Ciscoe Morris, Seattle Times garden writer, tells readers what is happening to western red cedar trees this season; what to use to fertilize the lawn and how to overwinter a red banana plant.

A dead Western red cedar stands in the forest along Highway 1 near Mill Bay, B.C. Hotter, drier summers in recent years have killed off many of these trees across Vancouver Island.

In Parksville, B.C., over half of the Western red cedars in the existing canopy are dying. Now the city's parks department is looking for more resources to manage what's left.

The Western red cedar’s two trunks are each about 4 feet in diameter. Arborists with an environmental nonprofit estimate it may be one of the oldest healthy red cedars in the area.