Crape myrtles resist drought, require little maintenance

Q: A tree in my front yard died and I need to replace it. I’d like it to be no more than 25 feet at maturity, low maintenance, colorful and drought-resistant. Can you help me come close?

ARDY MCINTOSH, Woodstock

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Walter Reeves

A tree-form crape myrtle offers four-season color, drought-resistance and low maintenance for your landscape.

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• 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.

A: My first choice would be a large tree-form crape myrtle. The following meet your criteria:

• ‘Biloxi’ (light pink)

• ‘Kiowa’ (white)

• ‘Red Rocket’ (red)

• ‘Natchez’ (white)

• ‘Bashams Party Pink’ (lavender pink)

• ‘Fantasy’ (white)

• ‘Dynamite’ (true red).

Q: I added 60 pounds of lime to my 4,000-square-foot centipede lawn before some heavy rains. I have now read that lime should not be applied to centipede. Have I ruined my lawn?

DREW KLEINHANS, by e-mail

A: Good news! It usually takes 40 pounds of lime per 1,000 square feet to make much difference in the pH of clay soil. If you applied only 60 pounds to 4,000 square feet, you haven’t done any harm. New centipede grass soil pH recommendations from the University of Georgia Soil, Plant and Water Analysis Lab advise a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. Let me urge you to have an accurate soil test done. Details at www.georgiasoiltest.com.

Q: Is there a season for pine straw? We use pine straw in our yard and have noticed that sometimes it is full of trash: lots of small limbs and pine cones in it. Other times it is really nice with all pine needles.

LISA HODGES, by e-mail

A: David Mulkey, sales manager at Corbin’s Pine Straw, says pine needles fall in early spring and again in fall. At their collection sites in northwest Florida, crews hand-rake the straw into baling machines and then hand-tie the bales. He says the quality of the bales depends on the quality of the crew. A good crew with a conscientious supervisor rakes only the newly deposited needles. A sloppy crew rakes up everything. My advice is to check the bales in the straw trailer before you purchase. If the quality is not to your liking, inform the garden center manager and take your business elsewhere.

Q: When I bought my house, the Leyland cypress at the end of my driveway was a cute thing about 7 feet tall. Now, eight years later, it is 25 feet tall. Can you trim them to keep them a certain size and shape?

DOUG MCGRATH, by e-mail

A: Reducing a Leyland cypress as much as you want to do is fraught with problems. You can reduce its size by one-fourth each winter, but you must always leave unshaded greenery below each pruning cut you make. If the process seems like it would take too long, remove the Leyland and plant a more restrained evergreen like ‘Emerald Green’ arborvitae.

Q: Can you overseed centipede grass with rye grass for winter?

BRADLEY VAN DYKE, Marietta

A: No, it’s a terrible idea to plant ryegrass into centipede grass to keep it green in winter. In the first place, the process of scarifying the soil to plant the ryegrass seed will hurt the centipede grass terribly. Secondly, the ryegrass roots compete too much with centipede grass in spring. I can easily forecast the complete failure of your centipede grass lawn if you insist on overseeding.