Dear Neil: You wrote recently about clover burs. We moved here from Houston, and we've had burs every year since. They are so painful. Are they the same thing?

Answer: Probably not. Clover is a broadleafed plant (not a grass), with compound clover-like leaves. While they certainly will mat up in pets' fur, they normally aren't painful to us or to our pets. They would be eliminated with a broadleafed weedkiller spray. You're probably referring to grassburs, also called sand burs. They are grassy weeds, so application of a pre-emergent herbicide is just about your only good means of dealing with them. Those granules must be applied before their seeds start to sprout, so much of Texas is on the thin edge of being too late. Talk to your local independent retail garden center for products and timing, also to be sure we're identifying the same plant. You will need a second treatment of either Dimension or Halts 90 days after the first treatment.

Dear Neil: You wrote recently about woodpecker damage to tree trunks, and you said a paper tree wrap would discourage them. Is that what has caused this damage to the trunk of my lacebark elm? How long should the wrap be left in place?

Answer: Yep. That's the culprit. You can always tell by the perfectly aligned rows of holes. Woodpeckers and sapsuckers do inflict this type of injury to trees. They don't necessarily suggest the presence of insects, but they will come back and feed on the sap flow. It's not a huge issue if you see it early (like yours) and wrap the tree at that point. I have a paper tree wrap product on a tree-form Nellie R. Stevens holly's trunk. It's been there for two years, and I'm not sure when or if I will ever take it away. It will eventually fall off when the trunk gets larger. At that point, I may watch for return of the birds and wait until I see more damage before I re-wrap it.

Dear Neil: Is this the time I can trim dwarf yaupon hollies that have grown over my driveway by six to eight inches?

Answer: Late winter would have been better, because you may be cutting off new growth at this point. But, better now than to wait and have to remove significantly more of the overgrowth next February. Use lopping shears and hand shears, and sculpt its look carefully, so it won't look like it's been flat-sided. Trim it a couple of inches farther than needed, to allow it a little room to regrow. You'll probably want to be taking proportionate amounts off all around, also off its height. It's difficult to advise on pruning without seeing the plant.

Dear Neil: Is there any solution to discouraging birds from sitting in our live oak tree? They are so messy. Will further pruning help?

Answer: That's a longtime question that has never been answered perfectly. Short of putting up with them or removing the tree (please don't), you only have a couple of options. Pruning would not be one of them. Motion and noise frighten birds (at least until they figure out the sources). We've all encountered hawk sounds in bank drive-throughs, and that's their function. Netting can also help, but it's a pain to install. My best advice would be to contact a certified arborist who has faced this problem many times. They will have access to the best products, as well as the experience of how to use them.

Dear Neil: Does it hurt to use dishwater, bath water and washing machine water on our landscape plants?

Answer: Usually not. That's called "gray" water, and it's easily repurposed into use outdoors. I prefer to spread it around, rather than having all of it go into one specific spot in my landscape each time. To that end, we've used a 2-inch flexible hose clamped to the end of the discharge pipe for our clothes washer. That worked great until one freezing morning. I didn't realize that the hose bowed slightly lower in the middle. The water in that trap froze, and our wash water went all over the floor. Luckily, we were there to shut it down instantly, but I became a lot more careful in my placement of the hose. Hope that helps. Good luck with the project.

Dear Neil: How can I retrain a crape myrtle that was split to the ground when a neighboring tree fell on it?

Answer: All crape myrtles are genetically shrubs. We train them to look like small trees. Cut the remaining trunk back to the ground now. Allow it to grow back from its roots this spring. You'll have dozens of new shoots. Select the 10 or 12 straightest ones, and remove all the rest. Allow the shoots to develop. They will grow very rapidly, and they'll be very brittle (easily broken). Late this year, or perhaps into next year, thin out the numbers to 3 or 5 trunks (odd numbers work best) that will become the main trunks for the new tree. At that point, its form will begin to return. My guess is you'll have a lovely regrown tree within three years.