Winter honeysuckle, aka fragrant honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) is a treasured old-fashioned shrub (USDA hardiness zones 4 to 8). It can still be found growing in older urban neighborhoods and parks. Winter blooming fragrant honeysuckles are a harbinger of spring. Budded branches may be cut and forced indoors. This vigorous durable shrub grows 6 -10 feet in […]
Archive for the ‘Regional’ Category
Winter Honeysuckle Totally Ignored In The landscape
Posted by Hugh on January 21st, 2018
Posted in acidic soil, Aggressive grower, alkaline soil, Aphids, Bees and other pollinators, Disease prone, Drought tolerant, Environmental issues, Fertilizing plants, Flower Arranging, Honeysuckle (Lonicera), Insect (Pest) Problems, Invasive plant, Landscape ideas, Large shrub, mulching, Planting tips, Powdery mildew, Propagation (Cuttings), Pruning, Purchasing Plants, Scale, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Spring flowering, Summer heat tolerant, Trees & Shrubs, watering tips, Winter flowering, winter hardiness 
Comments Off on Winter Honeysuckle Totally Ignored In The landscapeFour Top Rated Coreopsis You May Not Know
Posted by Hugh on January 14th, 2018
In 2016, Mt. Cuba Center in Greenville, Delaware reported the garden performance of 13 different perennial coreopsis (tickseed) species, hybrids, and related cultivars native to the eastern U.S. Over a period of three years, plants were assessed for their habit, floral display, disease resistance, and longevity. In the trial many popular tickseed cultivars performed poorly […]
Posted in acidic soil, Attracting birds, Attracting Butterflies, Bee Favorite, Bees and other pollinators, Butterflies, Container garden, Coreopsis, Coreopsis 'Flower Tower', Coreopsis 'Gold Standard, Coreopsis 'Last Dance', Disease resistant, Landscape ideas, mulching, Native Plant, Perennials, Planting tips, Propagation (Cuttings), Propagation (dividing), Pruning, Purchasing Plants, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Spring flowering, Summer flowering, Summer heat tolerant, winter hardiness Comments Off on Four Top Rated Coreopsis You May Not KnowPest Alert: Deep Freeze Negatively Impacts Hemlock Adelgid Populations in the Smokies
Posted by Hugh on January 12th, 2018
GOOD NEWS! The recent cold snap is having a negative impact on the invasive hemlock wooly adelgids in the Smokies. Since 2002 this insect has killed millions of hemlock trees in the U.S. Biologists in the Great Smoky Mountains report that the recent spell of frigid temperatures has killed off overwintering hemlock adelgids. Over 15 […]
Posted in Environmental issues, Garden Problems, Hemlock (Tsuga), Hemlock adelgid, Hemlock woolly adelgid, Insect (Pest) Problems, Insect suseptible, Pests, Purchasing Plants, Southern Appalachian Region Comments Off on Pest Alert: Deep Freeze Negatively Impacts Hemlock Adelgid Populations in the SmokiesCommon Street and Landscape Trees
Posted by Hugh on January 10th, 2018
Across the U.S. and Canada, city planners, landscape architects, and property owners now enjoy a wide selection of landscape trees to plant on city streets, along roadsides, and in yards and gardens. Over the past half century new and improved varieties (cultivars) are disease and pest resistant and exhibit better branching and architecture. We now know to avoid […]
Posted in American hornbeam, Arborvitae (Thuja spp.), Bald cypress (Taxodium), Birch (Betula spp.), Black gum (Nyssa), Black locust (Robinia), Bradford Pear, Bur oak (Q. macrocarpa), Catalpa, compact tree, Container growing, Crabapple, Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia), Disease prone, Ginkgo biloba, Golden Raintree, Green ash (Fraxinus), Hackberry (Celtis), Honeylocust (Gleditsia), Hophornbeam (Ostrya), Hornbeam (Carpinus), Horse chestnut (Aesculus), Insect (Pest) Problems, Japanese Pagoda Tree (Styphnolobium), Kentucky coffeetree, Kwanzan cherry, Lacebark elm, Landscape Construction, Landscape ideas, Large Shade trees, Magnolia grandiflora, Maples (Acer), Medium sized Tree, Messy Fruits, Mountain ash (Sorbus), Native Plant, Okame cherry (Prunus), Ornamental cherry (Prunus), Pear (Ornamental), pin oak, Planting tips, Pruning, Purchasing Plants, Red oak (Quercus), Redbud, river birch, Serviceberry (Amelanchier), Shade tree, Small landscape tree, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Street tree, Sweetgum (Liquidambar), Sycamore (Platanus), Trees & Shrubs, Tulip tree (Liriodendron), Vitex (Chaste tree), Walnut, Weak branching, Weak wooded, White oak (Quercus), Willow oak (Quercus), winter injury, Yellowwood, Yoshino cherry (Prunus), Zelkova Comments Off on Common Street and Landscape TreesCrypts (Cryptanthus) Are The Easiest Bromeliads To Grow
Posted by Hugh on January 7th, 2018
Crypts (Cryptanthus spp.), members of the bromeliad family, are an ideal low care choice for house plant collectors. Currently, there are over 1200 varieties of Cryptanthus species and hybrids available today. Compare to other bromeliads, which grow in trees or rock outcropping, crypts grow in soil or rock ground. Plants prefer an airy, porous, moist soilless media favored by most […]
Posted in acidic soil, Bromeliads, Cryptanthus, Disease resistant, Fertilizing plants, Flowering house plant, Interior (house) Plants, Landscape ideas, Planting tips, Potting Mix, Propagation (dividing), Purchasing Plants, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Summer heat tolerant, Tropical Plants (non-hardy), watering tips, winter hardiness, Winter Protection Comments Off on Crypts (Cryptanthus) Are The Easiest Bromeliads To GrowTree Cultivars That Do Not Produce Seeds Or Fruits
Posted by Hugh on January 4th, 2018
Perhaps you don’t like picking up messy fruits and seeds from your lawn in the fall and winter. Choose landscape trees that have seedless cultivars. A true seedless variety is an easy choice to avoid fruit cleanup. Below are a few non-fruiting or seedless cultivars available at nurseries. Not all plants listed are recommended for all home […]
Posted in Ash (Fraxinus), Black locust (Robinia), Breeding Plants, Crabapple, Environmental issues, Flowering, Garden Maintenance, Ginkgo biloba, Honeylocust (Gleditsia), Horse chestnut (Aesculus), Ilex (hollies), Kentucky coffeetree, Kwanzan cherry, Landscape ideas, Messy Fruits, Mulberry (Morus), Native Plant, Ornamental fruit, Osage Orange (Maclura), Pawpaw (Asimina), Persimmon (Diospyros), Planting tips, Pollination needs, Propagation(grafting), Pruning, Sassafras albidum, Southern Appalachian Region, Sweetgum (Liquidambar), Trees & Shrubs Comments Off on Tree Cultivars That Do Not Produce Seeds Or FruitsSteps To Making Gardening Easier
Posted by Hugh on December 30th, 2017
Take an inventory of your gardening time, talley up of costs, and develop a plan how to make your garden space more beautiful with less work and cost to you. Plant Smarter Simplify! For example, in my zone 6 garden, bigleaf hydrangeas disappoint tow out of three years and they’re water hogs in the summer. Smooth (AG) hydrangeas (like […]
Posted in Annuals, Attracting birds, Attracting Butterflies, Autumn flowering, Bee Favorite, Bees and other pollinators, Bulb Crops, compost, Container garden, Crop rotation, Deer resistant, Fertilizing plants, Flowers, Garden Maintenance, Garden Tools, Globe amaranth (Gomphrena), Landscape Construction, Landscape ideas, mulching, mulching trees, Native Plant, Perennials, Planting tips, Pruning, Purchasing Plants, Raised bed Gardening, Scaevola, Southern Appalachian Region, Spring flowering, Summer flowering, Trees & Shrubs, Uncategorized, watering tips, Winter flowering, winter hardiness Comments Off on Steps To Making Gardening EasierFive Evergreens For Small Garden Spaces
Posted by Hugh on December 21st, 2017
The following five evergreen shrubs are smaller versions of the larger growing species. They make a better fit in smaller urban gardens. Gyokuryu Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica ‘Gyokuryu’) is a fast-growing, broadly conical selection with coarse bluish-green evergreen foliage. The needles are highly ornamental and remain bluish-green through most of the winter in zone 6 and […]
Posted in acidic soil, acidify soil, Arborvitae (Thuja spp.), Bagworms, Bald cypress (Taxodium), Chamaecyparis, compact shrub, compact tree, compost, Container growing, container shrub, Cryptomeria (Japanese cedar), Dawn redwood (Metasequoia), Deciduous conifer, Deer resistant, Disease resistant, Drought tolerant, Evergreen, Evergreens, Heat Tolerance, Landscape ideas, Mites, mulching, Native Plant, Nootkatensis cedar, Planting tips, Propagation (Cuttings), Propagation(grafting), Pruning, Purchasing Plants, Small landscape tree, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Summer heat tolerant, Trees & Shrubs, winter hardiness Comments Off on Five Evergreens For Small Garden SpacesPoinsettias – Best Of Show**
Posted by Hugh on December 16th, 2017
This holiday season poinsettia breeders continue to give plant buyers lovely colors, patterns and shapes. Recently, at Mitchell’s Nursery & Greenhouse in King, North Carolina, Judy Mitchell got the word out about their annual Poinsettia Open House. Close to 400 people attended their openhouse and evaluated the 10,000 poinsettias, choosing which of the 79 […]
Posted in acidic soil, Breeding Plants, Flower arrangments, Flowering house plant, Flowers, Interior (house) Plants, Landscape ideas, Photoperiod (Daylength), Poinsettia, Poinsettia, Propagation (Cuttings), Purchasing Plants, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Tropical Plants (non-hardy), Winter flowering Comments Off on Poinsettias – Best Of Show**Protect New Trees From Winter Sunscald
Posted by Hugh on December 13th, 2017
Across the northern U.S. and Canada, cold temperatures can damage many plants. Wide fluctuations in temperature can be particularly detrimental to newly planted landscape and fruit trees from late fall to early spring. Street trees are particularly susceptible. Sun scald is described by elongated, sunken, dried, or cracked areas of dead bark, usually on the […]
Posted in apple orchard, Apple tree, Asian Pears, Cherries, Cold tolerance, Crabapple, Environmental issues, Garden Problems, Honeylocust (Gleditsia), Landscape ideas, Linden (Tilia), Maples (Acer), Mountain ash (Sorbus), Peach, Pear (Pyrus spp.), Plum, Purchasing Plants, Southern Appalachian Region, Street tree, Sun scald, Trees & Shrubs, Wind protection, Winter bark, winter hardiness, Winter Protection Comments Off on Protect New Trees From Winter Sunscald
