not used to our dry climate. It signals a need to water more.

WILDLIFE HABITAT IN YOUR YARD

Learn how to have a wildlife habitat in your yard if you follow a few simple steps. Russ Harrison and I will show you the components necessary to experience a new way of enjoying your yard at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday in July at the Springs Preserve, 333 S. Valley View Blvd.

Linn Mills writes a garden column each Sunday. You can reach him at linn.mills@springspreserve.org or call him at 822-7754.