Sitting in the flowering arboretum right now, I realize this is a fantastic year for spring flowering magnolias. This is really good for me since most people will walk around looking up and not down at me and all my brothers and sisters in full bloom. Hopefully the gardeners will do just that. The glorious…
Do your house plants have little mosquito-like insects occasionally, or regularly, flying around them? If you experience these little plant pests, your potted plants most likely have fungus gnats. Fungus gnats are small insects (1/8 to 1/10 inch long) that are common in high-organic-matter houseplant soils that are kept moist. These insects do not bother…
Have you ever had that problem where you look at someone and you know their face, but you can’t remember their name? It happened to me the other day. Not with a person, but with a plant. It’s quite embarrassing. Of course, with plants I have a better excuse than those of you who forget…
Valentine’s Day is around the corner. It is a time when lots of guys try to impress the sweethearts in their lives with flowers and candy. Of course I think flowers are great, but I am not so sure that decapitating a bunch of roses and handing them to your girlfriend is really all that…
You may notice that this spring is just a bit more colorful around the Garden. This past fall and winter, the horticulture staff was busy planting over 51,000 bulbs of every type throughout the Garden. Look for hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, and crocus. The project included a massive planting of 14,000 daffodils bulbs of various types…
Snow last week. Snow on the way. After years of almost no white stuff falling from the sky, the Garden is in a snow daze. The winter weather is unusual, but not unwelcome as far as I am concerned. Snow is a pretty good insulator for many plants and it makes the Garden very beautiful. …
Have you ever wondered if companion planting really works? In case you are unfamiliar with the concept, companion planting is a procedure that consists of planting two types of plants close to one another with the belief that it can naturally reduce pest problems. One example is planting catnip with cabbage to reduce worm damage…
I’m a little tired of winter right now. What I want is a little tropical vacation. Of course, I can’t fly south for the winter – TSA would not like the fact that I can’t take any shoes off and all the birds I know that go that way have already left. So instead, I…
Warm enough for ya? For a couple of weeks now everyone has “enjoyed” the cold weather covering the country. Hopefully everyone has been able to find some warm spot indoors and generally stay out of the cold. Unfortunately this is not the case for us garden plants. We get the privilege of staying outside no…
Despite ice on the bird bath and the ongoing cold temperatures, spring is on the way. You should be receiving the spring catalogues in your mailbox soon, if you have not already, and dreams of the “perfect” garden may already have you completely forgetting about any less than bumper crops and fully floriferous flower gardens…