Dear Neil: I trimmed my fig, and found this moldy substance on one of the branches. I removed the entire branch. What is it? Is the tree okay to keep?

This isn’t anything that would be of concern to me. It’s probably just some type of growth that has developed after the cold weather and because of the moisture of late spring and early summer. You and your plant will be fine.

Dear Neil: Friends have xylosmas that tanked in the cold. I told them I’d ask for your advice on how they should handle them. They would prefer not to cut them back unless there is no hope of their leafing back out. Is there a good replacement plant?

Shrubs that have dead branches at their tops and new shoots down below are very unlikely to produce new shoots farther up. If those parts of the plant were still alive and vigorous, that “apical dominance” you learned about in high school biology would be preventing formation of the new shoots at the bases of the plants. You might as well trim out the dead wood and retrain the plants.

Dear Neil: We have a 16-year-old Leyland cypress that started getting brown branches last year. I was told to cut them off, but this year it is browning in larger areas. They’re too high to reach, plus it would ruin the tree’s symmetry. What can we do?

I fear it may be Seiridium canker. This moved in on our Leyland cypress trees in Texas about 20 years ago, and it has been killing them year after year since. If you look closely at the trunk and see black ooze, that would be your confirmation. You’ll find good information on several university plant pathology websites, notably Texas A&M, Clemson, and Oklahoma State. Sadly, there is no spray to prevent or stop its spread. As much as I hate to tell you, I’ve watched thousands of them die out and be removed across Texas in the past two decades. Eastern red cedar junipers are almost an identical replacement. They are not susceptible, and they grow quickly.

Have a question you’d like Neil to consider? Email him at mailbag@sperrygardens.com. Neil regrets that he cannot reply to questions individually.