Blog

   A Better Joe Pye Weed, Troubleshooting Brussels Sprouts, Paw Paws, and Montauk Daisy    After a bit of cold weather, here and there, that gave us a fright, we're back to sunshine and warm temperatures, even though is late September in our zone 5 garden. I've officially dubbed September a summer month since it now seems that warm temperatures persist throughout the month and many flowers and vegetables continue to grow. One of showiest of the , and most beneficial one for bees, birds, butterflies and pollinators, is Joe Pye...

      Gardening for the Birds: Webinars, Podcasts and Stories   There has been a lot of bird activity in our yard this summer. The nesting of bluebirds, swallows, robins, wrens and others has been largely successful leaving us in late summer with lots of adolescent birds hanging around. We removed the netting from the blueberry patch because we picked as much as we like, so now the birds can have a summer treat, too. It got me thinking about all the things we do in our yard to encourage birds to come and stay. That's...

    All About Pruning: Webinar, Podcasts, Videos and Stories It's February and time to get in the yard and start pruning. Pruning is one of those chores that intimidates many gardeners. Often gardeners are afraid to prune for fear of killing or hurting their plant. But with a little science know how and some creativity, you can prune easily and effectively keep your plants in bounds, flowering and looking beautiful. In this newsletter I highlight my Pruning Trees and Shrubs Webinar where I talk, in depth, about pruning various...

All About Houseplants: Webinar and Stories January is a great time to up your houseplant game. Greenhouses have new shipments of beautiful houseplants and you have time to repot, evaluate and fix your existing plants. I'm here to help! In this newsletter I highlight my Webinar, All About Houseplants, where I talk in depth about light, watering, fertilizing, humidity and pest control of your plants. I also offer lots of houseplant ideas for your home. Check it out below. I also provided links to articles on my website about houseplants. The...

Organic Pest Controls: Webinar, Video and Stories   July is when all those critters start catching up to me. I've been good about squishing squash bugs eggs, hand picking Japanese beetles and covering my Brussels sprouts and broccoli plants from the Swede midge and cabbage worms. But no matter how hard we try in our garden, pests still happen. So, I thought it's a good time to take a look at some pest controls you can do now to lessen the damage. These include for insect pests and diseases. I have many profiles of various pests on my...

  Lilacs and Hydrangeas: Webinar, Videos and Stories     June is a great month in our zone 5 garden. The lilacs, peonies and rhododendrons are finishing their bloom cycle and other perennials and shrubs, such as hydrangeas, are getting ready to put on a summer show. I was thinking about how popular lilacs and hydrangeas are for most gardeners, so I thought to dedicate a newsletter to both of them. Now is the time to prune your lilacs before they set flower buds for next spring. I talk about how to do that and how to do a...

    Container Gardening: Webinar, Video and Stories     May is the gardening month in many parts of the country, but for those with little space to garden the options are limited. Luckily, there is Container Gardening. With new types of pots, dwarf varieties, flowers that bloom all season without deadheading and even trees and shrubs that fit in pots, you can grow almost anything in a container. This newsletter is dedicated to those container gardeners out there who are looking for new ideas for containers, different...

    All About Bulbs: Webinar, Videos, and Articles    October is spring flowering bulb and garlic planting month. Usually I'd have planted everything by now in our zone 5 garden, but because of the warm, dry fall, I'm waiting a few more weeks until the cooler weather and rains come. Plus, I'm still waiting for some of my bulb orders to arrive! So now is the time to have a plan for planting. To help, I'm highlighting my webinar, Growing Bulbs, to give you options for planting spring flowering bulbs in your yard, garden or...