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, 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
Read More
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, Spruce Canker Disease, Canker Disease

Dreaded Canker Disease

Hello Fellow Readers, Hector and Judy of Morristown NJ, longtime clients become friends, have a “Big and Little” vignette of blue spruces that have begun to decline. Their little blue looks as though the needles were stripped from the lower branches. “Did the deer do this to my baby b
Read More
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, Jonathan Taylor

“It wants to fly”

  “It wants to fly,” explained Jonathan Taylor as we were taking off. I shivering inside surely due to the below freezing temps (not). Jon, I called him then, is long ago friend from my NYC radio days at Kiss-FM. Last Saturday he visited by way of plane. During breakfast at the R
Read More
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,

A Look Back and Forward

Hello Fellow Readers, Thanks to all of you our Garden Dilemma chats have run for 239 weeks and counting! We shared a range of topics this last year from the most recent ones – the history of poinsettias known as the Flowers of the Holy Night and the Magnitude of Promise of 5,000
Read More
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
Read More
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, woolly bear caterpillar, winter weather folklore

Woolly Bear Caterpillar Best of Show

Hello Fellow Readers, For the last three years, we’ve shared winter weather predictions based on our local expert – the Eastern Pennsylvania Weather Authority (EPAWA), which also serves Northern New Jersey. In reviewing last year’s predictions, let’s say their lengthy disclaimer
Read More
Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Ruth Ratcliff, Bumble Bee, Bee Balm, Monarda

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
Read More
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
Read More
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-
Read More
scary halloween goblins and ghosts hiding behind rocks in a front yard

Halloween in the Garden

Hello Fellow Readers, I enjoy Halloween enthusiasts who decorate their homes as if it were Christmas with purple and orange lights, cobwebs and spiders. Even smoke machines reminiscent of the disco days. I came upon a house during a walk with Miss Ellie who barked a warning which she
Read More