Today’s podcast is all about horticultural holiday traditions
Month: December 2017
Live Christmas Trees
Is a live Christmas tree a good choice?
Raised Beds Around Trees—A Good Idea??
Recently, I received an update from a favorite how-to site, which included directions for building a raised bed around a tree. This unfortunate practice leads to many dead trees, often years down the road when the tree owner no longer mentally connects the tree dying with the creation of the raised bed. Case in point,…
Christmas Gifts for the Gardener
Choose a Christmas gift with your gardener friend in mind. Of course, one for yourself is good too!
Mistletoe: Norse legend leads to Christmas kisses
Even though it is a symbol of love and even peace, mistletoe is truly a parasite … and poisonous. It has been celebrated and even worshipped for centuries, and still has a “naughty but nice” place in holiday celebrations.
Crosnes—The Tubers That Look Like Beetle Larvae!
Master Gardener Glen brought me some crosnes, which he grows and harvests. What are crosnes and why would anyone eat them? The crosne, pronounced “crone” or “crow-sn” is a member of the mint family, Stachys affinis, and produces these neat little segmented tubers resembling beetle larvae. Crosnes are native to China and Japan but take…
Witchhazel
What is your favorite late fall flowering tree? Or what is your favorite mid-winter flowering shrub? If you didn’t think common witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana) let me introduce the two of you. Witchhazel (sometimes seen as witch hazel) is a small tree or large shrub that can be either multi stem or single trunk reaching between…
Wiggly and Wonderful House Centipedes
What’s a house centipede and should it worry you?
Dormant Lawn Seeding
Early winter can be a good time to seed cool season lawns