Q. I was wondering what shrubs you would recommend to plant this fall (here in Las Vegas)? I prefer ones that will stay green all year long.   A. I normally don’t recommend specific shrubs for a number of reasons; there are so many, I would have to provide a list of 25 to 50 shrubs and we would go back and forth with questions for you to answer, if I recommend them there is no guarantee you can find them here. So I would highly recommend some trips to the nurseries, tell them what you are looking for, they will ask you a bunch of questions to narrow the choices, they will recommend five to ten they actually carry and then you can narrow it down to a few you like.  Then, if you give me the names of the ones you like and you can find locally, I can help you with your decisions with pros and cons. Thanks.

I am looking for about 50 residential landscapes located in the Las Vegas Valley that would cooperate in a water use study.The study is being conducted by UNLV in cooperation with local water authorities. The study cannot offer much in return except that you might learn something about your landscape watering that you didnt know before. This is what we are looking for: It must be located in the Las Vegas valley. Landscapes can be all desert, all turfgrass or a mixture of both. Landscapes should already be on some sort of irrigation controller (clock). The study will last about nine months. There will be a small modification in how your irrigation system is run that is TOTALLY reversible after the study. If this is something that you could partner in, please contact me at [email protected] Thanks for considering it!

Q. How difficult would it be to propagate Arizona Rosewood? And how should I prune one to shape as a multi-trunk tree, with more foliage in the 6′ to 12′ height zone? Arizona rosewood as a shrub Arizona rosewood as a tree A. It can be propagated from cuttings and seed. The easiest is from seed. Cuttings of Arizona Rosewood should be taken in May and treated with a rooting hormone. Expect at best about 50% of the cuttings to root. With seed, collect seed from seed pods when the pods are fully mature. Put into the freezer in a plastic bag for about 6 to 8 weeks and sow the seed in sterilized planting mix.  Arizona Rosewood is a slow grower. With Arizona Rosewood you would want to select four or five main stems coming from the ground or very low on the trunk. These should be going in different directions to give the plant balance.  Remove all new or existing small growth from these four to five stems and concentrate growth in the upper canopy. Thin the growth in the canopy  to major stems growing outward and remove growth going straight up or down, growing back toward the center of the small tree or shading other growth by growing too close together. You will get faster growth if you have fewer stems. Growth will be reduced if you have LOTS of places where growth can occur. Always keep the canopy occupying at least half of the plants height.  As the plant gets larger let the canopy occupy 2/3 of the height of the plant and keep the trunks free of new growth as soon as you see it. You can usually pull this new growth out and will not need a pruning shears if you get it when it is young.

Q. I was wondering if there is a trick to container gardening? I have been using potting soil, along with plant food, and my plants keep wilting. What am I doing wrong?   A. I am not sure what is going on in your case but container gardening can give you some flexibility in growing things but it can also be a bit trickier because of the limited soil volume, how water moves through a container soil and finding or creating the right environment.             Start with a container that is fairly large. Small soil volumes are difficult to keep moist during our desert heat. If the soil dries out, water will flow down the inside of the container wall and not wet the soil properly. If this is unmanageable, put a smaller container inside a large one to give it some shade. Large containers have more soil volume which holds more water and help keep the soil cooler.             When wetting soil in a very dry container, use a wetting agent with the applied water. A tablespoon of liquid detergent in a bucket of water will work. Add the detergent after the bucket is full of water and mix it.             Always make sure the water can drain from the container directly out of the bottom to keep salts moving through the soil and out of the container. When watering, add about 20% extra water (1/5 of the volume applied) to keep salts moving through the soil or they will build and damage the plants.             At every planting time, replenish 1/4 to 1/3 of the soil volume with new soil. Make sure the soil is good quality. There is plenty of junk being sold locally and in bags as well.             Shade the container (not the plant) from direct sun during the day time. You can do this by double potting it.  Houseplant moisture meter             Use an inexpensive soil moisture meter for houseplants to give you a rough idea if the soil is wet or dry. Otherwise lift or push the container. Containers get much lighter when it is time to water.             Fertilize lightly once every one to two months during the growing season.             If you have trees in containers, gently lift the tree from the container every three to four years, prune the roots, replace the soil, prune the tree to reduce its size and to bring it back to scale and replant it.

Q. We have nine pine trees and they are dropping lots of needles. We have a large berm under the trees and water inside the berm twice weekly. Should the needles be removed or left in inside the berm? A. The needles are fine. If composted, they are said to be slightly acidic and will benefit our alkaline soils. If they are left alone in the basin, they will help mulch the soil, conserve water, reduce weed emergence and benefit the soil in general.             A lot of needles blew out of the trees during the last storm event we had.  This is a normal occurrence and nothing to worry about. Pine needles die for lots of reasons. Sometimes it is just old age. Some pines can keep needles on limbs for five years or more. Others only about three. They stay loosely attached or caught in the limbs even though they are dead. A big wind comes and blows them out of the canopy.             If pine trees are getting plenty of water and fertilized once a year they will have a thick, lush canopy and grow about 12 to 18 inches a year. If water is not enough, they will not grow as much and not have a dense canopy. They will survive like that but just not be as thick and lush.             Your berms should extend three to four feet from the trunk and deep and level enough to hold about three to four inches of water. Your watering frequency sounds right. Just make sure it gets enough water each time to move into the soil two to three feet or more. In sandy soils water needs to go deeper and more often.

Q. We actually took off the last tomato early this week.  Not fully ripe, but took it inside so no bugs or others would get to it. Somewhere I remember reading that you can cut them back to 12-16″ and they will grow again.  A. You can cut them back to some side shoots now but it will open the plants to sunburn if you are not careful and the plant may die. It is possible to cut them back now while it is still hot but make your cuts so that you reduce their height and still leave plenty of side shoots. Sunburn on tomato on fruit and leaves.             Another possibility is for next year. Try planting some from seed in early to mid-July. Put the seed between the plants and cover the soil and seed with straw to keep it moist and hand water daily. Make sure you mix compost into the soil in the spots where you planted the seed. Soak the seed in water four to six hours before you plant it. This will speed up germination. In about late mid to late August, cut or remove your old plants and let the young ones come in for production in September through November.             Stake or trellis the plants and thin side shoots so you have better air circulation. Reduce any winds you have on the area with wind screens or windbreaks. Make sure you have at least 6 to 8 hours of full sun, fertilize lightly every 30 days AFTER you see flowering.

Q. I have read over and over that African Sumacs are fast growers. The African Sumacs here seem to be at a stand still! I have two in my backyard since April. They are alive but the canopy and trunk just seem the same, perhaps 10% growth. The trees are sold with tall, thin trunks – like 1/2 to 3/4 ” diameter, with a canopy that branches out at 8 feet. There are no branches or leaves below that. The trees are staked high and the stems are all finger diameter. Will they take off eventually? A. Trees with a long, skinny trunks with no side branches until 8 feet are a problem. This is done at the wholesale nursery to increase their height and make it easier to ship. It is to their advantage, not to yours.             To have strong trunks, tree trunks to be tapered from top to bottom. In other words, to have good trunk strength the trunk needs to be bigger in diameter at the bottom and get narrower up the trunk. This helps to support the canopy. If they don’t, a good wind will come along and snap the trunks.   Trees with no taper cannot support their own canopy. Leave any growth on the trunk that develops and stake as low on the trunk as you can to allow the trunk to move. Both of these things will help develop a tapered trunk.             Trees develop tapered trunks from two major events in their lives; trunks swaying back and forth in the wind and the presence of branches with leaves all along the trunk. Both have a great deal to do with trunk taper and consequently its strength.             When trees are staked, trunks should be immobilized no lower than it takes to hold the tree upright and still allow some trunk movement. The stakes should be removed as soon as possible after planting; usually no longer than one full season of growth.             Next, never, never remove branches growing along the trunk if they are smaller than pencil diameter. Once these stems reach pencil diameter or thereabouts, cut them off flush with the trunk with a clean, sanitized bypass-type pruning shears.             Never plant in a DRY hole. Make sure the soil in the hole is wet when tree roots come in contact with it. Planting in a dry hole can set a tree back, or any plant for that matter, due to root damage.             Sometimes people say this is “transplant shock”. Well, yes, plants do have a setback, or shock, when removed from a container and placed in the ground. This can happen for many reasons but the DEGREE of setback can be under your control.               Why are they growing so slow? The amount of total growth on a plant (add up all new growth above and below ground) is divided by the number of places where growth can occur. Stems in full sunlight or without competition from other branches will usually be the strongest in growth but the total growth must be divided among every place that is growing. This includes the roots and any increase in the diameter of stems and trunks.             If you want a plant to grow faster, reduce the number of places where growth occurs. Prune out unnecessary stems so that the growth is focused on those stems where you want growth to occur.             You may see sprouts coming out of the trunk. Leave them. Do not prune them out until they are pencil-sized or larger but leave the small ones to help build caliper or taper.

Horticulture specialist Bob Morris says you can grow anything in the desert – Las Vegas Sun News

I have been impressed with discussion groups. Members can add comments and their own experiences. There are lots of you out there who could contribute and lots of us will also learn in this exchange. If you have an interest in helping our desert dwellers, new and old, and learning in the process please join me in the Yahoo Discussion Group – Desert Horticulture. Xtremehort aka Bob Morris   We had 85 people look so far, and only three people join.  

Japanese Eggplant descriptions Millionaire. Very popular eggplant variety. Black-purple fruit about 8 inches long is an early producer. One of the most popular Japanese eggplant hybrids sold in markets. Senryo ni  gou. Excellent for home gardens in Japan. Glossy black oval fruits to 5 inches long and weighing about 1/4 pound. Good for pickling. Shoya long. Purplish-black fruit up to 14 inches long and purple calyx. Early producer for stir fry, grilling and tempura. Yasakanaga. Purple-black fruit to about 7 inches long with purple calyx. Grilling, stir fry and tempura.   Mizuno takumi. Popular with chefs, purplish-black oval fruit weighing about 1/2 pound. Used for cooking or pickling.  Very popular in Japan. Kyoto egg. Supposedly heat resistant according to seed catalogs but most are good producers during the heat. Round fruit to about 3 inches in diameter. Stir fry or deep frying, grilling. Purple calyx. Kurume long. Ten inch long black fruit with purple calyx. Produces a bit later but prolific when it starts. Open pollinated. Konasu. Very small round dark purple fruits with purple-black calyx. Can be cooked but popular for pickling when young, stir fry and grilled in a kabob. Kamo. Round fruit with flat bottom and purple-black skin weighing up to 1/2 pound. Very well-known eggplant in Japan.   Ping Tung. Chinese eggplant that is purple-black up to 18 inches long with green black calyx. Good producer. Black Beauty. Large purple-black fruit but slow to yield and low yielding but excellent quality. Thai Long Purple. Very long, purple black fruit with green calyx. Very good quality and good producer.  Thai Long Green. Fruit is similar to Long Purple but green. Similar quality. Green calyx. Thai Yellow Egg. More of a novely or decorative eggplant. Fruits are golf ball sized and lemon yellow when ready to pick.