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...
Cedar – Hawthorn Rust – Identification
Q: My hawthorn tree has a lot of berries but most have rust colored, short, stringy things covering them. I recently sprayed the tree with water and plumes of orange dust came off it. A: Your tree is afflicted with...
Yellowstriped Armyworm – Identification
Q: I’ve had great success with my tomatoes this year. Lately we’ve had tomatoes with holes in them and one that I cut open had a green worm on the inside! I believe it to be an Army Worm. Is...
Lawn Insecticides
Lawn insecticides are labeled for controlling insects in a lawn. The insecticide may be a bait or a broadcast product. Synthetic (non-organic) insecticides are usually pyrethroid chemicals. These chemicals originated in the organic insecticide pyrethrin. Pyrethroids are chemivals that have...
Echeveria – Identification
Q: Can you identify this plant? The base (the rosette looking part) is about 9 inches across. A: Tropical plant expert Winston Eason says it initially looked like Aeonium ‘Garnet’. However, on further reflection we now think it is Echeveria ‘Duchess...
Plants for Shade
These plants tolerate some amount of shade but a host of other factors (soil type, exposure, soil moisture, etc) determine long term success. Do research before you plant. Shrubs: azalea, aucuba, mahonia, Japanese plum yew, hydrangea, fatsia, cherrylaurel, corylopsis, mountain...
Finding Walter’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution Articles Online
Q: How can I find your gardening questions and answers articles in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution? A: Unfortunately, the AJC does not post all of my articles. Here is their official statement: Thanks for taking time to write. I’m sorry you...
Crabapples – Resistant to Fireblight
Q: Our favorite crab apple tree has finally succumbed to fireblight. We will be cutting it down and looking to replace it with another tree. Due to the difficulty of getting rid of the blight, is it safe to replace...
Jewels of Opar – Identification
Q: Can you identify this plant? A: Garden coach Daryl Pulis says Jewels of Opar: Talinum paniculatum. Generally considered a nasty weed unfortunately sold as an ornamental. Jewels of...
Agapanthus – Blister Beetle
Q: I live in Levy County, Florida, near Gainesville. We have agapanthus under live oak trees and in beds with hydrangeas and azaleas mulched with pine straw and nightly irrigation, as we have high, dry sandy soil. Yesterday the agapanthus...
Extension Offices – Odd Questions
University of Georgia Extension offices are sometimes the place of last resort for people with odd questions. Extension agents and their assistants sometimes, however, get questions just a bit beyond the pale. Aaron Lancaster, Extension agent in Bibb county, posed...
Rat – Chewing Tree Bark
Paul H. solved his own tree mystery. I’ll allow his words to tell the tale: “In August I sent you an e-mail concerning a problem I was experiencing with my Yoshino cherry trees. As I explained, the bark was being...
Mulch Myths
One day he’ll finally crack. My across-the-street neighbor, Carl, has a roof covered with pine needles. I need pine needles right now to mulch my newly-planted shrubs, trees and pansies. My hope is that Carl will make the decision to...
Drought – A Brief History in Georgia
Each year that Georgia suffers through a dry summer, we proclaim that it is an unusual occurrence…a “Drought of the Century”! Would you believe that we’ve had five “Droughts of the Century” since 1924? Master Gardener Maria Helena Dolan collected...
Mulch – More Myths
It is hard to mess up making macaroni and cheese from a box, but somehow I did it. During a recent kitchen foray, I mixed in a handful of my son’s other favorite food, bacon. This immediately rendered the entree...
Why I Weed By Hand
(written in 1993) Those warm days around the first of March nearly killed me! I raked leaves, mowed the lawn, dug a carrot bed, pruned figs, sprayed weed killer, spread fertilizer and planted raspberries – all in one weekend! Those...
CD’s Yield 3.5% – Plants Yield 400%
My mother explained it to me carefully: I should give her my newly earned $5.00 and we would open a savings account for me. In nine years (double my age at that time!) it would “grow” and I could use...
Best Management Practices to Protect Water
Georgia will have to make some hard choices about water management in the next several years. We have plenty of water – it’s just the location and distribution that gives fits to water planners and water system operators in the...
Mysterious Clay Particles – Reader Theories
Reader theories on the origin of clay particles from the sky. Scroll to the bottom to find an answer.—————– Dirt rain. Gotta be. Amelia P.————– * red dust from comet/meteor tail, red due to charged particles of iron oxide -occurring...
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...
