Bob Morris

Chilling injury is due to cooler or cold weather (above freezing) temperatures to tropical plants growing outside of — or close to — the fringes of their normal range.

After a tree is damaged during a windstorm, healing can take two to three years if the tree is kept in good health. To do that, clean up the wound and apply management practices that encourage it to heal.

A deep watering once a week in the winter should be all that is necessary for sago palms in most soils and locations except the hottest.

Yellowing of bottle brush leaves oftentimes occurs when the soil is low in nutrients and organic matter content. Fix yellowing leaves by applying a landscape fertilizer every year in the spring and combine it with an annual application of chelated iron.

Big trees use quite a bit of water. The cost of watering these trees must be balanced with the need for cooling.

In our Mojave Desert environment, most artificial grasses get over 165 degrees any time when in full sunlight and air temperatures are over 100 degrees.

Tree roots are lazy. They grow best where water is easiest to get. And tree roots absolutely love fertilizer.

In the hot desert, loss of shade from an irrigation problem leads to attacks by borers.

Q: I planted a sweet lavender plant last year and it grew great until this August and then suddenly died. It was getting about 2 gallons per watering via two emitters. I would like to replace it with another lavender. It gets morning sun and afternoon shade. What variety of lavender would you recommend we try?