GARDEN DILEMMAS? ASK MARY!

Hello fellow readers, It’s the time of year for tending to leaves and tidying our gardens for a long winter’s rest. The truth is, though, our gardens don’t rest. The fallen leaves and decaying plant material provide nourishment for next year’s growth by decompo

Hello fellow readers, Andrea of Morristown NJ asked what’s going on with her white pines. Seeing evergreens drop needles often triggers concern. It’s kind of like an abundance of hairs in your shower drain. Evergreen foliage, despite their name, does not live forever. As new growth em

Hello fellow readers, This growing season provided a perfect environment for foliar disease. Earlier in the summer Hector from Morristown, NJ sent a photo of his Mom’s maple tree dotted with black spots. “All the leaves seem to have the cooties.” I sent the photo off to my favorite as

Hello fellow readers, The ideal conditions for stunning fall color are a moist growing season (check – we had that) followed by a dry fall (yup – we’ve had that too) with sunny, warm days and cool nights (nope – didn’t happen). After a wet summer, most predicted we’d

Hello fellow readers, This time of year, on morning walks with Miss Ellie, I come across woolly bear caterpillars (Pyrrharctia isabella) and can’t help but help them along. Just as I pick them up, they curl into balls of fur. After ten or so saves, I consider just letting them b

Hello fellow readers. We chatted about Late-Season Bloomers (link below). An old friend, naturalist, and bird photographer, Mike Niven of Coatesville, PA, wrote that his Joe-Pye weed, one of the fall beauties, grew unusually tall this year, likely due to plentiful rains. He then asked

Hello fellow readers, While the official start of fall has begun, the heat and humidity return after the late summer cooling spell has Mother Nature confused. I heard spring peepers the other evening while sitting on the screened porch. And, there’s early leaf drop on certain tr

Hello fellow readers, I have the privilege to work with Stephanie of Denville, NJ, who moved from the west coast. She bought a cute cottage in a lake community overlooking a magnificent forest. The steepness of the slope is a dilemma for those like Stephanie who wish to ponder amongst

Hello fellow readers, One of my favorite vines is the Sweet Autumn Clematis in her glory this time of year. With a plethora of tiny white blooms from August through September, she looks like a snowdrift and smells heavenly. Once the flowers fade, a silvery blanket of seed heads follow