Special to the Times/News

Garden tourists can rest their feet and air out walking shoes for a while, now that most garden tours are over for the summer.

Though gardens usually show best in the early part of the growing season, it would be nice to find tours that showcase successful gardens in the "dog days" of summer, during fall rains and especially the dreary days of winter.

Winter is a sad time in the Lazy Garden, as it is for many. Incessant wet coupled with wind does not a pretty sight make.

There is a strong market yet to be tapped for a tour of winter gardens. How do you keep a garden inviting over months and months of rain and gray skies? Inquiring gardeners want to know!

As we move into high summer, nurseries and garden centers are beginning to put great plants on sale for hefty discounts off spring prices.

Some of the plants may look a little bedraggled and many are busting their pots, but they're strong, ready to take root in the soil and get a full season jump on next year's display.

Check out your favorite haunts and investigate new sources. Be careful of plants that have dried out frequently and suffered poor care. If the shop looks cared for, the plants probably are too.

Do you see bright orange, gelatinous galls on your junipers or cedars? You may have a real disease problem.

They say it takes two ... and this is certainly true with cedar-apple rust (CAR). The disease requires both an apple/crabapple and cedar or juniper to complete its life cycle. Look for reddish-brown galls on young cedar or juniper twigs.

Wet weather causes these galls to swell. As they do, bright orange gelatinous 'tentacles' begin to appear. Wind transports the spores of the fungus from the tentacles to susceptible apple or crabapple varieties.

When the spores reach a susceptible apple or crabapple and the conditions are right (think moisture), infection can occur.

Now you begin to look for tiny yellow spots that appear on the upper leaf surface of the apple or crabapple after bloom. As time passes, the spots enlarge and turn a bright yellow-orange color.

What can you expect next? It may look like autumn by mid-summer as infected leaves drop prematurely. (Some may think it's apple scab, another problem of susceptible crabs and apples.)

During late summer, small tube-like structures will appear on the undersides of apple/crabapple leaves. These structures release spores that will be carried by wind, back to susceptible cedars or junipers.

Contact your trusted nursery or the Cooperative Extension office for recommendations on resistant varieties and treatment options.

Q I notice that many, but not all, of my azaleas have a white powder covering the leaves and many are puckered and misshapen. What's going on?

A Ah, the joys of warm days followed by cool, humid nights