GARDENING AND YOUR HEALTH It’s mid-July, and it’s hot, humid, and dry. Summer weather can adversely affect gardeners who work outside caring for their plants. To understand how to reduce or minimize heat stress or heat-related illnesses, we must first understand what causes heat stress and when it is most likely to occur. Heat stress … Read more
HERE ARE SOME SMART & LOGICAL WATER-SAVING TIPS It is now early to mid-July, and we all know what that means in Virginia regarding the heat and dryness. Here are some smart, logical water-saving tips to practice to keep all our plants happy and thriving: WATER INFREQUENTLY, SLOWLY, DEEPLY, AND THOROUGHLY This will encourage deeper … Read more
WHAT GARDENERS CAN DO AND SHOULD DO THIS MONTH Here we are in July, the “DOG DAYS OF SUMMER!” You may be asking yourself, why summer is called the dog days of summer? Good question! This year, July 3rd through August 11th are the official dog days of summer. This period of time is in … Read more
WHAT TO DO ABOUT CONTROLLING THE DAMAGE Now that we are in late June, all of us have done a lot of new planting of shrubs, trees, annuals, vegetables, and perennials. In doing all this planting, what we did was to lay out the best smorgasbord of food for various insects. The BIG question is … Read more
JUNE IS PERENNIAL GARDENING MONTH, SO SEEMS ONLY FITTING TO HIGHLIGHT A PERENNIAL Asclepias tuberosa – Butterfly Weed For me, this was an easy choice. The common name for Asclepias tuberosa is Butterfly Milkweed or Butterfly Weed. This very hardy, native perennial has become so popular with gardeners over the past decade. I have learned … Read more
HANGING BASKETS DO REQUIRE A BIT MORE OF OUR ATTENTION Over this past month, we have sold thousands of hanging baskets. Blooming hanging baskets are a staple for adding color to porches, decks, balconies, and patios. Although they are an instant way to add color to your outdoor space, they do require a bit more … Read more
JUNE 1 IS THE “UNOFFICIAL” START TO SUMMER May ended up by being a very good month for gardeners. We had good timely rainfall throughout the entire month. We had no late frosty nights and we did not have many extremely hot days. So, May was good to us. Our soil temperature is now 73 … Read more
EDIBLE FLOWERS: AN “EVER-GROWING” CUISINE TREND Here we are ready to go into June. This time of year our landscape is bursting with beautiful colors from all types of flowers. Have you ever heard of Flower Cookery? Believe it or not, more and more customers are looking for and inquiring about edible flowers. Flower cookery … Read more
I LOVE THIS PLANT My selected plant to highlight is the Itea virginica ‘Henry’s Garnet’. Or, more commonly referred to as Virginia Sweetspire. As you may figure out with Virginia being in its name, Virginia Sweetspire is a native shrub to our area. Right now it is in flower. It has fragrant, white flower spikes … Read more
‘TIS THE SEASON WE HAVE WATER PLANTS NOW! Water plants represent yet another form of landscaping. Yes, it is not for everyone. But more and more homeowners are accenting their existing landscape with a water feature. This feature doesn’t have to be large. You can start small and then “grow” and expand your water feature … Read more
