OK, now we know why we usually leave the puzzles to Linda: mine are too easy! As several folks correctly noted the photo in my yard was an example of the "dog vomit fungus" or, more correctly "dog vomit slime mold" Fuligo septica. Either way, it’s fairly disgusting and fairly common. My expereince has been … Continue reading Icky Friday puzzle solved
I wish I were more like Holly…wandering around nurseries finding pretty and unusual annuals and perennials to get excited about. Instead, I seem to gravitate to plants that annoy me. Today while looking for some trellises (for those containerized Clematis vines that I’ve been torturing) I saw pots of the Equisetum hyemale (“a tall, evergreen, … Continue reading Why do nurseries sell this plant?
Well, Dr. Rohwer was right – he thought you’d get this more easily than I did! Ray and Jon were spot on – this is classic juglone toxicity from those walnut trees (Juglans spp.) you see in the background. Many of these leaves ended up on the roof, leaching into the rain barrels (good sleuthing Ray … Continue reading Tomato takedown
As my colleague Fred Hoffman says, the horticultural silly season is upon us. This week I heard from one of our European readers, questioning the use of cornmeal as a fungicide. He referenced an online article entitled “Cornmeal has powerful fungicidal properties in the garden.” He hadn’t been able to find any reliable information and thought … Continue reading Cornmeal myth busted
By Dr. Charlie Rohwer Since my last guest professor submission (buying organic food for health) garnered so much discussion, I thought I’d try to write about a less controversial topic: evolution. There’s no scientific doubt that’s where plants (well, all species of everything, really) come from, but what got me thinking about it recently was … Continue reading Our visiting Garden Professor and his Kentucky coffeetree
This past weekend marked our first real bout with severe thunderstorms here in Mid-Michigan. Several lines of storms moved through the mid and southern part of the state and northern Ohio. The storms in southern Michigan and Ohio also spawned some tornadoes. Around here, storm damage was confined mainly to downed trees causing power outrages … Continue reading Riding the storm out
With increasing interest in reducing monocultural swaths of turf, summer water consumption, and the drudgery of mowing, many people are eliminating part or all of their lawns. We did this at home some years ago and can attest to the tangible benefit of reduced water bills during our dry summer months. The question I often … Continue reading How to get rid of your lawn
Mulch is always an interesting point of discussion as well as the topic of several past GP posts. But I honestly can’t recall if we’ve covered dyed mulch, and can’t search the site, so here goes. I recently received a request for information from Debbie Dillon, a fine Urban Horticulturist with Virginia Cooperative Extension. She … Continue reading Is Black The New Brown?
One of the gardening topics I’ve researched extensively is the use of landscape mulches. (You can read a literature review I did a few years ago here.) So I was more than a little frustrated to see one of the worst mulching techniques – sheet mulching – extolled in the book Gaia’s Garden (pp. 85-90). … Continue reading Permaculture – more concerns
As with last week, this past week and weekend were largely occupied by my role as a faculty advisor for the MSU Horticulture club. This weekend was our annual Spring Show and Plant Sale. Each year our undergraduates commandeer the Horticulture department’s conservatory, bring in a boatload of plants, pavers, turf and mulch and design … Continue reading Selling dawn redwood