Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog
Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog, Mary Stone, Bruce Crawford

Not Necessarily Invasive

Hello fellow readers, Thank you for your kind wishes for a return to health. I am grateful to feel well again…. Please excuse the late posting of the column due to power and internet outages caused by the nor’easter that slammed the northeast on Friday. It’s been quite an
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog, Mary Stone, canaan fir

Canaan fir

Hello fellow readers, I visited with Anne of Lafayette NJ last week and was delighted to see that she still has her Christmas tree. “It’s so fresh, I don’t have the heart to toss it out.” She combed a branch with her hand and not one needle dropped. Anne modified the decorations since
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog, Clearing Space

Clearing Space

Hello fellow readers, A new year often brings resolutions like exercising, getting organized, or quitting habits like smoking or stacking up garden magazines (busted!). I spent an afternoon in the basement tending to a long overdue task of clearing things out. Basements are limbo plac
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog, Catfish Pond Blairstown NJ

A New Year of Discoveries

Hello fellow readers, So long 2017. It has been a wonderful year of learning. In revisiting our topics, we sure spoke about a bunch of critters. About the birds in a two-part bird fodder series. And about the bees – the story about relocating fifty thousand honeybees that took up resi
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog, Catfish Pond Blairstown NJ

Peace among the ‘Trees’

Hello Fellow Readers, The Press publishes a pictorial issue during Christmas week – few written words, simply photo highlights from their year of publication. While I enjoyed the deadline respite, I couldn’t let the week go by without posting for my followers online (Thank
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baseball sized black walnit on the sude of the road

A Nutty Winter in Store?

Hello fellow readers, Nuts are abundant this fall which, in weather folklore, means a harsh winter is ahead. When walking around our Shagbark Hickory trees (Carya ovata) it feels as though I’m skating on marbles. The first time I was introduced to shagbark nuts was when a golf ball si
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog, White Pine Needle Drop

Worrisome Needle Drop

Hello fellow readers, Andrea of Morristown NJ asked what’s going on with her white pines. Seeing evergreens drop needles often triggers concern. It’s kind of like an abundance of hairs in your shower drain. Evergreen foliage, despite their name, does not live forever. As new growth em
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog, fungi infected leaves in compost, leaf spot fungus

Fungi Impacted Leaves in the Garden

Hello fellow readers, This growing season provided a perfect environment for foliar disease. Earlier in the summer Hector from Morristown, NJ sent a photo of his Mom’s maple tree dotted with black spots. “All the leaves seem to have the cooties.” I sent the photo off to my favorite as
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog, Lackluster Fall Color

Lackluster Fall Color

Hello fellow readers, The ideal conditions for stunning fall color are a moist growing season (check – we had that) followed by a dry fall (yup – we’ve had that too) with sunny, warm days and cool nights (nope – didn’t happen). After a wet summer, most predicted we’d
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a woman with short brown hair planting on a steep slope.

A Steep Woodland Garden

Hello fellow readers, I have the privilege to work with Stephanie of Denville, NJ, who moved from the west coast. She bought a cute cottage in a lake community overlooking a magnificent forest. The steepness of the slope is a dilemma for those like Stephanie who wish to ponder amongst
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