Tulips regarded as a seasonal staple
Spring in Maryland arrives with a mix of chilly mornings, sudden rain showers, and bursts of color across gardens and fields. Tulips aren’t usually the very first flower to poke out of the ground, but they often signal spring is here to stay. Tulips symbolize renewal...
Tip-toeing through the tulips just a short trip away
According to the University of Maryland Extension, tulips are an important crop for cut flowers, with growers using greenhouses or outdoor beds to supply markets from late winter through spring holidays like Easter and Mother’s Day. Several Maryland flower farms have...
Tolchester once a bustling amusement park
Collecting gardening tools
(Editor’s note: DeeDee Wood is the owner of Black Cat Curiosities, an online antiques research and sales venue.) Early spring has arrived, and you might be headed out to the garden shed to dust off the tools of yard and garden care. Old garden tools, such as trowels,...
A hole from a mole or vole?
Power Family Meals with Protein-Packed Peanuts
Greenhouse grower says how to start awesome annuals
John Whalen, a fourth-generation nurseryman and greenhouse grower in Toughkenamon, Pa., has a lot of experience and opinions on growing annuals and he’s not reluctant to share them. Speaking at a horticulture conference in Delaware this winter, Whalen outlined some of...
Pollinators eager to spring to it
Spring on the Mid-Shore brings a surge of color to gardens, forests, and fields — and with it, the return of essential pollinators. As temperatures rise and early blooms appear, bees, butterflies, birds, and other species emerge to feed on nectar and pollen, playing a...
Matchmaking plants to soil type can keep weeds in check
When it comes to native plants, Landscape designer Larry Weaner says “break the rules” and plant wide swaths beyond the scale of an isolated garden bed. Weaner has spent a lifetime observing how plants grow and proliferate in nature, starting as a child studying wild...
Box tree moth emerges as latest U.S. invasive pest
There’s a new invasive pest from Asia attacking a popular ornamental evergreen shrub in the United States, the boxwood (Buxus spp.) The box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis), completes its development mainly on boxwood. Capable of spreading 100 miles in a year, the...
