Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog

Native Tree and Shrub Replacements

Hello fellow readers, The influx of insects killing stands of trees is heartbreaking. But beyond the losses of our much-loved trees is an opportunity to plant beautiful native trees and shrub replacements. We spoke before about how the emerald ash borer is devastating trees. They say
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hemlokc trees wiht lower branches

Hemlocks Dying from Bottom Up

Hello Fellow Readers, Robert, an associate landscape installer, asked about a client’s Canadian hemlock installed about two years ago dying from the bottom up. Likely causes of Hemlocks Dying from the bottom up When he first described the dilemma, I thought the issue might not b
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Spiderwort-Tradescantia-ohiensis

Spiderwort invading Pachysandra

Hello Fellow Readers, I received an inquiry about an invasion amongst a patch of pachysandra from Josephine (Jo) of Phillipsburg, NJ. “How do I best get rid of spider warts?” she asked. We shared a back-and-forth email chat that played out like an investigation. “I never heard of spid
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Purple-Cone-Flower-Echinacea

Deer Resistant Butterfly Plants

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
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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, Mary Reynolds, Kalmia latifolia

The Love of the Land

Hello Fellow Readers, Saturday night, after a long day exhibiting at a Home & Garden event, I did what I rarely do. I settled down in front of the TV to veg out. Legs elevated on pillows to lessen my foot fatigue, clicker in hand, I stumbled upon a movie based on a true story titl
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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, Asimina triloba, Pawpaw Flower

What’s a Pawpaw Tree?

Hello Fellow Readers, As I write, it’s President’s day, honoring George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Some states combine remembrance of Thomas Jefferson, who was born in April. This brings to mind the Pawpaw tree most have never heard of. Jefferson planted a grove of th
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Knotweed with feathery white flowers along the stems.

September Roadside Beauties

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, “Is there such a thing as wild hydrangea?” asked Tammy of Marshalls Creek, PA. There is. Hydrangea arborescens is commonly known as Smooth Hydrangea or Wild hydrangea, and it’s native to the woodlands of the northeast, but it
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog, Urban Gardens, Pittsburgh Gardens, Point State Park, Peter Del Tredici, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

Point State Park, an Urban Garden

Hello fellow readers, A visit to Point State Park, an urban garden in downtown Pittsburgh, highlights a recent trip. The mist from a glorious 150-foot fountain that sits at the point where the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers combine provided soothing relief from the oppressive
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