Foundation Shrubs for Home Security

In my recent article, Ten Simple Landscaping Ideas for Home/Land Security, the first two safety precautions were: 

1. Choose low-growing foundation and border shrubs. (Low-profile shrubs require less pruning to keep them in bounds);
2. Prune foundation shrubs to 3 feet high. (This might be necessary if you are working with an existing planting.)

The reason should be obvious; home intruders prefer to do evil in secret than in plain view.

Here are two examples.

This one shows a clean foundation planting with few places to hide.

This one exhibits a foundation planting that practically hides the house.

Which home would you choose to burgle? (Don’t get any ideas, now. Google is watching you!)

Some examples of low-growing shrubs include:

• Dwarf yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria ‘Nana’),

  

  Dwarf yaupon holly

  
  

• Carissa holly (Ilex cornuta ‘Carissa’),
• Japanese holly (Ilex crenata ‘Helleri’),
• Dwarf nandina (Nandina domestica ‘Alba’, ‘Firepower’ or ‘Filamentosa’),
• Dwarf gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides 'Radicans'),
• Buddleia 'Blue Chip' (PP19991),
• Satsuki azaleas (Rhododendron indicum cvs),
• Miniature crape myrtles (Lagerstroemia hybrids such as ‘World’s Fair’, ‘Chickasaw’, ‘Pokomoke’, etc.),
• Bird’s Nest Spruce (Picea abies ‘Nidiformis’),

  

  Satsuki azaleas

• Ground cover junipers (J. procumbens ‘Nana’, J. horizontalis‘Wiltonii’, J. conferta ‘Blue Pacific’).

This is by no means an exhaustive list.

Don’t think that tall plants are always excluded. If they're narrow, they don't provide such good places to hide. Some fine examples include:

• Sky Pencil holly (Ilex crenata ‘Sky Pencil’),
• Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens),
• Columnar yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria ‘Will Fleming’).

  

  Sky Pencil holly

Foundation shrubs such as these will help to make your home a safer place for yourself and your family.

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My crape myrtles are covered with black on the leaves.

Sooty mildew on Eucalyptus
Bidgee [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]

Q. My crape myrtles are covered with black on the leaves. It won’t wash or wipe off. What is it and how can I get rid of it? Will it kill my crape myrtles? 

A. The black stuff is called sooty mold or sooty mildew which includes several species of fungi that thrive in honeydew. Honeydew is a sticky secretion from the bodies of aphids, whiteflies, scale insects and similar pests.  Honeydew reminds me of tiny droplets of corn syrup spray. Wherever it falls – on other plants or even your walkway – sooty mold will appear.

It’s futile to try removing the existing mold on leaves, but you can prevent it from appearing on new ones. Get rid of the insects. You’ll get rid of the mold. Shop your local garden center for insecticides labeled for the target insects. If mold occurs on ornamental plants, I prefer products containing systemic insecticide/fertilizer combinations. If applications are begun early in the season, you may prevent insect and sooty mold infestations all summer long.

Sooty mold will not kill your crape myrtles. However, the black film does interfere with exposure to sunlight, which is essential to photosynthesis. Repeated infestations can weaken your plants.

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A New Pest on the Loose: Crape Myrtle Bark Scale

There's a new garden pest on the loose. It's an insect called Crape myrtle bark scale (CMBS), and it's spreading very quickly across the southeastern U.S. Crape myrtle bark scale was first observed near Dallas, TX in 2004, and it's spreading eastward.

CMBS appears as white or grayish felt-like encrustations on the wood. At first they may be found in branch crotches or near pruning wounds, but heavy infestations are capable of covering the tree.

Since most gardeners don't spend much time inspecting crape myrtle crotches, the adult insects are usually missed until black sooty mold is discovered. Sooty mold is a black, powdery fungus that is usually associated with aphid infestations, so the real culprit may not be identified correctly.

Crape myrtle bark scale probably won't destroy our crape myrtles, but a heavy infestation and all that sooty mold sure will make them look ugly. It also stands to reason that a ton of insects sucking on the trees and sooty mildew coating the leaves can weaken them.

There are a few things you can do to combat CMBS:

• Be aware that CMBS may target hybrid crape myrtles first. If you have hybrids, check them closely every now and then.
• Look for black sooty mold on the bark, remembering that sooty mold may result from aphids and CMBS.
• Washing the trunk and limbs as high as you can reach, working with a soft brush and dishwashing soap. This will help to remove female scales, eggs and the black sooty mold.
• Though horticultural oil spray hasn't been shown to be effective, it sure can't hurt. Horticultural oil works by covering the scales and suffocating them. Spray with enough force to get the oil under loose bark and into tight crevices. Spray thoroughly.
• Winter is a very good time to wash your trees and spray with horticultural oil because the leaves are off and it's easier to see what you're doing, and higher application rates can be used without hurting the plant.
• Systemic insecticides applied as a soil drench are known to be effective. Be sure to read and follow all label instructions. It's best to spray during May or June. Don't expect instant results because it will take a few weeks for the chemical to spread throughout the plant.
• If you prefer to avoid systemic insecticides, let lady beetles do the work. Lady beetles love to eat aphids and baby scales.

For more information, check out the following link: Texas A/M: http://bit.ly/MBlyAJ

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