Let’s take a lot at some more of your great emailed gardening questions, and our first Local 12 emailer asks:

“My yucca has finished flowering, and now there are what looks like seed pods on the stalks.  Should I let them go to seed?”  

I wouldn’t.  Most those seeds rarely germinate, and producing those seeds, along with having just produced their spectacular flowers, really takes a lot out of the yucca.  I suggest removing the flower stalk as soon as it finishes flowering, and let the yucca put the rest of its energy into being a better plant.

“Our next emailer asks, “My lilac has developed a white powdery like substance on the leaves.  What is it, and how do I get rid of it?”

This is a very common problem on lilacs, and it’s called powdery mildew.  This usually shows up when the humidity goes up.  Fortunately for the lilacs, they can withstand the mildew without much harm.  On annuals and perennials, powdery mildew can be deathly.  You can’t cure it, but you can get it into check, by spraying with fungicides labeled for powdery mildew

Our last emailer asks the question, “My butterfly bush was in full bloom earlier, but now has only few new flowers and lots of old ones.  Is it finished flowering?”

Not at all!  You need to deadhead the butterfly bush to help promote new growth and new flowers.  Either hand-prune and remove those dead flowers (try to do this as they become spent), or actually shear the whole plant back (removing all the old flowers) and watch it re-grow and eventually re-flower to finish out the season.

I did have a viewer ask if I could show her what Nutsedge or Nutgrass looks like.  Here it is growing in a landscape bed.  Light green shiny waxy like foliage.  In landscape beds, use Roundup for control.  In the lawn, look at Nutgrass Nihilator, or Bonide’s MSMA or Weed Beater Plus.  And whichever you use, add a surfactant like Turbo Spreader Sticker to help the chemical attach to this waxy surface, for a much better weed kill.