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...
Groundcovers for a Hill
Finding the right groundcover to plant on a hill is a common problem. Here is a typical question: “My hill is about 200 feet wide and it extends back 5 feet. This is in full sun and it will have...
Tropical Plants for Pool Area
Tropical plants look great around a pool. Look for plants that have big leaves and lots of flowers or colorful foliage. Here are some candidates that come to mind: Trees: Big-leaf magnoliaCucumber magnoliaSweet-bay magnolia Shrubs: Swamp hibiscus (mallow)Scarlet hibiscusConfederate roseTropical...
Gold Medal Plant Summary 1994 – 2013
The Gold Medal Plant Committee is a non-profit organization comprised of nurserymen, flower growers, garden center retailers, landscape professionals, county Extension agents and faculty from the University of Georgia. Their goal is: To promote the production, sale and use of...
Plants That Move
I was recently asked by a writer for a list of plants that have a suggestion of movement in their name. I posed the question to my Florida Extension colleagues who help me with “Your Southern Garden”. Over dinner at...
Shrubs for Damp Soil
Special note about coastal plants and plants for wet/damp areas in gardens: Only regionally native plants should be used along beaches, coastal and savannah restoration areas. For gardens with wet/damp areas, non-native plants that are not invasive are suitable. However,...
Pokeweed (Poke Sallet) – Don’t Eat It
DON’T EAT POKE SALAD Auburn, June 18, 2002—Pokeweed is probably the best known and most widely used wild vegetable in America and Europe. However, a food scientist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System says no part of this plant should...
English Ivy – Dermatitis
My son recently spent a day helping a neighbor clear English ivy from their landscape. He woke on the following day with itchy, spreading blisters on his arm. He says he saw no poison ivy in the English ivy patch…so...
English Ivy – Control
I accompanied my son’s class on an overnight Environmental Education trip to Rock Eagle one year. One of his classmates was a great source of fascination to me. Whenever I stood next to him he was a model of decorum:...
Lichen Quiz
PETER RABBIT? Here is a quick trivia question: What do Peter Rabbit, canaries and moose have to do with lichens? It turns out that Beatrix Potter, the author of the Peter Rabbit tales, was also a respected biologist. She was...
Lichens
Every kid (and most adults) can remember being falsely blamed simply because they were standing nearby when an accident happened. Although accidents do seem to happen more often when kids are present, it’s erroneous to assume that they are the...
Smilax ID and Control
It has wicked thorns, it laughs at herbicides and it always seems to come back, no matter how much you pull it out of your shrubs each spring. Nobody smiles when smilax vine appears The pest is smilax (deer thorn,...
Wisteria
Its flowers are gorgeous but the nature of a wisteria vine is to conquer everything around it. Cascades of lavender or white blooms announce that the vine has woken up after a winter nap and is poised to start climbing...
Poison Ivy – Herbicides
Several herbicides will kill poison ivy. Triclopyr (Brush-B-Gon) kills kudzu and brambles as well as poison ivy. Non-selective weed killers like Round-Up, Finale or Next Day will kill poison ivy, too. With care, spot spraying can take the offending vines...
Poison Ivy – Control
My neighbor and I acted as if we were surrounded by rattlesnakes. “Ease your foot down there, slowly…slowly. Now take a quick step to the right and hop up onto that cinderblock!” We were curious about the land clearing that’s...
Yellow Archangel – Control
I believe I am finally rid of the infernal archangel. Several years ago I found a plant that seemed to be just the ticket for my shady back yard. It had silvery green foliage and yellow flowers in the spring....
Poison Ivy – Pictures
Poison ivy can be mistaken for other flora outdoors. Just in case you are unsure which “leaflets of three” to avoid, here are pictures of poison ivy and its mimics. Note the “leaflets of five” leaf in the third picture....
Bamboo – Control
Technically, bamboo is a grass, but certainly not one you’d describe as a premier turf product. The sprouts that shoot up from the ground each spring can grow 12 inches per day. Common fishpole bamboo usually tops out at 15...
Chickweed – Control in Fescue
Fall tilling brought up plenty of chickweed seeds that had been lying dormant underground. They sprouted last fall along with my fescue seeds. The recent warm winter weather has caused the unwanted plants to explode across my lawn. But here’s...
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...
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...
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...
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...
