Hello, I am dormant seeding a portion of our lawn. I did this last year and without snow coverage, the straw was blown away, the squirrels dug up the dirt, and the birds ate the seeds. We are repeating the process this fall. Do you recommend putting down any netting, or just more seed and straw, with hopes of adequate snow coverage? Thank you.

Hello. I recently brought a potted rosebush inside to overwinter (a first time try) and I see spider webs encasing the leaf groups with many tiny dots - presumably soon-to-be spiders - spread throughout the webs. How do I best get rid of them, and protect the part of the plant not yet affected?

I have found several groups of these gray bugs on the leaves of my Brussel sprouts. Under a lens they look like they might be aphids, but I'm not sure. I also have a few whiteflies on my plants, but they don't seem to be the same as these gray bugs. Can you help me identify them? Thanks, Robert

Good morning, I need your advice on Winter Crane Flies. At present and for the last month and half, we have an overabundance of Winter Crane Flies. They are everywhere in the yard. For background… We have a small suburban yard. Property is equipped with an irrigation system, so the property is well hydrated throughout the growing season. We have a significant bird population due to many trees on the property and several that have berries & fruit. There is water, cover and we feed the birds during the winter months. They are at present consuming many of the Winter Crane Flies. We use Scott’s Grub-Ex the first week of July for grubs and cinch bugs. It’s my understanding that this product also works for Winter Crane Flies? We did have some unusual browning of the lawn this summer that I have not seen over the last 50 years living here. I do not know if this is related to the Winter Crane Flies or something else? I just wanted to share the information with you. Can you advise how I can treat for them? What product besides Grub-Ex would be beneficial? What else could/should we be doing? Thanks in advance for your help.

My daughter bought a house in St Paul that has an apple tree that is about 35 feet tall. It had tons of apples on it which started falling in late July and just finished in the last week or so. We have no way of knowing what variety of apples they are, but delicious for fresh eating and make great apple sauce that needs no added sugar. How can we go about identifying the sort of apples they are? See photos. A strange characteristic is that they start to smell fishy when stored in the refrigerator. Thanks, Mary PS. I suspect the tree is quite old.

Can I cover tree roots with landscape fabric before adding decorative stone? Will this damage the tree?

Is it to early to prune oak trees in Bettendorf

Do I cut back Spirea bushes for the winter? and when is the best time to cut back these shrubs?

Thank you for the info you provide online. I was reading about pruning Forsythia bushes. What I want to do is a pretty substantial or total restart of a row of shrubs in my yard. Your advice includes “A more severe approach is to cut all of the branches to the ground and let the shrub resprout. This type of total rejuvenation can be done every three to four years in order to keep growth in check and achieve the tidiest possible look to the shrub.” I intend to go this route. What is the best time of year to do that? I am inColumbus, OH, Hardiness zone 6 and I see that Durham is 6a, so fairly comparable?? Thank you, Mark

Hello, We're seeking solutions to mitigate stormwater runoff that runs from uphill properties through ours, causing erosion in our backyard. We are planning to submit an application for the Howard County Cleanscapes program and have received quotes from two approved vendors - one suggested a conservation landscape adjacent to and slightly uphill from the pictured wash out area (would be on the left side in the attached image); one suggested a rain garden through the trees following the path of the storm water. We're concerned that digging a rain garden may significantly harm established trees by cutting roots. The vendor was unconcerned and said the trees have enough other roots that this wouldn't be a problem, but we wanted to ask a second opinion. Would you be concerned about digging a rain garden through the path pictured? Thank you!