Most of us take an interest in pruning when we become first-time home owners. In my case I thought it was my duty to maintain the shrubs like the previous owner. After all, cones, boxes and meat-ball spheres were the landscaping shapes we saw down the street. On Saturdays you ...
Whenever I see milkweed growing along the side of a road, I wonder if I’ll see Monarch butterflies. They lay their eggs on milkweed because it’s the only source of food for their caterpillars.
Monarch Caterpillar
Two years ago a patch of Common Milkweed showed up in my yard, and Monarch butterflies ...
A pollinator plot is planted predominately with flowers that provide nectar or pollen for a range of pollinating animals. Most flowering plants rely on pollinators like bees, butterflies, birds and bats to help spread pollen. When pollinators eat flower nectar, pollen sticks to their bodies and is spread from flower ...
From April to October, we enjoy our flower gardens. We find their over all visual appearance pleasing. What if all the flowers were removed from the garden? Would our garden areas still be appealing or would they be lacking in form and design?
One of the easiest ways to bring a ...
“Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if greenvegetables smelled as good as bacon.” Doug Larson
This year, many people are showing an interest in growing their own vegetables. For some, there is comfort in having some control over their food source. For others it has been a search for ...
Between the worlds of large trees and smaller annuals and
perennials, we often overlook the beautiful and diverse family of shrubs. These
plants are capable of supplying seasonal garden interest from early spring all
the way through the winter months. Let’s take a look at some of the most
popular shrubs for your home ...
What’s all the buzz about the new plants and corn sculptures in front of the Farm Bureau Building? Check out Farm Bureau’s new pollinator garden plot.
DeKalb County Farm Bureau has established a new pollinator plot for the benefit of attracting pollinators who help make food for the food web.
“It made ...
I need a bumper sticker with this phrase: “I brake for hibiscus.” I saw a plant last summer with flowers so big they looked like pink dinner plates hanging on a bush. Who could drive by without stopping to look?
If you’ve never seen flowers this big, you might think it’s ...
Before the high tech world of smartphones, iPads, Kindles and Play Stations, there was another world to explore. This fascinating place in which I grew up was called nature.
Early in the morning, neighborhood kids would gather and prepare to explore the nearby fields, ponds and woods in search of interesting ...
I like to grow different tomato varieties, but I also like to find the top of my kitchen counter at harvest time. That is why I usually grow just four plants. Last summer I had 17.
Some of them were candidates for the compost pile, like the four-pack of desiccated ‘Jet ...
