For better or worse (mostly for worse), it’s time to rethink how we garden in our new and changing climate conditions. This summer served up a model for what climate researchers and horticulturists say we should get used to in the coming years – warmer winters, earlier springs, hotter/drier summers, increasingly erratic changes […]
This is a classic tale of a good guy turned bad… except the star is a tree instead of a movie villain. It’s about the ornamental or “callery” pear, that hard-to-kill spring beauty that blooms white in yards, parking lots, and along streets all over Pennsylvania and beyond. When it came to […]
Flowers and fall foliage are the two big traits that drive most tree-selection decisions. Interesting bark is an overlooked feature that most people don’t pay much attention to until winter – if even then. In some tree species, though, the bark is arguably the most attractive trait. If you’re looking to […]
Now that I’m into the run-out-of-gas years, I wasn’t planning to plant a lot of spring-flowering bulbs in my new Pittsburgh-area yard. It’s a lot of work, the bulbs cost money that I already spent on brick repairs and a roof, and then there are those dreaded deer that turn beauty into dinner. […]
One question I get a lot is about plants that seem to be turning into something else (i.e. some other version of plant, not a lizard or monster or something). A common one is the popular landscape evergreen dwarf Alberta spruce, that dense little pyramidal upright that flanks so many front doors. […]
A lot of lawns went brown during the weeks-long hot, dry spell in July. That’s normal and is a lawn’s way of “hiding out” in survival mode until conditions improve. A good rain or two typically brings a lawn out of summer dormancy, and it goes on to green up and start […]
So here’s what I’ve learned after a year and a half of trying to garden up close and personal with deer. 1.) Deer are picky. That’s right. You might’ve heard (and seen) that deer will eat just about anything when they’re hungry enough. And that’s right, too. However, deer have definite preferences […]
We’ve reached that point in the growing season where much of our gardening time is spent dealing with “issues” that have cropped up with plants. By now, just about all bugs and diseases have made their annual appearances, not to mention troubles related to animals, weather, and such. Figuring out what’s gone […]
Forget AccuWeather, the National Weather Service, and even the Farmer’s Almanac. If you’re a gardener and you really want to figure out what weather’s on the way, the most accurate system is one I’ve figured out… one I call the “WOOPS model of weather forecasting.” I’ve been using it for years, and […]
Japanese maples have never been one of the easier plants to grow. The coveted cut-leaf types are especially finicky with their thin leaves and low tolerance for lousy soil and less-than-ideal sites. But this season, and really the past two years, have been particularly troublesome to this widely planted specimen small tree. […]