Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog
Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog,Northern New Jersey Landscape Designer, NJ Garden Coach and Speaker,Mary Elaine Stone, Garden of Life, Cardinal, Bird Fodder, Mike Niven, Cedar Waxwings ,Bombycilla cedrorum

Bird Fodder Part 2

Hello Fellow Readers, So much came of last week’s chat with my birder buddies — welcome to more fun bird fodder part 2. One of the most loved and fascinating backyard birds are Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, who are migratory. As solitary birds, they don’t migrate in flocks.
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A colander of funky vegetables on a wooden table

Funky Vegetables

Hello Fellow Readers, This time of year, what fun it is to peruse seed catalogs. Green beans aren’t only green anymore. And tomatoes come in all sorts of shades and mottled blends of colors. There are even tomatoes that stay green when they’re ripe. Charlotte of Stone Chur
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog,Northern New Jersey Landscape Designer, NJ Garden Coach and Speaker,Mary Elaine Stone, Garden of Life, synthetic pyrethroid insecticides,EPA Restrictions on Pyrethroid Use, AmericanHort, pyrethroid, pyrethrins

“Urgent Action Needed”

Hello Fellow Readers, I received an email from AmericanHort that “Urgent Action is Needed”. “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is evaluating whether to further restrict uses of synthetic pyrethroid insecticides.” Anything urgent and pertaining to the protection of our environm
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog,Northern New Jersey Landscape Designer, NJ Garden Coach and Speaker,Mike Dooley, Garden of Life, Plant Vison Board

Loving your Garden of Life

Hello Fellow Readers, I find inspiration in the wisdom of Mike Dooley, a speaker and author including New York Times bestsellers. I’ve had the privilege of chatting with Mike a few years back in Philadelphia while attending one of his talks. I thought I’d share insights ga
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog,Northern New Jersey Landscape Designer, NJ Garden Coach and Speaker,Henricus, Henricus Historical Park, Dominion Power Company, Dutch Gap Conservation Area

Dominion Energy amongst History & Nature

Hello Fellow Readers, While visiting dear Mom in a nursing home in Virginia, we stumbled upon a historic place along the James River and took respite amongst nature. Entering Henricus Historical Park in Chester, VA is a remarkable Dominion Power plant powered by coal cohabitating amon
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog,Northern New Jersey Landscape Designer, NJ Garden Coach and Speaker,Shrewsbury Garden Club of NJ, National Garden Club, The Garden Club of NJ

Garden Clubs… a Magnitude of Promise

Hello Fellow Readers, Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of speaking with garden clubs and participating in their activities. I didn’t realize until digging into history, the magnitude and impact of garden clubs across the country, even the world. The first garden club in America
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog,Northern New Jersey Landscape Designer, NJ Garden Coach and Speaker,How seeds disperse, seed dispersal, Seeds, eating dandelions

We’re All Just Seeds

Hello Fellow Readers, There’s a country song by Pat Alger and Ralph Murphy, sung by Kathy Mattea that I adore. The chorus of Seeds speaks volumes starting with “We’re all just seeds in God’s hands. We start the same, but where we land is sometimes fertile soil
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Bee Kind

Hello Fellow Readers, There’s quite a buzz about widely-used insecticides impacting our pollinators. One out of every three bites of food depend on a pollinator; hence they are critical to our food supply. Digging through research, there are varying opinions on the effect of insectici
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog,Northern New Jersey Landscape Designer, NJ Garden Coach and Speaker,Planting around Septics

Growing Around Septic Systems

Hello Fellow Readers, Last week we shared Pam and Ed’s steep garden dilemma leading to the flat back forty where their septic field is. Ed thought it best not to plant anything over the field as the root systems could interfere. It’s true it’s not good to plant trees, large shrubs or
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog,Northern New Jersey Landscape Designer, NJ Garden Coach and Speaker

Dogs and Deer

Hello Fellow Readers, I’m delighted to help Pam and Ed of Sparta NJ create a useful backyard for their rescue canine kids to run. It surely was a dilemma as the grade change from their side gate to the flatter back forty compares to a ski slope. Walking the area was difficult for two-
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