Misunderstood bats get a bad rap
Out of the 1,300 bat species on Earth not a single one wants to drink your blood and they don’t share a family tree with Dracula. Bats are often misunderstood but an extremely important animal here in Maryland, a state that 10 species call home. Bats belong to the...
Saved from the burn pile
Last December I asked my husband to meet me after work with his truck to pick up a beautiful piece of furniture I had purchased for $40 on Facebook Marketplace. I was totally taken with the circa-1900 empire sideboard with mirrored gallery top and claw feet. He, on...
Easton woman transforms cozy lawn into thriving garden patch
When Missy Corley moved into her cozy Easton home in 2010, the tenth-acre plot featured a small front lawn with a smattering of plants tucked off to the side. As a youngster, Corley enjoyed her family home’s landscaped yard, but took no active part in gardening. In...
Pocket gardens a big hit for tiny spaces
While big, showy displays may have garnered the most attention at the Philadelphia Flower Show in March, few of them are reproducible in your own garden space without the help of a professional landscaper. One class of entries in the 191st year of the show put on by...
Delightful daffodil, neat narcissus
The signs of spring are everywhere from the sounds of spring peepers in the woods to the red hues of maple buds to the yellow blooms of daffodils. The tidbits of spring trickle in like the mist of early morning fog slowly then all at once. As if waking up from a long...
There’s some power in potting mix
Sometimes gardening research produces an interesting anomaly. That’s what happened to Neith Little, a University of Maryland Extension Educator in Urban Agriculture, when she was looking into the pH and salinity of growing media typically used in high tunnels on urban...
Get that puzzle together. Make it keepsake art
Before the coronovirus outbreak, boxes of jigsaw puzzles were gathering dust on shelves and in closets. Short of a family gathering, holiday or hurricane, folks were far too time-challenged to partake of the slow steady satisfaction they provide. But with so many...
Dream rose garden worth the effort
Roses have a checkered history with home gardeners, leading many to chalk them up as more trouble than they’re worth. “That’s because for years, the rose industry focused on the perfect bloom and forgot all about drought resistance, disease and fragrance,” said Chris...
Find your own custom blend of potpourri by growing your own flowers
Creating potpourri doesn’t usually come to mind until after the gardening season is over and our minds are turning to holiday gift giving. However, as you plan your spring garden planting you can confidently say, “I’ll take ‘potpourri’ for $1,000” because you’ll be...
New to a garden center near you
Your gardens may be dormant in winter, but your local garden centers, nurseries and landscape designers don’t take a break. They spend the start of the year attending the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show in Baltimore. It was the 50th anniversary of the show and brought...
Gardening CSI: Do you need a pro?
With the advent of warmer weather, hopefully all the early signs point to a banner year in your garden. If not, though, how do you decide if you’re over your head and should seek the assistance of a professional horticulturalist or arborist? Early this past winter,...
Greenhouse grows plants, ‘A-ha moments’
So, how did it go — that grand plan of yours to start seeds indoors over the winter to save money for spring planting? If you never quite got to it, the 11th and 12th graders in Terry Nuwer’s Agricultural Science program have your back. They’ve been working hard...
‘Color outside the lines’
If you visit the garden of Dr. Robert Lyons, professor emeritus at the University of Delaware, you might say it is too bright, too intense, even garish. “Always, to color outside the lines,” he says. “If plants work together and grow, why not plant them together?” A...
The bumblebee’s heavy load
Ants are often the poster child for being able to carry immense weight relative to their size but bumble bees are no slouch as big lifters of the insect world, either. While an ant can carry up to 50 times its body weight, the humble bumble bee loads itself up with...
If it’s corned beef, it must be March
Local organizers banking on satisfying sweet tooth to draw excitement for February events
Diamonds for Valentine’s Day are impressive for sure, but you can still celebrate with something rich yet affordable — chocolate. Several local businesses and organizations here on the Shore have created events aimed at making this Valentine’s Day the sweetest one...
Preston’s hidden treasure: The state tree nursery
Did you ever wonder how the world would look without trees? Fred Besley, Maryland’s first state forester from 1906-42, witnessed first-hand how barren the public landscape looked after unhampered logging and agricultural practices of the late 1800s decimated once...
With proper care, treasured rugs can last lifetimes
While operating Chem Dry Professional Carpet Cleaning, Vance Morris became intrigued with how to safely clean the oriental rugs he’d see in many clients’ homes. To that end, he and his Eastern Shore Rug Cleaning staff trained for TextilePro certification (one of two...
Big saws opening doors for Boyle
Ever since the sawmill capable of cutting logs larger than five feet in diameter arrived in 2014 starting his business Wood Ingenuity, David Boyle has had his big tree radar cranked up. “I was bad about it,” he admits of those early years searching for large trees....
African violets offer break from dreariness
Routinely ranking as one of the most popular houseplants, African violets are one of the bright spots in a month that often reaches the peak of winter dreariness. They feature flowers nearly all year and are relatively easy to care for since they prefer the same...
New home products for 2020 just might save you money
“A lot of people really don’t like their cable bill,” stated Boyce Thompson, the author of three books on residential design and construction and one of the featured exhibitors at this fall’s Maryland Home and Garden Show, where he showcased his “Top 10 Life-Changing...
