Thanks to its delicious taste and reputation as a healthy food, garlic (Allium sativum) is popular with gardeners. But growing this relative of the onion takes a fair amount of space and patience. It is an unusual plant in the vegetable … [Read more...]
Parasitoid Wasps
There are many species of parasitoid wasps, but most are so tiny that they are rarely noticed. What they lack in size they make up in sheer numbers and efficiency, and as a group they may be the single most important biological control … [Read more...]
How Do I Identify A Bumblebee Nest?
While a bumblebee nest may take shape in a tree and does involve the production of some wax, their homes don’t resemble that of any other stinging insect. Read more: … [Read more...]
COLEUS
Coleus plants (Coleus scutellarioides) are prized for their colorful foliage, which may combine shades of green, yellow, pink, red, rust, and maroon. New introductions of this popular summer annual plant have been selected for increased sun and heat … [Read more...]
BUILDING BIODIVERSITY
Nature loves a layer. She cements courses of sediment into solid stone. She laminates an annual succession of circles into living trees. She layers an onion in pungent iterations of itself, one inside the other. And, sandwiched between the strata of … [Read more...]
What to do about woodchucks
The woodchuck (a.k.a. groundhog) is often caught between being a celebrity and a villain. One day we rely on their shadow to forecast the seasons; the next we grumble as they make a meal of our carefully planted garden vegetables. Read More: … [Read more...]
12 Ways to Stop Snakes From Slithering Into Your Yard
With a drier and hotter start to summer this year, more snakes are following their prey into areas that are irrigated and provide good cover and food. Unfortunately, this describes many people’s yards, and for a lot of people, the sight of a snake … [Read more...]
Constructing and Caring for Container Water Gardens
A decorative pot of water garden plants on your patio or deck is not only beautiful, it might just be the lowest maintenance gardening you will ever do. You can't over water them and it is very hard to under water them, too. Read more: … [Read more...]
The Eastern Carpenter Bee: Beneficial Pollinator or Unwelcome Houseguest?
The eastern carpenter bee, Xylocopa virginica, is a native pollinator found throughout eastern North America, as far south as Florida and Texas and north into Maine and southern Canada. MORE SOURCE: … [Read more...]
Storing peonies to bloom at a later date
Dixie Sandborn, Michigan State University Extension - You can cut peonies and store them for weeks or months if you know when to cut and how to properly store them. Continued: … [Read more...]