Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog
a close up of a single sunflower with a sunflower maze behind it.

A Sunflower Maze of Healing

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. Sunflowers not only purify our earth of toxins, there smiling faces also bring happiness that can help heal our hearts. What a delight to revisit Liberty Farm’s Sussex County Sunflower Maze in Sandyston. Raj Sinha kindly offered a tour o
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a large light and dark orange moth feeding on a white flower.

Moth Survey in a Mountain Meadow

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I recently had the thrill of participating in a moth survey, thanks to my friends Blaine Rothauser of GZA Geoenvironmental, Inc. and Dennis Briede of Blairstown, NJ, whose meadow at the base of the Kittatinny Mountains harbors and nurtures abu
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Close up of a purple dahlia

Favorite Spring-Planted “Bulbs”

A while back, I enjoyed a pre-spring theatre outing with my design colleague and dear friend, Marty Carson. Our jaunt allowed me to brain-pick her favorite summer flowering bulbs to plant in the spring. How fun to learn that one of her favorites is technically a corm.
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a person in a white hazmat suit and black mesh face covering reaching into a trunk of a tree for honeybees.

Relocating Honeybees – Being Kind

Hello, fellow lover of all things green, While walking Jolee this morning, I admired crocuses on the side of the road. A white one sits solo with purple lines on the petals, almost like runways, leading pollinators to the yellow puffy pollen. I stood above it, watching the dance of tw
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Women & Their Woods with Native Plants

Hello, fellow readers; I was honored to participate in the Women and Their Woods retreat hosted by the Ridge and Valley Conservancy in Newton, NJ, to help landowners care for their woods –filled with tips on native plants to help heal our land. Before my talk about Landscaping with Na
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a large yellow sunflower with a honeybee standing in front of a field of sunflowers.

A Sunflower Maze Brings Happiness

Hello, fellow readers, What a joy to visit Liberty Farm’s Sussex County Sunflower Maze in Sandyston, NJ, who invited us for a special day bringing happiness. It’s their 14th year of growing the maze. Raj Sinha started growing sunflowers when the New Jersey Audubon Society
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a moss-green fuzzy moth with transparent wings that resembles a hummingbird

Moths and Bats are Beautiful, Too

Hello, fellow readers, We’ve chatted about how moths are like butterflies that party at night, a sentiment shared by Randi Eckel of Toadshade Wildflower Farm (link to the story below). Since then, I’ve grown far fonder of them; like butterflies, moths are beautiful too. A
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evening landscape lighting below a pergola next to a neige hosue

Keeping Lighting Pollinator-Friendly

Hello, fellow readers. A while back, Kay wrote in response to a column titled Antics of Meadow Wildlife featuring my birder buddy Dennis Briede’s meadow just up the road a piece. Dennis shared there has been a notable decline in butterflies in recent years due to habitat reducti
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beige moth with a black cross on its back called a Clymene moth

A Magical Blessing Moth

Hello fellow readers; I just returned from Lago Vista, Texas, to be by the side of Gene, a dear friend, as he graduated from this earth. He is the life partner of Elsa, whom we’ve spoken about in a previous story titled, Fall is not Goodbye (link below). They’ve been famil
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Blueish-purple flowers of Chicory in a field

Bachelor Buttons vs. Chicory Look-alikes

Hello fellow readers; I recently discovered Bachelor Buttons are called Chicory and Chicory Bachelor Buttons, though they are look-alikes. Such fun to learn about these blue beauties’ origins, differences, and love stories. And there’s Chicory Fairy and poem, sure to delig
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