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...
Landscape – Drainage Problems
There are a number of indicators which may help you identify current or potential drainage and water problems around your yard or home. The Metro Atlanta Landscape and Turf Association (MALTA) used some tips I compiled and added the expertise...
Landscape – Choosing Healthy Plants
I’ve mentioned before all the advantages of planting in fall: cooler temperatures, better establishment, bargains at the garden center. Even so, it makes no sense to waste your money on a sick or inappropriate plant. As you shop, be sure...
Invasive Plants – Cautions About Mimosa
Several plants that were once considered ornamental have escaped and caused great problems in Georgia landscapes. Kudzu, Japanese honeysuckle, bamboo, privet and English ivy are all so aggressive that they crowd out everything in their path. When Theresa Schrum mentioned...
Invasive Plants
When I was a kid, I loved melting plastic toy soldiers. I’d climb into the loft of our garage and position myself by an open window. Setting a match flame to the head of a defenseless infantryman, I would thrill...
Gardening – Using a PDA
NOTE: this was written for the AJC in 2003, way before smartphones and their apps. It’s interesting to see how far we’ve come in just a few years! My wife’s garden club came to visit our house last week. We...
Garden Catalogs – Rating
Catalogs offering garden plants for sale have been around for hundreds of years. My guess is that ever since the first one came off the press, gardeners have wondered which ones could be trusted and which ones were frauds. As...
Galls
S.N. recently described for me a strange sight: “For the past two springs, we have found small red or reddish-brown mounds attached to our Chinese witchhazel shrub leaves. Could this be associated with lady bugs or praying mantids? If they’re...
Disease Control – Fungicides
A friend of mine recently told me about his drugstore bill. “It takes more than $100.00 per month to control my high blood pressure and cholesterol!” he complained. “I guess those hamburgers we enjoyed in college weren’t so good for...
Cold Damage
This article on cold damage was originally written in March, 2002 but the details it provides are accurate for any winter. Last night, the WEATHER.COM Web site was predicting 19 degrees at 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning in my neighborhood. As...
Buying Plants – Research Before Purchasing
My old friend Von Woods sent me a question a few weeks ago that made me do a little research. “Do you have a list of dogwoods that are disease resistant?” he wrote, “I’ve heard that a new fungus is...
Banana – Overwintering
Given a mild winter and a sheltered location banana trees occasionally survive Atlanta winters untended. More often, the stem and roots turn to mush by spring. Gardeners who like the tropical look bananas afford but who don’t like the cost...
Viburnum – Pollination
Although hollies are better-known for their berries, viburnum shrubs can also have striking fruit each fall. Two of the best fruiting viburnums are tea viburnum, Viburnum setigerum and Linden viburnum, Viburnum dilatatum. Just as with hollies, good pollination produces best...
Viburnum – Distinguishing Snowball-type
As if gardeners didn’t have enough confusion sorting out plants which are not roses, but have rose in their name (rose of Sharon, rose moss, Confederate rose, etc), we also must distinguish between “snowball” viburnums. Chinese snowball viburnum is Viburnum...
Shrubs – Protection in Winter
BLACK PLASTIC Though it seems counterintuitive, black plastic is a better covering for plants than clear plastic. The object of covering a plant at all is to trap what heat the soil has and keep it around the trunk and...
Shrubs – No Flowers
I visited the proud parents of a new baby last week and was allowed to hold the young beauty in my arms. Just fed, she gradually slipped into sleep as the adults talked and marveled at her perfect fingers. I...
Shrub Propagation – Soil Layering
Summer is a great time to propagate favorite shrubs by rooting stems underground. This is one of the simplest ways to multiply a shrub and it is fast and efficient. Start by looking for long shoots which can be bent...
Shrub – Transplanting
Back during the summer, my wife and I threw a big party to celebrate the end of remodeling our kitchen and sunroom. In honor of the occasion, I invited two people who knew my house “way back when”. Dottie Myers,...
Shrub – Pruning
As spring approaches, the first yellow blooms on forsythia plants remind some gardeners that they have once again put off pruning until the last minute. Plants are pruned for different reasons. Shrub roses need pruning annually, to make the new...
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...
