Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog
cuttings of purple flowering lavender on a table

Pruning Lavender & Woody Perennials

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, At last, the spring garden clean up. It’s fun to tidy things up, picking up branches and sticks and cutting down the ornamental grasses left dry over winter to a few inches above the ground. Hedge trimmers or chainsaws (for those braver than m
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A Wood Frog wiht splayed legs swimming in a pond.

Wood Frogs Sing for Spring

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, To my delight, new frog friends have landed in my pond—Wood Frogs! Their mating sounds sing for spring, inspiring me to revisit Frog Watch USA. Tedor Whitman, Executive Director of the Cora Hartshorn Arboretum (CHA), led a training hosted by G
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Leggy Rhododendron needing to be rejuvenated by pruning.

Rejuvenating Shrubs & Garden of Life

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, Late winter to early spring is the time to address early garden tasks, such as cutting back ornamental grasses and perennials left standing for winter interest and providing a habitat for beneficial insects. But be sure to give the critters a
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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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