Smart Starts for a Healthy Heart
September is finally here
After a hot, humid and challenging summer, I think we all will welcome cooler temperatures and hopefully lower humidity. The Autumn Equinox will occur on Sept. 22 at 8:43 a.m. I mention this because fall is the best time for planting, transplanting and gardening in...
Garden smarter in drought periods
You know your garden is in trouble when the forecast is for rain, but all the storms seem to skip over your area entirely. According to plantmaps.com, as of mid-July, 16 percent of the United States is under drought conditions and 25 percent is “abnormally dry.” Much...
Be sure to keep an ear out
Ready to get back into the lunch packing routine?
Back-to-school means goodbye to summer snacking, and hello again to lunch packing. Lunch packing may just another checkmark to complete in your quest to get out the door in the morning, but when you start to get multiple kids getting multiple lunches — plus yourself —...
There’s still time for great nearby summer trips
The 12-week stretch of summer sunshine always seems so long, but it goes by in a breeze! Planning a last-minute jet ride off to Hawaii might be out of the question, but there’s lots of last-minute fun to be had on the Eastern Shore and nearby. Here’s a few ideas to...
Dividing perennials: Handle with care
Perennials are plants that die back to the ground with the first freeze but reappear in spring. Perennials may cost more than annuals initially, but you don’t have to buy them again and can enjoy them year after year. An added advantage is that many of them spread to...
Hold on to every ounce of summer
Is it just me or do the summer months fly by way too fast? Summer is my absolute favorite time of year but the old adage “time flies when you’re having fun” holds true in a big way. While the days will start getting shorter and the evenings will begin to have that...
Ready to move from summer to fall?
This month and next are when we start to transition from the summer to the fall growing seasons. Here are some suggested things to begin to do now to prepare for this transition. Now is the time to begin preparing your amaryllis plant to bloom for the upcoming...
New nativars resistant to powdery mildew
The heat of summer does not hurt our native garden phlox which thrives in full sun and rich, moist organic soils. The native soft pink to purple garden phlox is susceptible to powdery mildew but there are a lot of wonderful new nativars that are resistant to that leaf...
