Hello,

I didn't see photos of the shrub with the "powdery" substance, but it could be powdery mildew, which occurs with cool temps and high humidity. It's not fatal to the plant, but can cause it to look unattractive. If you want, please send photos of the plant.

The grass issue appears to be damage from turf mites, which were in very high populations this spring due to the warm, dry weather. I would hazard a guess that that side of your lawn faces south or west? It's also on a slope. Mites overwinter in the rock areas and then feed when weather warms up. They can cause significant damage and death of the lawn. At this point, all you can do is overseed the turf. Next winter, be sure to water at least once per month when we do not get at least 1" of natural precipitation.

To overseed (ONLY IF A CRABGRASS KILLER HAS NOT BEEN APPLIED THIS SPRING)--use 5-7 pounds of seed for Kentucky bluegrass; 6-8 pounds of seed for perennial ryegrass:

1. Mark or flag your sprinkler heads.
2. With an aerator (one that pulls plugs), make lots and lots and lots of holes throughout the lawn—in both the front and back yard. The goal is to “Swiss cheese” the lawn and have the holes on 2” centers.
1. If you want to save the expense from renting an aerator, you could try to use a pitchfork or other tool to poke holes in to the ground. Again, lots and lots of holes. Make the holes wide enough for seed to fall into. (This likely isn’t practical for the area you need to cover.)
3. Buy high quality seed—some garden centers and the co-op sell bulk seed. You can also buy directly from the seed dealers in Greeley—either Pawnee Buttes or Sharp Brothers. But they may only want to sell 50 pound bags and you don’t need that much.
4. Apply the seed either using a fertilizer spreader, open just wide enough to let seed fall. Apply the seed in two directions, then gently rake the seed and try to get it into the aeration holes. Don’t put down too much seed…only one or two seeds need to fall into the holes.
5. Water to keep the seed coat moist, perhaps once or twice a day, depending on the temperature. It’s important to not let the seed coat dry out.
6. The best time to seed is in the fall, because soil temperatures are warm, but you can seed now (in spring)…just be patient. Seed may take 14-21 days to germinate (or longer).
7. DO NOT SEED if a crabgrass preventer will be applied in spring. If crabgrass preventer is applied, then seeding must wait until mid-August.
8. You can mow the lawn as normal, even over the seeded areas. Mowing will help push seed into the aeration holes and ensure better soil-seed contact.
9. Be sure to mow new seedlings as they grow—mowing will encourage “tillering” which helps the turf fill in more quickly.

As for the tree, if you were in the Fort Collins area, it may have received some stress due to the heavy snow we received after Mother's Day weekend. With all the leaves on the tree, the snow was very wet and may have pushed down the branches. Nothing to be concerned about!