Italy Trip Report – 2013
In May of 2013 I led a group of adventurous and inquisitive gardeners (and their spouses) to the southern coast of Italy and the island of Sicily. We had a wonderful time: lots of great food, beautiful gardens, historic sites and good companionship! Following is my report on the trip,...
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 – 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...
Plants with Colorful Fruits and Berries
TREES Citrus Full sun Cornelian cherry Cornus mas Full sun / half sun Crabapple Malus Full sun Dogwood Cornus kousa & C. florida Full sun / half sun Eastern red cedar Juniperus virginiana Full sun / half sun Fringe Tree...
Plants for Screening
When I was a kid, we had no need for screen plants around our house. Our rural neighbors were a minimum of one hundred yards away in every direction. If they chose to put their truck up on cinderblocks in...
Flowers 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 home gardens with wet/damp areas, non-native plants that are not invasive are suitable....
Trees 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,...
Plants with Colorful Fall Foliage
TREES American beech Fagus grandifolia Full sun -half sun Ash Fraxinus Full sunBald cypress Taxodium distichum Full sunBeech Fagus Full sun -half sunBirch Betula Full sun Black cherry Prunus serotina Full sunBlack gum Nyssa sylvatica Full sun -half sunBlack locust Robinia pseudoacacia Full sunCallery pear Pyrus calleryana Full sunCarolina Silverbell Halesia Carolina Half sun Chinese pistache Pistacia chinensis Full sunChinese quince Pseudocydonia...
Plants for Septic Fields
With the tremendous growth Atlanta has experienced comes hundreds of new homes each month. Each home must have provisions for disposing of its waste water. Most homes are connected to a sanitary sewer provided by the municipality in which you...
Trees – Fast Growing
When you need shade in your landscape, it is not an option to wait very long. You want a tree to grow fast enough so that you can enjoy its shade in just a few years. The Georgia Extension Service...
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,...
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...
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 – 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...
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...
