When I see a Christmas tree tossed curbside right after New Year's Day, my heart sinks. It's not even the Twelfth Day of Christmas yet - January 6th is also known as Little Christmas. Find out why, as well as how to extend the joy of your Christmas Tree into the summer.

Hello Fellow Readers, Leaf cleanup is underway, which brings me to the subject of leaf manners. It’s not neighborly to put your leaves into other folks’ woods or fields without permission. And, unless your town has a leaf-sucking-up program (curbside vacuuming), putting th

Hello Fellow Readers, Recently I had the privilege of visiting the New York Botanical Gardens with nurserywoman become friend, Holly from Blairstown NJ. It was her idea to see the gardens featuring Brazilian landscape architect Burle Marx before the exhibit closed last week. Designate

Hello Fellow Readers, We spoke a few weeks back about Sarah’s mile-a-minute weedy dilemma in Hope, NJ. She proudly sent photos of the clear-out of her front foundation garden, poised to be a butterfly garden. Sarah asked if there was a list of native deer-resistant butterfly pla

Hello Fellow Readers, I’ve just returned from the HippoCamp writer’s conference held in downtown Lancaster, PA, hosted by Hippocampus Magazine. The genre of the magazine, named after the part of the brain (hippocampus) that manages learning, emotions, and new memories, is creative non

Hello Fellow Readers, Chris from Morristown, NJ, wrote in, “My small Shasta daisies didn’t survive the winter, so I’ll have to choose another variety.  Also, the holly is on a lifeline right now. I’m upset because it was doing well.” Chris is a hardcore DIYer who did an extraordinary

Hello Fellow Readers, Last week’s chat about Dutch clover (Trifolium repens) as a lawn alternative created quite a buzz. Beyond the buzz of our happy pollinators scurrying from bloom to bloom. It seems the algae bloom on New Jersey’s Lake Hopatcong has brought the devastating di

Hello Fellow Readers, How about all the carpenters buzzing about – eastern carpenter bees, that is. Xylocopa virginica, the most common species, is wreaking havoc on my neighbor’s deck, not because of their yen to eat wood. Rather, they’re nesting. Please don’t hold their carpen

Hello Fellow Readers, Last week’s column about removing moss from retaining walls (an idea I don’t favor as stark walls softened by mossy volunteers is magnificent) inspired questions about removing moss and lichen from tree trunks. But there’s no reason to remove it

Hello Fellow Readers, Last week, I received a text from Chris of Blairstown, “Look what we’re doing today, getting the moss off the retaining wall.” He shared pictures to boot. “Nooooo,” I wrote back with the big-eyed emoji, then added a wink and a smile. To follow is the story about