Now that the leaves are dropping from deciduous trees and shrubs, many gardeners are thinking about doing some pruning. Some people are afraid of pruning; others are entirely too gung ho! Bad pruning ...

End of winter is the best time of year to prune shrubs that flower later in the growing season, i.e. from mid-June and after. The reason is that later-flowering shrubs bloom on “new wood.” This means ...

Sophora secundiflora (Texas mountain laurel) is a wonderful evergreen shrub which breaks forth in February and March with showy purple blossoms whimsically smelling like grape bubblegum or perhaps ...

Gardening is in full swing and if you’ve got questions, turn to Ask an Expert, an online question-and-answer tool from Oregon State University’s Extension Service. OSU Extension faculty and Master ...

Q. I can't figure out what happened to my Texas mountain laurel. It is 6 years old, and I've tried to train it to be a small tree. This spring, however, a big portion of it turned brown. Should I ...

A. This plant flowers on old wood, so prune immediately after spring bloom to avoid losing next year's flowers. Kathy Huber has worked for the Houston Chronicle since May 1981. She was Features Copy ...