We asked last week what could possibly be stunting Reporter Stacey Mulick's hollyhocks. I, too have the same trouble with mine. But since my neighbors plunked the hollyhocks in my yard (thanks Marc and Esther!), I just accepted the flaws as part of the fun of freebie plants (yes, I'm like a cat lady in my inability to say no to stray plants).

Readers had a few thoughts on how to reverse our sad hollyhocks. I rather like the first suggestion. I think a few well placed large hostas might do the trick at hiding the nasty rust spots. If you can't get rid of it, just hide it. Read on, people:

Jeannette Smith: I have no doubt at all that the brown spots are rust. Hollyhocks are notorious for having rust, this is entirely natural, especially in our warm, damp summers. Forget the rust, you can't stop it. Take off the worst leaves, and plant something of medium height in front of them to hide the rusty leaves. Just enjoy the gorgeous flowers. If the plants made it over last winter, they will be back.

Rita Glenn:I have had Hollyhocks and the problem with holes and spots seems to be common for them. I am not a master-gardener not an horticulturist, but I have observed Hollyhocks for many years. This year we tried a product that is used on Roses for black spot and it seemed to help a little, but did not remove the problem. We have lovely blooms on stalks that are well over 6 feet tall. Hollyhocks will reseed themselves or you can gather the seeds and plant them where you want.

Thoughts? Anyone else? Going once, going twice...

We sometimes report on the setbacks and successes of our green thumb crime reporter Stacey Mullick.

Yesterday, we told about her lupine pest problem. Today, we tell you about her hollyhock dilemma. Here is what Stacey has to say about her hollyhocks:

Can this Hollyhock be saved?

Two years ago, I planted Hollyhock seeds. I started them inside, then transferred them outside once I had some established leaves.

They didn’t do much last summer but wintered through well and reemerged this season. I was pretty pleased that they (and the Sweet Williams I also started from seed last year) came back. All the Sweet Williams had a spectacular season this summer.

As the three Hollyhocks grew taller, I noticed something amiss. Their leaves were dotted with brown spots and dying off. It sort of looks like some type of rust. The stalks have continued to grow and two of the three are blooming decently.

But I am wondering whether the Hollyhocks will return next year and, if they do, what can I do to prevent this problem. Can they be saved? Or should I just pull them out and the end of the season and try something new?

Comment here if you have a thought, or e-mail your solutions to gardenphotos@thenewstribune.com.

We sometimes report about the gardening setbacks and successes of News Tribune crime reporter Stacey Mulick. Today, a lupine quandary from her. Read what she has to say and take a look at the pic of the problem.

Ewwww! That is disgusting! What the #&*(!?!

Those were among my reactions while gardening this weekend when I spotted whatever this is on the lupines in my backyard.

It appears to be some sort of infestation of some sort of white insect.

But I don’t know what it is or why it chose my lupines. The lupines in the front yard are untouched and other plants around the infested lupinrs appear to be fine.

Help! I already took one of the infested lupine to dirt level. And just when it was beginning to bloom!

I’d be most appreciative to anyone who can clue me in on this dilemma.

Take a look at these pics. Know what it is? How to get rid of it? Post a comment here.

A stolen flax plant. A snatched hanging planter from a front porch on Mothers Day. Mysteriously disappearing artichokes. A handful of Japanese maples ripped out of the ground. A birdbath made off with. Garden thievery is a thriving economy here, it seems.

South Sound gardeners who have been the victims of plant theft contacted me in larger than expected numbers after I wrote last week about the Japanese maple stolen from Deborah Jordan's South Tacoma front yard.

Clearly there are gardeners who need to lament the thefts. I received a dozen e-mails and as many phone calls about various plants, trees, and even a bird bath, that have been stolen from our readers.

So how do you keep plants from thieves? Well, as Connie Skager of Watson's Nursery told me last week, you really need to plant valuable plants out of sight in your back yard. But staking works too. Anchor the plants to the ground and thieves will have a more difficult time pulling them out (but that does sound sort of unattractive). Short of that, good luck. I'm afraid our yards, and our plants, are vulnerable to anyone with bad intentions wandering by.

But I wonder, readers, have you done anything to keep your valuable plants from being stolen? Cement them in? Stage boulders around them? What have you done? E-mail me at sue.kidd@thenewstribune.com or call me at 253-597-8270.

Now, then, a moment of plant therapy. So many readers told me this week they were glad to talk or write about the thefts. Here's what they had to say:

Peggy Duncan: "Yes, while my daughter and son-in-law were away at work, someone stole a special plant right from their front yard. They came armed with a shovel and just dug it out. It was a special flax plant that we took the time to hunt for them at their new home. It was not a very big plant, but it was the only plant someone took. Why would someone go to the end of a road where the houses are secluded and steal plants?"

Cheryl Livingston: "You asked if anyone else had a plant stolen. The answer is YES. I received a beautiful variegated geranium the day before Mothers Day of 2007. It was in a cedar basket and was purple and white. We hung it on our front porch the eve of Mothers Day. I awoke on Sunday morning, headed out to get the News Tribune, and noticed my beautiful basket was gone. I hope some mother or wife had a great Mothers Day since it started my day off on the wrong foot. Thanks for letting me vent and I learned a lesson. Now we hang the baskets out on the day of Mothers Day and not the night before!"

Bonnie Schwab: "I went to McDonald's for my morning coffee and newspaper around 8 a.m. (Saturday Aug. 16). In reading the paper I scanned the article on the stolen Hapanese maple. It caught my interest because I have/had one in my front yard. The reason I say (have/had), you guessed it, one hour I was gone and when I got home "no Japanese laceleaf maple". I live in a gated community so that puts NO BOUNDRIES as to where they will go."

Marilyn Boyle: "Your article in Saturday's News Tribune brought up a very painful subject. I had a very mature Japanese maple planted in a large, expensive Asian pot at the top of our driveway in Gig Harbor. I adored this maple and thought it added so much to ambiance of the entry to our home. One day I came home from work and the entire pot with maple was gone. I could see the drag marks on the driveway. It must have taken at least three people and a truck to remove the pot. I contacted the sheriff's dept and they said it is a very common theft. Needless to say we now place nothing of value at the top of the driveway."

Debbie Regala: I haven't had a plant stolen but did have a birdbath stolen about 2 years ago. It was a large concrete one (3-4 feet tall and about 2 feet in diameter). It had taken three strong guys to place it in the garden on the side of my house in the late 1980's so I was quite surprised when I saw it missing one morning. There was a clear 'path' marking where it had been dragged through the garden, across the sidewalk and across the parking strip. I'm sure this was a planned theft not a random act. It would have taken someone with at least two strong accomplices and a big truck to haul it away. I keep looking but haven't seen it in another yard yet."

Nina Rook: "The first couple of years that I planted my parking strips, whole artichoke plants went missing. ... Late season, full grown. I planted more, and let them go to seed for the visual effect -- but would discover headless stems. I came up with a solution -- eat them myself!"

Deborah Jordan contacted the newsroom with a sad story of plant thievery. Someone stole a Japanese laceleaf maple from her South Tacoma yard last week. The tree burglar sauntered up and yanked it right out of a prominent garden bed. The real sting? It was a Mother's Day gift from her children.

"I have 9 million plants in my yard and they had to take that one," said Jordan when I talked to her about the theft.

She took matters into her own hands and posted an open letter, or a tree manifesto of sorts, for the thieves telling them what kind of care the Japanese maple requires (vitamin B and rich, organic soil) and she also included a snarky little message that the universe will most certainly give a fun little payback for thievery (so take that!).

"If they drive by, yelling at them is going to do nothing, maybe guilting them will do something," she said, laughing about the note she posted. Well, at least she has a good sense of humor about it.

I called Watson's Nursery to see if they had heard of any other Japanese maple thefts. Guess what? It's not unusual.

"It's a continuing problem," said Connie Skager who works at the nursery. "Japanese maples are stolen all the time. They’re kind of expensive. People like to put them in their front yard because they’re attractive and unusual. That just makes them susceptible to being stolen," she said.

She added, "Tacoma's had a real problem this year. Between the Japanese maples and fountains and bird baths that are stolen out of front yards, someone is doing a heck of a business out there."

Advice for how to protect an expensive tree? Plant it in the backyard, said Skager with a half laugh. Short of that, stake it or make it impossible to rip out. "If it's not established or staked down, it's easy to steal. If it's been growing there for a few years, it's harder to take out."

So has anyone else had plant thievery? Let us know.

Spring? Summer? Well. Hmmm. I got a funny email from Sue Goetz, one of our garden writers and the talent behind Creative Gardener in Gig Harbor. She reports she has two mismatched crops, spring peas and summer corn... at the same time. Geesh. Sun? Hello?

Funny note from Sue and photographic evidence here:

Ok...so first here is the proof of a very bizarre garden year...two shots taken today August 1st. The close up shows the peas on the vine are now just ready to pick...while the corn is starting to silk in the background. A cool weather spring crop ripening with a warm weather summer crop...go figure.

A question: What are your vegetables doing? Anyone seeing success like Stacey Mulick, with her tomatoes (scroll down for that post). My herbs are little-shop-of-horrors abundant (like they could eat me as I harvest them), but my tomatoes and zucchini? Eh. Lame. Will we just have to contend with a frosty harvest in late October this year? Thoughts? When was the last time summer was like THIS? I don't even remember.

Note: Craig Sailor is off this week, so I'm blogging solo here, and also blogging here. Anyone have any garden events I can write up? Email me. You know you wanna.

Let me start by saying I am not a fan of lawn. I am a fan of plants. I've ripped out as much of my lawn as is allowable by my homeowners assoc (ahem), and I'm working on ditching the rest of it in my back yard (if only husband would cooperate).

So I don't know how to make a lawn look really pretty and green, other than the usual stuff (aerate, thatch, yada yada). Crab grass? Beyond ripping it out? I have no idea. Other stuff? Clueless.

A question comes from a reader. He's got something growing in his lawn. It doesn't look like crab grass, but it's something in his lawn that he finds unsavory. Here, in his words:

I have a great lawn, except for some light green patches of grass that are starting to grow in it.
My mind goes to crabgrass, but this grass is lighter in color and lighter in texture than what I would normally think crabgrass to be. Perhaps it's a cool/wet climate version of crabgrass.
I know the photo isn't great - but your diagnosis would be appreciated.

Picture here. Your thoughts?

When Craig and I were at the Chinese Reconciliation Park on the waterfront Thursday, we noticed something that it seems everyone around here must contend with: dreaded horsetails.

It's a scourge in my neighborhood, for sure. I have spent days and days pulling them out. That is, until I heard Marianne Binetti talking at the Point Defiance Flower & Garden show.

Her advice? Keep a pair of scissors close to your garden bed. When you see a horsetail, cut it off to the ground. Don't yank, don't pull. She said it stimulates more growth. So I have been clipping, not pulling, for a month now. So far? Doesn't seem to be working. At all. Here, photographic evidence. Take a look at this giant one nestled under my California lilac.

They seem to be coming back stronger and even more, uh, vibrant and alive! It shouldn't surprise me, I guess. The little beasts are prehistoric. They've outlived everything. So me and my scissors? Totally no match, I guess.

Whats a green-thumb girl to do? Anyone have a proven way to get rid of horsetail that does not involve chemical removal? Post here! Let us know.

The Freak of Nature veggie garden is looking like I sowed it after one too many cocktails.

A row of onions takes a twisty turn into an odd patch of arugula. A cluster of beets has befriended a little lost carrot.

This is the Spring of our Discontent. Every vegetable gardener I know has a literal and figurative raincloud over their head.

I haven't fared any better. But if the weather isn't enough I have this guy to contend with.

He and his gang of feline friends have been having a field day in my raised beds. Every day I come home from work to find mounds and holes where there should be level soil. They are the ones responsible for my serpentine rows, bare ground and vegetable clusters needing crowd control.

Here's what's left of what should be a whole row of lettuce:

Of course, some seeds (edamame for sure) just never made an appearance. Can't blame kitty for that.

Last weekend I resowed seeds and transplanted basil and lettuce into the raised beds. Here's the pathetic attempt I've made to keep the cats out:

I so need some hog wire. And sun.

Our newsroom gardening fanatic slash crime reporter Stacey Mulick has another dilemma in her yard: a draping Japanese maple. She asks this week, how to prune without turning the tree into a disaster? Here's what Stacey has to say:


I love my Japanese laceleaf maple.

When we moved into our house five years ago, we didn’t have a laceleaf. We had some of the standard fare planted in flower beds of houses in housing developments – laurels, rhodies and euonymus.

I wanted a laceleaf maple instead. I removed several plants and straightened out the leg of my front flower bed, then planted my little gem. The tree has done real well over the past four years.

But looking at it, I wonder if it’s about time to prune. I’ve not done any pruning yet and don’t really know how to go about it. The Western Garden Book suggests pruning in late summer, early fall but doesn’t offer any suggestions about how to go about it or where to start.

I’ll take any advice I can get.

I was staking up posts and stringing rope the other day over my mom's blueberry patch. We'll put some netting over the whole thing before the berries ripen. If we don't, the birds will have a feast and we'll be left with empty pie tins.

Here's the dilemma readers. Some of mom's plants aren't producing so well anymore. I know some people cut their blueberries down to the ground to rejuvenate them. What I'd like to know from you folks is: have you tried this? Does it work? When should we do it? Here's a photo of one of her older bushes.