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Questions and Answers:Q. When is the best time to prune my hydrangea plants? A. If they are the type of hydrangea that blooms only in the spring, cut back after the bloom. If they are the ever blooming type you can cut them back in the fall. Most hydrangeas bloom on old wood, which is wood over two years old so I only recommend pruning for shape and I won‘t miss a year of blooms. Q. My tomatoes have small circular black spots on them. It is affecting all my plants. Is there anything I can do? A. This is a disease caused by bacteria that live in leaf litter and other garden debris. It is hard to control once it begins. Be sure to look for any leaf spots on starter plants. Avoid tobacco use of any kind around tomato plants as tobacco carries a host of plant diseases because it’s not sterilized and once on your hands they can easily spread to tomatoes or other plants. Don’t plant tomatoes in the same spot more than two years in a row. Avoid overhead watering that will splash the spores to other plants. Keep 36 inches between plants for good air circulation. Use mulch to avoid water splashing off the soil onto the plants. Fungicide applications that contain copper are sometimes effective. For general fungus and rot control you can use 1 or 2 tablespoons of baking soda to a gallon of water and spray plants. However, you will need to rinse it off after a few hours as it may burn, especially on a sunny day. Test on a few plants first. I try not to plant one entire row of any vegetable to keep problems from spreading down the rows. Try to break up the row with another vegetable, flowers with yellow blooms to attract beneficial insects, or some herbs such as rosemary or basil. Q. I am trying to find a blue rose bush, but not having any luck. Can you help? A. Roses lack the ability to produce delphinidin, which makes blue flowers blue. The closest you can get is a pale lavender rose that is widely available on the market. In 2005 a company called Florigene teamed up with another rose breeding company called Suntory and using gene manipulation have produced the first truly blue rose, but it is not widely available and is sold as a cut flower only. In 10 years or so, I’m sure the plants will become available in the nursery trade, so be patient. Q. Last Mother’s Day I ordered flowers through a website and what was received looked nothing like what was ordered. Also, the flowers also didn’t last very long. What can I do so this doesn’t happen again? I live out of town and enjoy the convenience of ordering on-line. A. To put it bluntly, many web sites set up to take your flower order on-line are a rip-off. You rarely get what is in the picture that is shown because a florist cannot possibly carry every flower and container shown on the website. Many websites say they represent a florist located in the town where you are trying to send the flowers and may really be located in New York, Houston or another country. They represent order gatherers for big on-line companies like FTD, Teleflora, ProFlowers, and 1-800-Flowers who are all complacent about this shady business practice because they get a cut of every order placed. It is amazing that customers continue to fall for what should be illegal and would be for any other product. The best thing to do is contact a local florist by going to a site such as www.locateaflowershop.com and find a florist located close to where you would like the flowers delivered. You can talk to the florist or designer, find out what you are buying, and not pay any extra fees. Click Here to Ask Me a Gardening Question
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