Mid-Atlantic Regional Report

Trimming The Holiday Topiary

Holiday cheer is in our backyards, parks, fields, neighborhoods, and around craft tables. Gather friends, boxwood branches, small pine cones, wispy milkweed seeds and pods, dried hydrangea flowers, moss, baby's breath, holly berry clusters -- whatever...
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Resources

Science News for Kids
Enviro College Student Correspondent Opportunity

Clip Oakleaf and Hydrangea Paniculata Flowers for Decoration
Don't Prune Roses or Other Live Wood
Mulch Dry Leaves
To Lift or Not To Lift -- Dahlias and Cannas
Share School's Enviro Project Videos

The Chesapeake's Treasures and Trials

Cold, choppy waves splashed us as we motored beyond the dock at Port Isobel Island in the Chesapeake Bay. Whitecaps pounded the rocky breakwater protecting sparse marsh land secured sparingly by cordgrass, high tide bushes, phragmites. We're in fragile...
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Resources

Make a Slide Show
Wildlife and Trails In Virginia

Remove Non-Variegated Foliage and Branches
Clip Off, Don't Pull Oriental, Asiatic, and Trumpet Lily Stems
Sow Leafy Greens in Windowboxes to Bring Indoors
Remove Frost-Bitten Annuals and Cut Back Spent Perennials
Remove Dead Veggie Vines

Tease My Roots

Imagine your feet bound, restricted to one or two pairs of plastic shoes -- from tentative toddler steps to teenage growth spurt. Ouch! Tight fit. Picture the typical nursery-grown shrubs and trees whose roots weave 'round and 'round each other from...
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Resources

www.Gardenvisit.com
Remington 18 Volt Cordless Polesaw

Yes... Water, Water, Water
Think Electric for New Equipment
Keep Weeding
Who, What, When, Where?
Work on Big Projects in Small Doses

Corny Compostables

Sipping an iced Chai tea in a Bend, Oregon, Wi-fi cafe, I glanced at the clear beverage holder. Looked like the usual plastic cup to me. Not so. "CornCup, Made from Corn" announced the green label. "Compostable" under a recycling arrow showed its...
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Resources

Creating a Contemplative Space

Spread the Compost
Deadhead Butterfly Bush and Pull Out Seedlings
Get Plants in the Ground
Don't Replace a Dead Rhodi With a New One
Pot Up New Herbs for Sunny Indoor Window

Between the Cracks

Occasionally a "tidying" mood hits and I hustle through a garden pulling everything that looks out of place. Recently, some random pretties on a city garden tour gave me pause. Yellow-flowering, delicate-leafed Corydalis softened corners between stone...
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Resources

Monarch Watch
Razzle Dazzle Crape Myrtles

Leave Monarch Butterfly Caterpillars on Milkweed
Give Away Unwanted Plants
Prepare a Holding Bed
Watch the Weather, Not the Calender
Order Spring Bulbs

Planting for Pollinators

What do butterflies, bats, birds, bees, beetles, moths, flies, and hummingbirds have in common with squashes, cherries, tomatoes, and apples? One of every three mouthfuls of food we eat is thanks to a pollinator, observed Louise Schaefer, Pennsylvania...
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Resources

Pollinator Partnership
Rhimax Durable Felt Paper

Generously Water Trees and Shrubs
Define Garden Bed for Fall Planting
Remove Grass for New Garden
Plant Butterfly Favorites
Cut Decorative Seedpods and Ornamental Grasses

Enjoy Months of Blueberries

"Taste one," the grower urged as I eyed a cluster of plump blueberries recently. The plant was labeled 'Aurora'. I plucked what looked like the bluest, ripest of the bunch and popped it into my mouth, which puckered immediately. "Tart?" asked the...
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Resources

Green Guide
The Good Earth

Apply for NGA Youth Garden Grants
Fund Your Outdoor Classroom Science Project
Tend Your Rhodies
Don't Transport Firewood
Enjoy Autumn-Friendly Shrubs and Perennials

Landscaping with Perennials, Grasses, Tropicals

Perennials ... you gotta love 'em. Plant them once and they bloom year after year, albeit for two to four weeks compared to summer-long annuals. There's something reassuring, though, about late-blooming, blue-flowering plumbago ( Ceratostigma...
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Resources

Using Organic Fungicides
Morris Arboretum Landscape Design Series

Enjoy County and State Fairs
Replace Washers and Damaged Hose Connections
Deadhead Tattered Seed Heads
Prune Summer Phlox for Continued Bloom
Sow Seeds for Fall Greens

Living Sculpture For the Young and Young at Heart

At first glance, the spray-painted grass and heaps of wet soil looked more messy than artsy. Three-and-a-half hours later, about 30 smiling people sat relaxed in the mounds and curves of a grassy, soft-looking living sculpture. They'd built Alexandre...
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Resources

Phlox paniculata 'Nora Leigh'
Good Bug, Bad Bug

Learn a Beneficial a Month
Keep Peony Foliage
Shear Spent Dianthus Flowers
Clip Back Sprawling Geraniums
Remove Dead Poppy Foliage

Mind Your Mantids

With its bulgy eyes sprouting antennae and six gangly legs, a praying mantid may frighten and fascinate. We're finding a lot of young, green mantids in city and suburban gardens. These nymphs won't hurt us, but small insects such as fruit flies and...
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Resources

Balfour's Touch-Me-Not Impatiens
Lost Ladybug Project

Remove Overgrown Autumn Clematis
Pull and Fluff the Mulch
Experiment with Edible Flowers
Prune and Share Herbs
Cut Back Browning Poppies and Bleeding Heart

Raising Up Vegetables

One disadvantage of being a "professional gardener" is it's hard to relax around an unkempt garden. My fingers twitch, resisting the urge to pull every weed and move daylilies from shade to sun. No judgment here, just instinct. So garden tours can be...
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Resources

Deer & Rabbit Repellent
Supertunia

Wondering About Disgusting Spots on Mulch?
Check Soil Moisture After Rain
Deadhead Repeater Daylilies
Take Advantage of Plant Sales
Plant More Beets, Beans, Squash

Mid-Atlantic Regional Report

Trimming The Holiday Topiary

Resources

Reminders

The Chesapeake's Treasures and Trials

Resources

Reminders

Tease My Roots

Resources

Reminders

Corny Compostables

Resources

Reminders

Between the Cracks

Resources

Reminders

Planting for Pollinators

Resources

Reminders

Enjoy Months of Blueberries

Resources

Reminders

Landscaping with Perennials, Grasses, Tropicals

Resources

Reminders

Living Sculpture For the Young and Young at Heart

Resources

Reminders

Mind Your Mantids

Resources

Reminders

Raising Up Vegetables

Resources

Reminders