UGA Vegetable Gardening Publications
With food prices high, folks have been thinking about growing some of their own food. Food gardening is not hard and it doesn’t have to take much room in your landscape. You can even do it in containers! These gardening publications are available on the Internet or ask for a...
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 arrive. If you are contemplating moving a plant that would...
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 it was impossible to read. I imagine you didn’t keep...
South Africa Adventure – 2014
As many of you know, I led a group of gardeners and spouses to South Africa in 2010. The memories of that vibrant, beautiful, surprising country still linger in my brain! We had such a good time I’ve decided to lead another group trip there in January, 2014. Want to...
New Gardening Books
I regularly receive interesting-looking gardening books from publishers. I don’t have time to read them all or give an intelligent review but I know they would appeal to many gardeners. These are some of the books I’ve gotten recently. You can click the link under the book cover images to...
Caterpillar – Droppings Under Tree
Q: On the sidewalk under a pecan tree every morning I sweep away what looks like one-eightth inch diameter seeds. There is a seam in the middle. What could they be? A: They are likely the droppings from caterpillars who...
Stress on Fescue – Summer
Fescue lawns can look devastated in the summer. I often see brown, lifeless patches in front of homes across the region. While extreme summer daytime heat is partly to blame, a less noticed factor is also at play: high night...
How To Get Previous Issues of Georgia Gardener Newsletter
The Georgia Gardener Newsletter is e-mailed every two weeks. Click here to sign up. Selected previous issues are archived below: May 26 Watering rules Copperhead snake Cottony scale Bamboo escapee Butterfly milkweed Sourwood tree Apr. 14 Butterfly plants Zoysia seedheads...
Robotic Lawnmower (LawnBott)
Recently the nice folks at Kyodo America loaned me a robotic lawnmower, a LawnBott, to use on my lawn. In a word, it is fantastic! A small wire is buried around the perimeter of the lawn. When the mower begins...
Deadheading
Since a plant’s goal is simply to reproduce itself, once it has produced mature flowers, it will often stop producing any more. You can eliminate the signals telling the plant to stop flowering by regularly removing faded flowers. Petunias, cosmos,...
Sumac – Leaf Galls
Q: Please help me identify this tree/shrub/plant that we have allowed to grow on our property. This year it has produced a fruit or seed pod. A: Naturalist Shannon Pable says you have a sumac shrub with leaf galls. It’s...
Cypress Vine – Not Blooming
Q: In the past I have collected cypress vine seeds and re- planted each year to have beautiful vines and flowers. This year I wanted to planter boxes and plant so they would grow up a spot where I had...
Buffalobur Nightshade – Identification
Q: I have a plant growing beside my patio that looks like a watermelon plant but has briars. It is a plant not a vine, has small yellow blooms and has small briars on the stem. Has not borne fruit...
May Beetle – Wrong Identification (and Correct ID as Sugarcane Beetle)
I’m right about a lot of things but I’m sometimes equally thrilled to be wrong about something. In the September 2, 2010 Georgia Gardener newsletter, I incorrectly identified a beetle. Fortunately, I have entomologist friends who are smarter than me!...
Walnut Caterpillar – On Walnut Tree
Q: My husband and I found these worms/caterpillars eating the leaves of a black walnut tree at the edge of our pasture. Later we found the same type of critters devouring the leaves of a black cherry tree. Could these...
Leaf-footed Bugs – On Tomato
Q: Our tomato plants and garden are infested with stink bugs and leaf-footed bugs. Is there an organic pesticide, safe for the environment and pets, that we can use to eliminate these insects? They are ruining our garden. A: Both...
Tomato – Two Toned
Q: I noticed last week that one of my few tomatoes growing on my tomato plant in a pot was two-toned. I’ve never seen one of these before. A: Very odd! My guess is that incomplete pollination caused it. Tomatoes...
Rat Snake Eggs – Identification
Q: I am told you might be able to help me identify what I have found at the bottom of my mulch pile. A: Jim Rodgers at Nearly Native Nursery says they are most likely rat snake or king snake...
Ailanthus Webworm Moth – Identification
Q: This bug was on my storm door the other day. The pattern looked kind of like an elongated ladybug. A: It’s an ailanthus webworm moth. The caterpillar feeds on the leaves of a “trash tree” named Tree-of-Heaven, Ailanthus altissima....
Poison Caterpillars – Identification
Yowsa! Fall is stinging caterpillar season…watch where you put your fingers as you work in the garden. Although the welt is painful, few are dangerous unless you are especially sensitive. Keep an eye out for these critters on the leaves...
Pistache – Planted Too deep
Q: Our 71/2 year old Chinese Pistache tree has always been dense with foliage. In the past couple of weeks, we have noticed that it was not filling out with the abundance of leaves. Upon close examination today, nothing seems to...
Tree Sidewalk Root Protection
Q: I drove past a sidewalk near LaVista Rd. that had evidently been raised to protect tree roots. Can you tell me how they did this? A: The owner says: “I really don’t know how I accomplished it. I just...
Ornamental Kale/Ornamental Cabbage
Ornamental kale and cabbage are some of the most popular (behind the pansy) winter annual plants. They lend a completely different texture to a winter landscape bed. The scientific name is Brassica oleracea The following plant description was written by...
Weeds – Identification with Pictures
Weed control in the landscape is a tough business. You have to know a lot about the weed in question just to get started! As in most situations, a picture is worth a thousand words. Websites Preen has terrific weed...
Diagnosing Holes in the Yard
Sometimes many heads are better than one when it comes to solving a problem. Wade Hutcheson, my Extension colleague in Spalding county, gets plenty of calls from the citizens of his area asking his help in identifying various holes in...
Brown Patch – Diagnosing
You have brown patches of dead grass in your lawn. Is it the common lawn disease ‘brown patch’ or is it something else? The answer is important: if it is brown patch you probably need to spray with a fungicide....
Bermuda – Weed Control
BASIC INFORMATION: Weed Identification Pictures General Turf and Weed Info Lawn Care Calendars THREE METHODS There are three primary methods of controlling weeds. Any one method, when used alone, will not usually control all of your weeds. To consistently control...
Lawn – Timing Pre-emergent Herbicide
One of the sourest phrases that can be directed at a child or adult is “I told you so!” Whether you touch a hot match, leave tools out in the rain or lift cinder blocks all afternoon, someone is usually...
Crapemyrtle – Pruning
One of the most confounding arguments I face is whether and how to prune crapemyrtles. They are mercilessly “murdered” by unaware landscapers and homeowners each winter… yet they still bloom in summer. Some people even believe a crapemyrtle won’t bloom...
Lawn – Growing in Shade
OK. I admit it. I have given up. I came to the conclusion that grass just would not grow in the corner of my lawn near the ornamental cherry trees. The shade there is so dense that my grass, no...
Lawn – Leveling
A new home in my neighborhood had bermudagrass sod planted in March. By May, one area was a perfect checkerboard of straight lines, composed of weedy plants, surrounding the individual squares of sod. Evidently the sod installers were in such...
Bermuda Grass – Disease – Brown Patch
Brown patch is most prevalent on bermudagrass which has been heavily fertilized when night temperatures are above 68 degrees and day temperature are above 80 degrees. Dead patches of grass may start small but can grow and join together to...
St. Augustine Grass Seed – Where to Buy
Q: Please tell me where I can buy St. Augustine grass seeds. Our lawn has some now and we like it a lot, but we’re having trouble finding seeds. A: You can’t buy St. Augustinegrass seed. The plant is very...
