Hello Fellow Readers, It’s humbling to witness our youth working together to weed out undesirables- making way for new beginnings, and offering a helping hand. Nearly 500 students, teachers, and staff of Blair Academy, located in Blairstown NJ, mobilized on May 19th to help over

Hello Fellow Readers, To properly plant trees and shrubs on a hillside, you should create a platform by elevating the downhill side or cutting into the hill—a lesson that leads to a story about a cherished tree planted in my sister’s hillside garden. Mom especially admired the R

Hello, Fellow Readers. Jeanne of Blairstown shared a fungi dilemma: an alien-looking plethora of mushrooms amongst her garden mulch. Mushrooms are the fruit of valuable spores that decay organic material and recycle nutrients back into the soil, which is good for plants. However, in v

Hello Fellow Readers, A few weeks ago, we spoke about how to evict ants from a natural stone patio without spoiling the charming moss in the joints (link below). The topic brings to mind how best to clean patios and walks without damaging the stone or plants; one of my nagging dilemma

Hello Fellow Readers, Pam and Ed of Sparta have a charming bluestone patio. The shady spot has encouraged moss to take up residence, which is lovely. The dilemma is, ants have also moved in. Previous attempts to evict the ants have caused the demise of their treasured green fuzz in th

Hello Fellow Readers, As we ready our gardens for the new season of growth, many add fertilizers and other nourishment such as compost and manure. You’ve likely noticed I advocate organic practices so we all may breathe green with a splash of color. Organic farming became known

Hello Fellow Readers, Earthworms are destroying forest floors shared William of Bangor PA after I bragged about the benefits of castings (worm poop) in the garden. I didn’t know, along with the benefits of our slimy garden guests, there are negative outcomes of their presence; especia

Hello Fellow Readers, Forsythia is one of the first shrubs to bloom, announcing spring has arrived! I love the sunny yellow welcome to the bland dormant landscape. It’s true after the early yellow wake-up call, they can turn into unwieldy shrubs, inspiring folks to prune them into unn

I believe all of us can live creatively; however we choose to express it. But along with creativity comes vulnerability. Indeed, there's something intimate about sharing one's creative self. But creativity in the garden offers a safe space—a forgiving place to dabble as we grow and le

Hello Fellow Readers, I didn’t realize until Bruce Crawford, Director of Rutgers Gardens, emailed the plant list for his recent lecture titled Sexy Native Plants. In the NJ Plants tradeshow held in Edison, NJ, the G-rated version was Native Plants for Native Pollinators. And these bab