<p>So the trees on the north and northeast are getting the afternoon and early evening late summer sun reflected off the pool and whatever surrounding surface, and hitting the underside of the leaves which are still tender. Kinda like when kids go out on the water on boats and get more sunburnt than those ashore. IF that is the case, the trees will recover and your only loss is as you say early leaf drop and less fall color.</p>
<p>Next time go with NAA, National Arborist Association, for a referal. To be an ISA member all you have to do is pay the annual dues. </p>
<p>Third solution may be some careful pruning. Early summer thinning, -slight thining, maybe 10% or less) to allow more early and mid summer light penatration into the crown so the foliage can “toughen up” for the late summer onslaught. I donno, very difficult to diagnose with out seeing the trees.</p>
<p>Our front of our house faces directly east, so those trees are usually completely in shade by about 5-5:30PM these days. Obviously earlier in the summer they got more afternoon sun, but they are definitely on the east side of house. </p>
<p>Your theory is solid, though. We have three of these aspens in one bed (they’re probably about 20 feet high), and the one that is closest to the pool suffers the leaf scorch worst; it’s the one that has a more direct UV reflection than the other two, and it’s regressive as you get to the third tree. </p>
<p>Too bad there’s not sunscreen for leaves!</p>
<p>Oh, and the fungus on the blacked eyed susan, Yep, set up the watering so that it only wets the ground -think soaker hose- to keep the foliage dry. Also thinning out the plants, and pruning to get some air circulation amongst them will help.</p>
<p>How can you tell if a Grand Fir is a risk to your home? Neighbor has two gorgeous specimens framing his walkway; if they come down, they will obliterate my house. One looks scrubbier than the other, but I don’t want to see them come down needlessly, how would you know?</p>
<p>One closing thought on the aspens… are they native to your area? If not, perhaps it wasn’t the best species choice.</p>
<p>OK, that was fun, but I gotta go.</p>
<p>I’m supposing I didn’t help the situation then by going with The Care of Trees for the arborist? I know they’re a nationwide company, but I assumed their people would be qualified. At least when the guy came out for the consultation, and he realized it wasn’t a disease or fungus, etc. and realized there was nothing they could do, he didn’t charge me for the consultation. So since it didn’t cost me anything, I’m tempted to go with the referral you suggested and have someone else out for a second opinion.</p>
<p>somemom, in your local yellow pages, under arborist, any outfit with the NAA logo. If you’re in a large community look under consulting arborist. Either way, a small fee to get a CERTIFIED arborist out to evaluate the situation will buy a tons of peace of mind.</p>
<p>“Too bad there’s not sunscreen for leaves!”</p>
<p>I read they were putting it on fruit!</p>
<p>^^^^^what?</p>
<p>Thanks for the information about clematis and coneflowers. I appreciate it!</p>
<p>Does anyone know anything about liatris? </p>
<p>I want to add a few perennials to our garden, and I want to focus on things which might be blooming in May (for our kids dual graduation parties !!! ). Someone suggested liatris, so I was wondering what you all think?</p>
<p>hayden, what’s your zone? And are the graduation parties in early, mid or late May?</p>
<p>let’s say zone 6 - 8. Sorry, I’ve never gotten more precise than that.</p>
<p>Graduations will be around May 16th or so. The graduations will be in 2010, so I’ve got this fall and next spring to be able to get the plants started.</p>
<p>Hmmm, 6-8 covers a lot of ground! What other colors do you have in your garden blooming in May? I think of liatris as more of a summer bloomer, and the color can be rather challenging to work in with other plants. Is your garden sunny, shady, dry, wet, clay, sandy, or none of the above?</p>
<p>flatlander - I really appreciate your willingness to help.</p>
<p>The bed receives about 3 hours of good sun a day, a little more at the middle of summer. The bed has good soil, average but with loam added over the years so that it is now neither clay nor sand. The beds now have salvia, rudbeckia’s, phlox (I love David - one of my favorites), and Stella d’Oro daylilies. I water the bed regularly, so it does okay even when we get no rain for a week or two.</p>
<p>The clematis near the door I let the dog out of just got pruned by a rabbit recently- it was going to have more flowers and I thought the heat and lack of water was the problem until I noticed the gap between the stems and foliage, sigh. If it isn’t the weather it’s the deer and rabbits… I had sprayed for them then planted a few more flowers this summer- gone. There’s always next year.</p>
<p>“Bay Area firm develops spray-on sunscreen to protect fruit and vegetable crops”</p>
<p><a href=“Bay Area firm develops spray-on sunscreen to protect fruit and vegetable crops – The Mercury News”>Bay Area firm develops spray-on sunscreen to protect fruit and vegetable crops – The Mercury News;
<p>I am the worst gardener, ever. How do you all do it?</p>
<p>I can grow geraniums, jade and beach grass. Beyond that, even my lawn refuses to cooperate.</p>
<p>littlegreenmom - I’ve always chuckled at the irony that grass always grows where I don’t want it to, and doesn’t grow where I want it to grow.</p>
<p>Ain’t it the truth.</p>