Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog
fern fiddleheads unfurling in early spring garden showing healing after winter

Healing After Winter: In the Garden—and in Life

After a long winter, the garden begins to heal—revealing both damage and resilience. In this reflective post, I share spring pruning tips, plant care insights, and lessons from nature, reminding us to slow down, notice beauty, and find healing in the garden and in life.
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cuttings of purple flowering lavender on a table

Pruning Lavender & Woody Perennials

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, At last, the spring garden clean up. It’s fun to tidy things up, picking up branches and sticks and cutting down the ornamental grasses left dry over winter to a few inches above the ground. Hedge trimmers or chainsaws (for those braver than m
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Deep Blue Flowering Hydrangea loaded with Blooms

When to Prune Hydrangea, Deer!

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, Hydrangeas blooms have been bountiful this year in the Northeast due to the mild and wet winter without the normal cycle of freezing and thawing that damages buds. Mine are so heavily laden that they are flopping, blocking access to the front
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A rejuvinated pruned maroon leaf smokebush in bloom that looks like smok

Rejuvenation Pruning & Smokebush

Hello, fellow lover of all things green, It felt therapeutic to tend to the rejuvenation pruning of the Smokebush and other shrubs. Rejuvenation pruning involves drastically cutting back overgrown plants to restore them to their intended shape or to manage their size, which was the ca
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Mary Stone kneeling next to a blue spruce transplant wearing a grey sweatshirt and muddy pants.

Root Pruning and Journey of Growth

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. Last week, we spoke about Early Spring Transplants, and Brian of Stone Church, PA, asked about root pruning. Great question, Brian. And read on for how root pruning relates to the journey of growth in our lives. Transplanting is always stressf
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A family rejuvenate pruning and overgrown foundation planting along a brick-faced house.

Rejuvenation Pruning Lifts Hearts

Hello, fellow readers. Rejuvenation pruning lifts hearts, including mine. I joined a lifelong friend and her grown sons to rejuvenate overgrown shrubs and renew their gardens. I hope you enjoy the story. It’s always fun to have a new hairdo, as has my friend Michele, who lives i
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yellow forsythia in bloom with the ealry morning making it glow

Forsythia not Blooming?

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. Denise from Mt. Tabor, PA, asked why her forsythia aren’t blooming. You’re not the only one, Denise; mine hasn’t either for over two years. Non-blooming forsythia most often results from improper pruning, though deer browse, not enough s
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withered and curled leaves from aphid damage on leatherleaf viburnum

Reasons to Prune

Hello fellow readers, The reasons to prune are similar to the reasons for caring for ourselves and our families– Improving appearance and health, training the young, controlling size, preventing injury or damage, rejuvenating the old, and influencing bounty. But choosing the rig
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