Sperry: It’s a bit too early to divide purpleheart mattress

Sperry: It’s a bit too early to divide purpleheart mattress

Published 10:22 pm Sunday, January 25, 2026

Dear Neil: Can I dig and divide my purpleheart mattress earlier than it begins rising this spring?

Purpleheart is a real perennial in nearly all of Texas. That’s stunning when you think about it’s a sister to the tender sorts of wandering Jews. I suppose you might dig and separate its dormant roots within the subsequent few weeks, however that may run the chance of wrecking a longtime mattress. I’d assume it will be a lot better merely to attend for the brand new progress to sprout out in April and May, take cuttings off it, and plant the rooted transplants out by early summer time. It grows so shortly.

Dear Neil: I noticed crape myrtles in an city panorama a few days in the past which have nearly all their leaves nonetheless in place though we’re well beyond the mid-point of winter. What would an actual chilly spell do to these crops if it had been to hit now?

It wouldn’t be good. Loads would rely upon what occurs between now and the chilly spell. It’s similar to late fall as we head towards a “normal” winter right here in Texas (no matter that’s). We anticipate temperatures to stairstep down a bit bit at a time. As they do, crops change into an increasing number of hardened to the approaching chilly. That similar factor may nonetheless occur for these crape myrtles and many our different Texas panorama crops. But if we had been out of the blue to be plunged into Arctic chilly, it may spell actual catastrophe with dieback clear to the bottom line and even complete lack of essentially the most tender species. Let’s hope that doesn’t occur.

Dear Neil: Since my garden is already beginning to inexperienced up, ought to I transfer the date for utility of pre-emergent weedkiller granules up earlier?

Sit again and take a relaxation. That all can activate a dime. If that chilly spell I simply referenced had been to blow in, you’d have wasted your time, effort, and cash. Let me carry everybody as much as the identical stage in our dialog. The date for first utility of pre-emergent granules to forestall germination of crabgrass and grassburs this spring is 2 weeks previous to the common date of the ultimate killing frost to your county. That date is extensively out there from Texas-based gardening reference books, from U.S. climate maps, by calling your native workplace of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, and even by asking your good telephone’s assistant, “What is the average date of the last killing freeze for __ County, Texas?” (Insert your county’s title.) Then again that date up by two weeks and that’s your time to use Dimension, Halts, or Balan granules. Repeat the applying 90 days later as a booster shot remedy to get you thru the lengthy rising season.

As to your particular query, once you start to get nearer to the anticipated date to your county, verify the 10- or 15-day prolonged forecast. If it reveals heat climate, and if the current climate has additionally been heat, you may make your utility a number of days early, however actually not by a matter of many weeks such as you had been implying.

Dear Neil: I’ve one good-sized root on a fruitless mulberry that’s regarding to me. It’s 3 in. in diameter, and it’s heading towards my sidewalk. The trunk is simply 6 ft. away and the basis is, I’m positive, beneath the stroll. So far it’s not elevating or cracking the concrete. Is it seemingly to take action? What can I do to cease it?

At that shut spacing, I’d say that you simply most likely will encounter an issue sooner fairly than later. This is an effective time to take corrective steps. I’d dig a brief trench pretty near the trunk at proper angles to the basis. Expose the basis utterly, then use a hand pruning noticed to sever it. It will assuredly ship out new roots from the sides of the lower, so that you’ll need to set up a brief piece (4-6 ft.) of corrugated fiberglass or heavy pond liner sunk to floor stage to function a root barrier in order that it and different roots received’t develop proper again. Fill your trench again in and the whole lot must be again to regular. Since the tree continues to be dormant it ought to transfer on with out a lot affect.

Dear Neil: If I construct a patio out of concrete paving bricks beneath my massive cedar elm tree, will I do something to hurt the tree within the course of?

If you don’t do any important altering of the grade, you may be wonderful. It’s once we begin taking away soil, and particularly once we begin including topsoil beneath a longtime tree that we do essentially the most hurt. That’s as a result of 90 % of any tree’s vital roots are within the high foot of soil. As quickly as we add 2 or 3 in. of topsoil over a big a part of the basis system, that soil will begin to compact and the roots will change into disadvantaged of their oxygen. Trees will be killed by the addition of only a small quantity of soil, whereas subtracting a number of occasions extra soil typically doesn’t harm them a lot in any respect.

Your concrete pavers have one other very nice benefit. They enable free motion of water and air each instructions by the cracks between the pavers. Put them on a mattress of masonry sand for functions of leveling them and also you’ll have the ability to create a beautiful patio. Leave area across the trunk of the tree to permit for it to develop bigger with time.

— Have a query you’d like Neil to think about? Mail it to him in care of this newspaper or e mail him at [email protected]. Neil regrets that he can not reply to questions individually.