Q: My preschool students want to know how to tell the difference between a flower and a weed. How do I explain it to 4-year-olds? — Kristen Smith, Marietta
A: My answer is simple: A weed is a plant that makes a gardener unhappy.
Dandelion flowers are pretty, but I don’t like them growing in my lawn.
Garlic tastes good, but it self-seeds in so many places in my garden that I pull out the unwanted seedlings. Sometimes weeds are simply the wrong plant in the wrong place. My friend Theresa Schrum adds, “One: A weed is something you didn’t plant and wish it were gone. Two: A weed is something you did plant and wish it were gone. Three: Weeds are the only plants that will thrive and take over while you’re on vacation.” If a plant makes you happy, it isn’t a weed!
Q: I have a thick carpet of seedlings under my hellebore plants. Should I thin them out or just let nature take its course? — Joan Cuellar, Woodstock
A: Perhaps they compete in a small way with the mother plant, but I usually let the smaller plants fight things out undisturbed. If you want lots more Lenten roses, scoop up a shovelful of soil and seedlings and carefully separate them. Plant 4 inches apart in loamy soil in slight shade and fertilize with liquid plant food in May. Feed again in August. Repeat next year. Plants will be big enough to bloom two years from now.
Q: Sitting in traffic, I saw an oak with a base 10 feet around that splits into two trunks 5 feet from the ground. Are there the same number of rings in the big base as in the two tall forks? — Charles Youngs, e-mail
A: No, the two smaller trunks have a few less rings than the base trunk.
The two probably resulted from equally vigorous sprouts that occurred at the 5-foot level of the seedling oak several decades ago. The base of the tree has rings that formed when it grew from the original acorn. The two trunks began forming rings when they started extending.
Q: I want to purchase a weeping cherry tree this spring. I know there are grafted ones and ones started by seed. What's the difference? —Tara Levine, DeKalb County
A: Grafted weeping cherry trees maintain about the same height they possess when planted. Seedling trees, like 'Higan' weeping cherry, can grow to 30 feet tall. Both can be attractive in a landscape of appropriate size. The grafted cherry will sometimes send up straight shoots that originate below the graft, but they are easy to prune out.
Listen to Walter Reeves from 6 to 10 Saturday mornings on WSB-AM (750). Go to www.yoursouthern garden.com for details on his TV show or visit his Web site, www.walterreeves.com.
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