Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog
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 Plants and Our 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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Close up of a purple dahlia

Favorite Spring-Planted “Bulbs”

A while back, I enjoyed a pre-spring theatre outing with my design colleague and dear friend, Marty Carson. Our jaunt allowed me to brain-pick her favorite summer flowering bulbs to plant in the spring. How fun to learn that one of her favorites is technically a corm.
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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 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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A Meadow Katydid on a white petal

Nighttime Chorus of Garden Insects

Hello, fellow lover of all things green. While we don’t often see the nighttime chorus of insects from mid-to-late summer into fall, we indeed hear them, and some continue to sing by day, joining the daytime ruckus of the cicadas we spoke about last week. What a choir! They don&
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a birds eye view of nest of baby robins in an evergreen shrub.

Song Sparrow Meets Robin

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, The routine of a family of Robins nesting in the Doublefile Viburnum outside the kitchen window did not happen this year. Let’s just say aggressive fall pruning done by someone who lives here inhibited the protection of the thick canopy
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Bruce Crawford in a ball cap and black fleece in front of an iron gate and the main house at Willowwood Arboretum

Wonders of Willowwood Arboretum

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. It was April Fool’s Day when I entered Willowwood Arboretum. The meadows had not yet emerged but were dancing with daffodils. I made my way to the parking lot, where Bruce Crawford, Morris County Park Commission’s Manager of Hortic
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Cream colored slime mold on mulch

Fixing Funky Fungi in Mulch

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. It’s mulch time, and John from Andover, NJ, asked what kind of mulch to use. First and foremost, stay clear of trunks and stems to prevent disease. That’s my polite way of saying no volcano mulch, please. To avoid mushrooms in the
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A smiley face made of tomatoes with beans as hair.

Making Friends with Companion Plants

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, It’s spring madness mode for those of us in the horticultural industry and for home gardeners, busy planning and planting this year’s bounty. The same is true for critters such as the peepers I adore in the pond with their evening
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