Q: In the last few years, mahonia has taken over our woods. What is the best way to get rid of it, and is there any way of keeping it from spreading so quickly? Karen Knieter, Roswell
A: You need long-handled loppers, leather gloves and an old jacket. Reach through the prickly leaves and use the loppers to cut each stem of each selected plant at the base. You'll appreciate the leather gloves and jacket as you pull the shrubs out for disposal. Spray the bright yellow mahonia stumps with any product that contains glyphosate (KleenUp, KillzAll, Roundup, etc). Mahonia spreads by bird droppings. If a neighbor allows the blue berries to develop on their mahonia shrub, you'll always have new seedling sprouting in your landscape.
Q: Squirrels are eating the leaf clusters out of my tree, dropping them to the ground, grabbing another cluster to eat, and on and on. The tree is beginning to have stripped branches from this, not to mention that I have to rake and sweep twice a day. Is it harmful to my tree? Rose Taylor, Loganville
A: This seems to be a characteristic of young squirrels. Lots of them are around now after the May-June breeding season. I've also had reports of them chewing on aluminum siding and chain link fence wire. My neighbor has a backyard littered with oak twigs dropped by squirrels. I suppose you could use a live trap to capture and release the miscreants but I also predict that as the squirrel population ages the tree attacks will diminish. I don't expect permanent damage to the tree.
Q: I have a dozen beautiful red amaryllis bulbs planted outdoors. They die back in the winter, sprout up in the late spring, and bloom during the summer. How should we move the bulbs? Helen Pepper, Gwinnett County
A: I assume you have hardy amaryllis, Hippeastrum x johnsonii. The leaves should be gone by now, so simply dig the bulbs and move to your selected spot. They seem to do best in full morning sun and afternoon shade after 2 p.m. Amend the soil of the new bed with two inches of soil conditioner mixed ten inches deep. Plant so that the upper fourth of each bulb is above ground. Scatter pine straw over the bed. There's no need to fertilize now but do feed your plants when leaves appear in April.
Q: Where can I find a list of invasive plants in our area? Every time I see a plant doing well in the wild areas near me I wonder if it would be a good one in my yard. Jill Pohl, email
A: The folks at the Georgia Exotic Pest Plant Council (www.gaeppc.org) have an extensive list of problematic plants. They group them by invasive behavior and potential, so you can make an educated decision about which ones to keep an eye on and which ones to avoid completely.
Q: I saw a TV show about Christmas ferns. Where can a person buy them? Carla Bosman, Dunwoody
A: My friends at the Georgia Perimeter College Native Plant Garden (gpcnativegarden.org) in south DeKalb county regularly conduct fern sales. In addition, they have Lunch 'n' Learn events featuring native plants during the growing season.
