TIME FOR THE TOUGH SUMMER BLOOMING PERENNIALS TO BE STARS IN THE GARDEN. Whether you like the colors of orange, red, yellow, blue, white, purple or just a rainbow of colors you can get it with beautiful blooming perennials this time of year. We are smack dab in the middle of summer. We are challenged…
July 16th is World Snake Day. I can already hear some people go “Oh, Gross!” I used to be one of them, but as a devout gardener, I’ve developed a healthy respect for them. Still, every summer, I get a lot of questions about how to kill or otherwise get rid of snakes. So maybe…
AVOIDING HEAT STRESS INJURIES IN JULY The dog days of summer have arrived. As gardeners, we need to spend time outside tending to our landscape needs. But, this past week was brutally hot and humid. Thank goodness for this past weekend with us having much-needed rainfall and lower temperatures but more heat is on the…
July is National Blueberry Month. Nice to have a whole month dedicated to one of my favorite things. So here are a few interesting tidbits about these delicious berries. Blueberries belong to the family Ericales. This makes them related to cranberries, Brazil nuts, persimmons, camellias, azaleas, and rhododendron! They are native to North American where…
HERE ARE SOME GARDEN CHORES TO DO IN JULY Before I get into the list of garden chores for July, here we are in the first few days of July and I want to talk about being too wet. Go figure. In the past, I would be writing and talking to customers about being water-wise…
I’m getting so many people these days looking for plants that repel mosquitoes, that I thought it was time to repeat this blog. Swirling cloaks, spooky music, and a voice with a Hungarian accent saying “Good E-e-e-vening.” Or incredibly annoying little insects buzzing around your face and feasting on every square inch of exposed flesh….
THE 2018 PERENNIAL PLANT OF THE YEAR. Each year the PPA (Perennial Plant Association) selects a perennial to highlight for the year. This year the Association chose ALLIUM ‘MILLENIUM’ Allium ‘Millenium’ is referred to as the “butterfly magnet” perennial. Other pollinators will flock to this plant. Butterflies and bees will thank you for adding ‘Millenium’…
My houseplants are all outside for the summer. Does this mean I can forget about them? Well—no! Here are somethings you should be doing for your houseplants now—either inside or out. The days are longer and the sunlight stronger so our plants are actually growing—not just “maintaining” like they do all winter. A little fertilizer would…
JUNE 18 – 24 HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AS THE WEEK TO CELEBRATE OUR POLLINATORS. In my blog last week I mentioned that June is PERENNIAL PLANTING MONTH. Now, let’s take June to a higher level and think about what perennials are blooming right now, what perennials are considered native plants, and what perennials are considered…
This coming Thursday is the Summer Solstice—the first official day of astronomical Summer. South of the equator, it is the first official day of Winter. On the other hand, meteorologists consider summer as beginning the first day of June and ending the last day of August. Solstice comes from the Greek words “sol” meaning “sun”…