Yellow belongs only to flower

Question: The photo is the yellow leaves on my old Peace rose. She has been living on the property much longer than I have, and is queen of the front yard. She has these yellow leaves every year. They don’t seem to spread, and she blooms gloriously and grows with vigor, given only a handful of fertilizer and some water. What is it? I’ve been ignoring it. Should I cut off those branches? Thank you, Christy Bristow

From your picture, I have to make some assumptions. First, the leaves look like they are in the middle or bottom of the plant where they are getting a lot of shade. If this is the case, it could simply be that the plant is dropping leaves that aren’t getting enough light to produce food. A plant always wants to put its energy in stronger leaves.

There is a possibility that there is a little bit of black spot present, too, but it’s hard to tell.

Pruning the plant to open up the center of the bush may allow more light to reach the bottom of the plant and reduce the number of yellow leaves next year. Otherwise, you can simply pick off the yellowing foliage. If there is enough black spot present to warrant treating the plant, pick up some fungicide for black spot and apply it according to label directions. Be sure to clean up dead leaves around the plant to reduce the presence of the disease.

Given that the plant is vigorous and blooms its head off, I think shade is your problem. Keep feeding and watering the “Queen” and let her shower you with blooms. If you still have questions, take a sample into the Spokane County Master Gardener Plant Clinic (222 N. Havana St.) for a definitive answer.

Finding best grass seed

We have several areas in our yard that we need to reseed with grass due to filling in a pond, removing a gravel walkway, not planting a garden anymore and leveling some low spots. They run from areas that receive full sun all day down to a section that’s mostly shaded all day. What type of grass seed should we use? Should we use different types in the different sun exposure?

Jeff Danner, Spokane Valley

Looks like you have your work cut out for you! You are right. You should use different grass seed mixes in sunny and shady spots. Paying attention to that detail will give you a much better lawn in the long run.

There are two major types of grass seed used in the Inland Northwest. Kentucky bluegrass is the predominant grass used for sunny areas while several varieties of fescue are used in shady areas. Kentucky bluegrass gets thin when it gets too much shade while the fescue does well in both. The wide blades of the bluegrass make a dark green, soft turf. On the other hand, the fescue is a fine-bladed, wiry grass that make a somewhat stiff turf.

So you are looking for grass seed blends that contain a high percentage (75 percent) of either of these grasses.

Grass seed mixes are usually blends of several different types of seed. This is because different seed types grow differently but not always the way you want them to. For example, a mix for sunny areas is predominantly Kentucky blue grass but it will often have perennial ryegrass mixed in. This is because the perennial ryegrass germinates very quickly and gives you the look of a lawn long before the Kentucky bluegrass has sprouted. The ryegrass also shades the ground a bit helping the bluegrass get going. Once the bluegrass is up, it can get a good foothold and the ryegrass becomes a secondary grass in the lawn.

Using seed blends has some major advantages. When a planting of a single type of seed is hit by a disease or other problem, the entire lawn shows the impact. When a blend is used, one grass may be affected, but the other grasses aren’t so they leave a lawn that still looks like a lawn.

This is what happened when necrotic ring spot began appearing in Kentucky bluegrass lawns in the region. This fungus attacks bluegrass lawns leaving dying patches of brown turf. There is no easy cure for it and it will take over a lawn slowly but surely. If other grass seeds are in the lawn, they can help mask the damage. One of the methods of treating necrotic ring is to over seed the damaged lawn with grasses that have proven to be resistant to the disease.

Most garden centers will have blends for sun or shade.

Prepare your areas by raking out all the lumps and large rocks. Mix in some compost and then rake the areas to smooth it. Roll it with a lawn roller to firm the soil. Scatter the seed evenly and rake it lightly to mix. Apply a mulch and roll the areas again. One of the best mulches is palletized-grass seed straw that breaks down when it is moistened. Water lightly several times a day until the grass is growing well.

Newspaper ink is safe

I have a book on organic gardening that directs me to use newspapers right over the grass as the first layer of the garden. My naturopath (who worked for a newspaper years ago) said the inks in newspapers are really toxic and that he and his co-workers got many headaches from fumes in the print rooms. Is the ink used presently in The Spokesman-Review OK to use in an organic garden? If not, what do you suggest as an alternative?

Also, could you write more about saving water in plant choices and techniques, for the tight-budget gardener?

I really enjoy your column. I especially enjoy it when you give the history of the plants or gardening techniques.

Corrine Mountjoy

The ink used at The Spokesman-Review for its newsprint sections is soy based, so the pages are safe to use in your yard. Inks used many years ago were toxic, but as environmental and worker-safety concerns came to the forefront, many papers switched. So go ahead and use the paper as a weed block.

For best results lay down pads of 10 to 12 layers of paper and overlap them. The idea is to block out light to the ground you are covering, thereby depriving the weed seeds the light they need to germinate and grow. Weight the paper down with rocks and mulch and leave it for several months.

If you plan to plant through the layers, lay down everything by this fall and plant next spring.

Cut a hole big enough for your plant and you are done. There will be no weeds and the paper cover even helps holds in moisture. It will disappear over a year’s time and you will never know it was there.

Stay tuned for stories about water-wise planting and efficient watering systems this summer.