Harvey Cotten writes for The Huntsville Times
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Questions & Answers from the Garden by Harvey Cotten
The following articles were printed in The Huntsville Times.
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Get garden 'black gold' for free!
Q: I am hoping that you can help me with my gardening problems. I have a small 15 x 20 vegetable garden, which I started two years ago wi...
Time for pre-emergent herbicide
Q: When is the correct time to put out pre-emergent herbicide for controlling summer weeds? Will this help with the purple flowering weed...
Time for pre-emergent herbicide
Q: When is the correct time to put out pre-emergent herbicide for controlling summer weeds? Will this help with the purple flowering weed...
Want to go?
What: Building, Home and Remodeling Show When: Friday, noon to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Where: Von Brau...
Good screen options for shady areas
Q: I enjoyed your column last Saturday about tall evergreen screen options for the yard. My backyard is moderately to fully shaded with t...
Madison, Huntsville entwine forces in landscape beautification effort
Mayors of Madison and Huntsville literally buried a hatchet recently to signify cooperation between the cities. Following that theme, the...
Holly responds well to severe pruning
Q: We have a hedgerow that consists of dwarf Burford hollies that are more than 30 years old and have grown to a height of 10 to 12 feet....
Tall screen options plenty
Q: I need to know what evergreen shrubs I can plant across the back of my property to screen out the new houses being built next door. I ...
Nematodes can be a gardening disaster
Q: I have a question about nematodes. I have two flower beds in my patio where I not only plant flowers but also vegetables, such as cucu...
Burritt on the Mountain's Step Back in Time
Step back Burritt on the Mountain's Step Back in Time series takes a look at "Victorian Valentines" at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Old Countr...
Mulches aren't all the same
Q: What kind of mulch do Christmas trees create? Is it considered a "hardwood mulch"? Thanks very much. - Nisha M. A: My first reaction t...
Cotten helps write book on gardens
Harvey Cotten is a man of many titles. He's a Times columnist, a local horticulturalist and chief operating officer of Huntsville Botanic...
Jackson vine should be cut every 5 years
Q: I have a Jackson vine that I have had for several years. Mine has clumps of berries that look like grapes but I have never seen these ...
Spraying for aphids can stop mold woe
Q: I had a horrible problem with the black mold all over my patio last summer. It came from my hackberry trees, and I remember you saying...
There's more
Q: I wonder if you could help me identify the plant in the attached photos. I acquired the plant several years ago at a flea market. The ...
Lights out
Q: What is the best way for me to recycle my Christmas tree? I am thinking that this will be our last year for a cut tree and want to mak...
Treat birds with holly; honeysuckle runs wild
Q: I love to watch the birds during this time of year and would love to have more ways to attract them to my yard. My neighbor has a smal...
Handsome quince tree can spring from fruit
Q: My son sent me this fruit of what we believe to be a Chinese quince. He found the tree on his property and this year it was loaded wit...
Japanese persimmon grows well
Q: Can we grow Japanese persimmons here? I just saw a tray of them at Costco, and they sure didn't look like any persimmon I have seen. T...
Try alternatives to Colorado blue spruce
Q: This summer the Colorado blue spruce I planted died. This is the third one that has not made it in our yard. I really like the blue fo...
Smooth sumac offers brilliant red fall color
Q: I have an interesting shrub or small tree growing along the edge of my property that I thought was a mimosa. However, it has the most ...
Tough plant has a sweet scent
Q: Riding my motorcycle home this week on Interstate 565, I noticed a great scent along a couple of the overpasses that have been landsca...
Red-berried vine is Carolina moonseed
Q: Several of us were at Wheeler Dam recently doing a bit of birdwatching, and we discovered these beautiful red-berried vines. The leave...
CROSS COUNTRY
Q: Can you help me identify this tree I found on a farm in Limestone County? I broke the fruit open, and it had three separate nuts in th...
You discovered a Turk's cap
Q: I found this beautiful red flowering shrub while walking in the woods the other day. Can you help me identify what this plant is and i...
Osage orange can survive a lot
Q: I am hoping that you can confirm what these two tree fruits that I found in the Athens area are. I believe they are walnuts, but they ...
Zerumbet can add splash of color
Q: Recently my wife and I were in the Pigeon Forge area and saw a beautiful yellow and green plant growing in the parking lot beds. We re...
The great dogwood mystery
Q: I hope you will be able to tell me what these red ball-looking berries are on my dogwood tree. I planted the tree three years ago and ...
Practice plant patience
Q: Two years ago a neighbor gave me some bulbs of her Agapanthus. I planted it in my garden but it did not bloom that summer. I transplan...
Practice some patience
Q: Two years ago a neighbor gave me some bulbs of her Agapanthus. I planted it in my garden but it did not bloom that summer. I transplan...
Make fuss over your Ziziphus jujuba
Q: I have a tree in my yard that I hope you can identify. A friend gave me the tree and called it a type of olive. Since the fruit is ver...
Transplant Rose of Sharon in November
Q: My grandmother has several Rose of Sharon shrubs in her yard. I love the beautiful white flowers with a bright red center and wonder w...
Asian woolly aphid source of sooty mold
Q: I have been in my house for three years, and this is the first year that I have had a problem with the sticky sap from my hackberry tr...
Japanese maple turninggreen OK
Q: I am wondering if there is something wrong with my red Japanese maple. The leaves are mostly green now after starting out a brilliant ...
Panicle hydrangea hardy in summer
Q: Recently my wife and I saw several plants covered with beautiful white flowers growing in full sun. They looked like they could be a h...
Panicle hydrangea hardy in summer
Q: Recently my wife and I saw several plants covered with beautiful white flowers growing in full sun. They looked like they could be a h...
Lace bugs attacking your azalea plants
Q: There is something very wrong with my azalea plants. The leaves look almost whitish and have black specks underneath. It does not look...
Crape myrtle sheds bark naturally
Q: I am worried about my crape myrtle. It is shedding a lot of bark and I don't know if this is bad for the tree. I have never seen this ...
Garden amaryllis is hardy in valley
Q: A friend of mine brought me a beautiful red flower from her garden that resembles a lily. It is similar to the crocosmia but the flowe...
Your shrub is a pomegranate
Q: We moved into an older house a few years ago and I have a very unusual shrub that has bright orange flowers. It is about 8 feet tall a...
Crocosmia is a hardy perennial and easy to grow
Q: I saw the most beautiful red flowering perennial this past weekend on a garden tour. It might be a lily of some sort, but I would love...
Genetics cause pink hydrangeas
Q: I enjoyed your comments on hydrangeas last week but was wondering about oak leaf hydrangeas and why some of the flowers are pure white...
Pink? Blue? Pick your color
Q: This spring I purchased several 'Endless Summer' hydrangeas to add to an existing bed. They are now blooming, along with the older one...
Don't be taken inby this 'commoner'
Q: What is the bush that have been flowering so profusely lately on the side of the highways and mountainsides? Some of them smell like h...
FRINGE BENEFITS
Q: We have moved here from the Boston area, and I would love to plant some lilacs in my yard but I do not see any planted around my neigh...
'Climax,' 'Tifblue' best blueberries
Q: Would you please recommend the best blueberry bushes for me to plant in my back yard? Thank you. - Sofee B. A: So you want to plant so...
'Climax,' 'Tifblue' best blueberries
Q: Would you please recommend the best blueberry bushes for me to plant in my back yard? Thank you. - Sofee B. A: So you want to plant so...
Pink floweringtrees now aren'tcrab apple, tryKwanzan cherry
Q: Can you tell me if a redbud tree would make a good small tree for my yard? I see them blooming all around the area, but they are often...
Redbud in its glory
Q: Can you tell me if a redbud tree would make a good small tree for my yard? I see them blooming all around the area, but they are often...
Orchardgrass tough to eradicate
Q: I have two problems in my fescue lawn - the first is an unusual grassy weed that is growing in the area that we overseeded last fall. ...
Orchardgrass tough to eradicate
Q: I have two problems in my fescue lawn - the first is an unusual grassy weed that is growing in the area that we overseeded last fall. ...
Tree's ID may be Chickasaw plum
Q: We have seen numerous trees begin to bloom. Most of them have white blossoms. We can recognize the pear trees by their round shape, ho...
Tree's ID may be Chickasaw plum
Q: We have seen numerous trees begin to bloom. Most of them have white blossoms. We can recognize the pear trees by their round shape, ho...
Replace pine straw under rose beds
Q: I finally got pine straw on the rose beds this past fall; now that spring is here what should I do with the pine straw? Do you think p...
Replace pine straw under rose beds
Q: I finally got pine straw on the rose beds this past fall; now that spring is here what should I do with the pine straw? Do you think p...
Don't cut daffodils back too early
Q: I have had a lovely patch of daffodils growing in my yard for quite some time. However, last year they did not bloom and it doesn't lo...
Don't cut daffodils back too early
Q: I have had a lovely patch of daffodils growing in my yard for quite some time. However, last year they did not bloom and it doesn't lo...
What's happening Monday
Q: I have several large Leyland cypresses that are showing brown patches in the foliage. This began late last summer and seemed to get wo...
What's happening Sunday
Q: We live on a rocky wooded slope and have been here 30 years and have never cleared the back of our lot, just left it natural. We are n...
Plant male holly within 100 feet
Q: I would like to plant a possumhaw holly. I know that it requires a male holly in order to produce berries. How close does this plant n...
What's happening Sunday
Q: I have a 15-foot red maple tree in my front yard. During the drought of 2006 about midsummer, the leaves turned as they would in the f...
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