Landscaping
Bradford Pear – Wildly Sprouting Thorny Bushes
Curtis Young , editor, and other contributors to the Buckeye Yard and Garden Line have shed light on why there are so many thorny sprouts of wild pear showing up unwanted every year. “One of the certainties of education is...
Georgia Cities and Their Flower Festivals
Many Georgia communities are proud of the flowers that easily grow in their area. As a result, they celebrate their “city flowers” at festivals throughout the year. Here is a list I recently compiled. If you know of another, please...
Shrub – Transplanting 1-2-3
Most shrubs and trees should be transplanted when the demand for water is least, in late fall or winter. Since many roots will inevitably be lost, they need many weeks to regenerate themselves before the hot, dry blasts of summer...
Yaupon Holly – Make Tea from Leaves
Yaupon holly is a ntive holly often used in urban landscapes. Native Americans also found it useful….but not for making their homes more attractive! Yaupon Tea posted by Geoff This afternoon I made a cup of yaupon tea from the...
Shrub – Pruning Calendar
The Home & Garden section of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution published a very nice pruning calendar several years ago. When viewed on a sheet of newsprint, it was gorgeous. When reduced to fit onto a sheet of typing paper...
Kudzu as a Farm Crop – USDA Farmers Bulletin No. 1923
I recently found a faded copy of Kudzu as a Farm Crop in my “way back” files. Asking around, the Gwinnett Extension office had a better copy. This brought back further memories of my grandfather, Walter Cowart, who was a...
Dirt Can Make You Happy!
On my radio show, I exhort listeners to discover the happiness that gardening brings. Little did I know that certain bacteria in the soil are responsible! Following is a blog post by Naomi Sachs, of the Therapeutic Landscapes Network ...
Tree Planted Too Deep – Examples
It’s heartbreaking to have an attractive young tree in your landscape begin to decline. When you examine the trunk, you may see bark at the base peeling off, splitting, or generally looking unhealthy. In my observation, these are symptoms of...
Flowers – Cold-Hardiness
Frost resistance of annual flowers. * Very hardy flowers can withstand freezing temperatures and hard frosts for short periods without injury. They may be planted as soon as the ground can be prepared, usually 4 to 6 weeks before the...
UGA Plant Disease Publications
Following are useful plant disease publications from UGA: Azalea Diseases Camellia Diseases Cane Blight of Blackberry Centipedegrass Decline Christmas Tree Diseases Common Landscape Diseases in Georgia Common Tomato Diseases in Georgia Diagnostic Guide to Common Home Orchard Diseases Disease Control...
Acorns – Heavy Crop in 2011
Many gardeners have noted a heavier than normal acorn crop in 2011. They report a constant barrage of nuts falling from white oak, water oak and red oak trees. One even carries an umbrella to protect her head while walking...
Planting Pansies
Few plants create color in a winter landscape better than pansies. Given a mid-October planting, pansies laugh at temperatures in the ‘teens. They are even known to bloom after a winter snowstorm. Growers produce 50 million pansies each year for...
Flowers for Drying
Harvest when the flowers are not fully open and in good condition. Don’t wait too long, because flowers too far along will not dry satisfactorily. Select flowers or seed pods that are as close to perfect looking as possible because...
Hummingbirds – Plants For
Trumpet Vine Catalpa Coralberry Weigela Nicotiana Petunia Salvia Hollyhock Columbine Delphinium Foxglove Gladiolus Daylily Hibiscus Liatris Tiger Lily Penstemon Phlox Sweet William Snap Dragon...
Panicle Hydrangea – Identification and Pruning
Panicle hydrangea, Hydrangea paniculata, is an excellent flowering shrub for late summer and fall. There is one particular variety of panicle hydrangea called Hydrangea paniculata ‘Grandiflora’….which many gardeners abbreviate to PeeGee hydrangea in referring to all of the panicle hydrangeas....
White Mulberry vs Red Mulberry – Identification
I’m often asked to identify “that tree that has lots of blackberries hanging from it!”. Most often it is a white mulberry, Morus alba. The fruit is edible but not exactly dessert quality. The red mulberry, Morus rubra, is less...
Patriotic Plants
In very early July I posted a comment on Hometalk that in honor of the holidays gardeners could consider planting ‘Fireworks’ goldenrod, ‘Sparkler’ cleome, ‘Bottle Rocket’ ligularia and ‘Roman Candle’ tomato. Other experts quickly chimed in, adding ‘Fireworks’ pennisetum, ‘Route...
Hydrangea Summer Pruning – Step by Step
The recent summer rains filled the leaves and roots of my hydrangeas with water, making them strong. Now that the flowers have faded in late June I can prune them to the size I want for next year. Look at...
