Blog
Consider a Holiday Cactus This Season
Unlike many blooming houseplants purchased for the holidays, these cacti can be kept for several years—and even passed down to family members in the future. Before proceeding let me just say that there is a bit of confusion about botanical names for the types most commonly available this time of the year. Garden centers usually ...
Welcome the Season with Fall Blooming Camellias
This is the time of year plants start shutting down, and most flowers are becoming a fading brown memory and soon the trees will be bare. However, it is time for one of my favorite plants to shine. The fall blooming Camellias start to flower in late October and will last until December, but ...
Seeing Purple
If you ever wonder through some of the wilder corners of this area during early fall, you may notice flashes of bright purple along the edge of the woods. What you are seeing is likely American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), one of our most colorful natives. Beautyberry is a deciduous shrub that prefers moist to ...
A Sure Sign of Fall – Pyracantha
One of the harbingers of the fall season is the ripening fruit on Pyracantha shrubs, also known as Firethorn. Not only does this colorful show begin in the late summer, but the berries (actually they are pomes) are classic fall colors of red, orange and even a few hard-to-find golden varieties. Although they are ...
Keep That Color Coming
Someone once asked me why anyone would bother planting annuals. They thought it was a waste of time, money, effort and precious garden space. Another person not keen on annuals is horticultural bright light Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery. His business slogan is “friends don’t let friends buy annuals”. I have to politely ...
Saving Summer: 2 Easy Ways to Store Basil
I always lament the passing of fresh basil in my garden, and try as I may – I have never been successful at keeping a thriving pot of fresh basil alive indoors all winter. It is the one herb that for me, dried will never, ever come close to bearing any resemblance to fresh. ...
Black and Blue
Earlier this week I overheard one of my co-workers explaining to a customer the difference between annuals and perennials. She said “annuals only live one season, but bloom all season, while perennials come back every year, but don’t bloom all season”. Though this is mostly true, there are a few perennials that are an ...
Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes
Are you hip deep in tomatoes right now? Are you looking for ways to use them up, or would you like to store them for later? If so, here is a recipe for the classic Italian dish insalata caprese, as well as some hints for saving one the best tastes of summer. Insalata Caprese: This ...
Taking Dr. Seuss Trees to Jersey
(This is a piece written for one of our earliest e-newsletters, but it is still timely today, especially for July) I used to work at a garden center in Virginia Beach (which will go unnamed), and every summer we would get several tourists a day pulling into the parking lot in cars with out-of-state plates. ...
New Beginnings
Way back in the late nineties, we jumped on board with the internet revolution and got ourselves a web site. We were so proud of ourselves feeling very modern and maybe even a little smug. Of course compared to today, the late nineties in internet time might as well have been the Stone Age. And ...
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