If you’ve been watching that massive area of construction along the eastern end of Summerlin Parkway, which some folks have referred to as the Las Vegas “bridge to nowhere,” well, there is an end in sight.
Local Columns
If you have a few days and dollars this summer to invest, you can get much for your money and time at Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks in California. In these adjacent and jointly managed parks about six hours from Las Vegas, you can wander among the largest trees on earth, hike some of the 850 miles of maintained trail, swim in cool snow-fed mountain streams, and maybe see a black bear or three.
Question: Last fall, we planted an olive tree that was certified to be nonfruit blooming. Now, it is full of olives! I just want it to grow. So, should we pluck the little olives off the tree so it can put its energy into growth?
Question: I have a pear tree which is about 10 years old. Up until this year, it has been pretty healthy. This spring, it got a disease. I am hoping you can identify it for me and tell me what I can do to treat it so that it won’t be a problem in the future.
The city is replacing its 41,000 street lamps with a new technology that concentrates on illuminating just the streets and sidewalks, reduces energy consumption by 30 to 60 percent and lasts an average of 12 to 14 years instead of 18 months. Sounds like a win-win, right? Maybe not.
With school finally out for summer and a long stretch of hot weather looming, Southern Nevada families have both the time and good reason to seek more distant and cooler climates for hiking or sightseeing
Question: I often enjoy your pieces, and your suggestion of replacing rock mulch with wood chips caught my attention. I have an 18-year-old velvet ash in a small (20 feet by 20 feet), rock-covered front yard. Does this tree do better with rock or wood chips around its trunk?
Question: I am having a serious problem with my grapevine. It seems to have stopped growing and is losing leaves. I used a lot of bone meal on the plants, and I am wondering if I have over-fertilized it? The ground is never dry; the flower bed it’s in is on the same drippers as prior years.
Question for all the golfers out there: How dedicated, really, are you to the game of golf? Do you play every week, maybe twice, and feel cheated if you don’t?
If you think the economic landslide of recent years put a chill on Summerlin, then guess again.
Question: What can be done to keep birds from eating all the fruit in an orchard? My brother has an orchard in southern Utah. There are about 100 trees, mostly dwarf and semi dwarf. Last year, birds got 90 percent of the fruit. He has tried scarecrows, but that didn’t work. He has also tried aluminum foil pie tins, but that only worked temporarily. Is there any solution for him other than buying netting to cover the trees?
