Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog
pink flowers on a branch in front of a white indoor wall.

Encouraging Indoor Spring Blooms

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. Spring soon arrives, and many are anxious for green with a splash of color. My go-to is harvesting branches of forsythia, but you can also bring other spring-flowering woody plants indoors to encourage early spring blooms. How to Encourage Ear
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a woman next to a huge boulder in a reed filled marsh at Hyper-Humus area of he Paulinskill Watershed

Healing from Hyper-Humus Peat Mining

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. The history and impact of Hyper-Humus Inc.’s peat mining are fascinating and disturbing. Gratefully, a restoration project is underway to help heal the harmful effects of peat harvesting on wildlife and our environment. And there are things we
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a pile of road salt on the road

Salt Impact on Plants and Remedies

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. It’s the time of year I attend manufacturer showcases premiering new products, mostly paver or block retaining wall systems made of concrete. Brine and road salt are not kind to concrete, though many paver manufacturers tout that theirs
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Mary Stone hugging a 5-foot wide caliper tree with a large root flare.

Myths Truths and Protecting Roots

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. Attending the NJ Nursery & Landscape Association show in January is always a delight. This year, I especially enjoyed Bruce Crawford’s talk, the Morris County Park Commission’s Manager of Horticulture. He gave a refresher on my
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a seed catalog opened to assorted colors of peppers on a wooden table.

Spring Urges Satisfied by Seed Shopping

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, “Seems timely,” wrote Anita from Blairstown, NJ, in her email I received with a Rose is Rose cartoon (a syndicated comic strip by Pat Brady) that leads to seed shopping tips to satisfy your Spring urges. It starts with a woman dres
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Benefits and Folklore of Dragonflies

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. Dragonflies are fascinating creatures with an unusual lifecycle and folklore to match. Plus, they benefit our gardens by controlling pests—a perfect unfolding. A few weeks ago, I shared a story about the Preservation of the Paulinskill River a
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a pile of whilte six-foot long tubes along the Paulinskill Rail Trail

Preservation of the Paulinskill River

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. Over the weekend, we stumbled upon a stack of plastic tubing while walking the Paulinskill Rail Trail. I was delighted to see the tubes, as the trees they were protecting looked like they had outgrown them. This inspired revisiting when I firs
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red rose shrub in front of golden dry grasses along Virginia Beach

Thanksgiving Gardens along Virginia Beach

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. As I write, I am overlooking the ocean, enjoying a respite before heading to my sister’s home near Richmond. It’s a treat to spend cherished time with family on Thanksgiving, and I hope you will, too. To my delight, the Thanksgivin
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a collection of a late season harvest of ten, six-inch zucchinis and six green peppers on a countertop.

An Honorable Harvest

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, Our warm weather anomaly quickly turned into the first hard frost, inspiring the last of the fall harvest. An honorable harvest. A grateful harvest of the gifts from the garden of life. Having had only one zucchini this growing season, despite
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a brown Carolina mantis on a stem.

Praying Mantises Beneficial or Bad

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. Lora asked how to determine whether the praying mantis egg sac in her yard was native or non-native. She’s concerned because she raises monarch and painted lady butterflies and a few toads she wishes to protect. The comment came after I
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