Walter Reeves (ENLARGE)

Resurrection fern is a drab brown in dry weather but turns vibrant green when it rains.

WALTER REEVES RELATED LINKS: Roundup may rid ivy of invasive neighbor  Healthy plants a natural way to protect gardens  Plants that grow in soggy soil  Control creeping cucumber with spray or pull roots  Prune camellias now for flowers next season  Get more Home & Garden news Listen to Walter Reeves Saturday mornings on NewsTalk 750 WSB-AM from 6 to 10. Call 404-872-0750 to ask questions. His Web site, walterreeves.com, contains thousands of answers to lawn and landscape questions. Watch "Gardening in Georgia" each week on GPB. Details at gardeningingeorgia.com.

Q: I have an unlimited supply of horse manure. Can I use this as mulch/fertilizer around my bushes and trees without hurting them?

Jessica Collins, Blue Ridge

A: If the manure has been composted long enough that it doesn't smell like ammonia and the shavings are indistinguishable, you can put a one-inch layer under all of your shrubs and trees. This will attract earthworms to the spot and they will soften and enrich the soil for you. Composted manure also can be tilled into your vegetable garden before planting each spring.

Q: I want to grow crabgrass. Yes, crabgrass. A piece of my property has very poor, eroded soil and nothing grows there except crabgrass. Where can I get crabgrass seeds? I know it goes dormant in winter; I simply want to get some going from scratch.

Paul Soder, Monroe

A: Why not plant kudzu? It's a perennial vine, not an annual grass, and it is an excellent erosion control. But, seriously folks ... I think you have better choices than crabgrass. Why not plant common bermudagrass seed right before a rain? Bermudagrass will spread quickly and hold the soil better than crabgrass in winter. Remember that crabgrass seed germinates best in spring. If you were to plant it now, most seed would remain dormant, even in the presence of water. I've never heard of crabgrass seed for sale, but if you find some, please let me know so I can alert your neighbors!

Q: About a week ago I noticed very small black pellets falling from my sweetgum trees. Upon further inspection, I noticed the tree crowns appeared to be eaten away. There seems to be an extensive infestation of some type of caterpillar in my trees.

Craig Lengyel, Alpharetta

A: Congratulations! You've presented my first ever report of an insect whose common name is simply "sweetgum defoliator." The last time this creature was noticed was in 1977 when lots of sweetgum trees in middle Georgia were defoliated. Forester Terry Price took pictures of the damage and identified the insect as Paectes abrostoloides.

This small brown moth lays her eggs in early summer on the host tree. Caterpillars hatch from the eggs and begin feeding, leading to the black droppings you noticed. Terry noted that a virus appeared to wipe them out by the end of the outbreak. Since this caterpillar attack only happens once in a blue moon, I don't think you have much to worry about. Many gardeners would love it if the caterpillars ate the messy sweetgum balls!

Q: Is it possible to transplant a resurrection fern from an osage orange tree to a river birch?

Janice Metzler, e-mail

A: Resurrection fern is an interesting plant. I often see it coating the upper surface of big oak limbs. During dry times, the fronds are a lifeless brown. But as soon as rain comes, they become a vibrant green. Use a thin metal spatula to push under the fern mat on the osage orange. Try to remove pieces at least as big as your palm. The ferns grew from spores originally deposited on the bark. For that reason, the piece you transfer won't have good adhesion to the new tree bark. To fix that, use jute twine to tie the pieces tightly in place on a large birch limb.