The Garden Professors™

This time of year, I frequently notice the change of the sun’s daily position over time, since my family room faces east. This is especially true as most of my trees on that side of the house are deciduous—as the leaves fall, I get a better look at where sunrise is actually occurring and how it is changing day by day. Sun angle and the amount of sunlight that reaches different parts of your garden can have a big impact on what kinds of plants you can grow and how your garden appears.… Continue reading this article “Let the sun shine!”

As a lover of the weird and wonderful, October is one of my favorite months of the year, because of Spooky Season. To celebrate, I thought it would be fun to learn about some of the weird and wonderful plants around us, especially some of the most notorious: carnivorous plants.

Whether you like to grow them, observe them in their natural habitats, or simply just learn about them, it’s easy to understand our collective fascination with carnivorous plants.… Continue reading this article “The Spooky and Spectacular World of Carnivorous Plants”

I wanted to share a new study that came out this week in the journal Science. We generally agree how important bees, butterflies, and other pollinators are, not only for our crops but for the health of ecosystems as a whole. Yet, despite decades of awareness, pollinator numbers continue to decline worldwide. Dr. Gabriella Bishop used a meta-data approach in this study to examine why pollinators are struggling. The study concluded that current conservation targets for habitat area are simply not large enough.… Continue reading this article “New study says that pollinators need more than a token corner of habitat”

In my household, the weather is a common subject of conversation. That is only partly because I am married to a meteorologist. In fact, I have noticed that I can talk to almost anyone about the weather, and I suspect you can too. Weather is most captivating when something interesting is occurring, like liquid falling from the sky. When I give talks to master gardener groups, they are almost always consumed with how the weather is affecting their gardens.… Continue reading this article “How different types of precipitation affect your garden”

I thought it would be fun to periodically highlight some insects that are understudied or lesser-known. Today’s insect spotlight is on the marigold fruit fly, Trupanea vicina. If you grow marigolds in your garden, you might find this fruit fly or it’s larvae in your flowers. One of its most striking features is the bold, patterned wings that is has, I think the venation  almost resembles shattered glass. This is a fly in the tephritid fruit fly family, a large group of flies that often specialize on flowers and seeds.… Continue reading this article “Insect spotlight: the marigold fruit fly, Trupanea vicina”

The cooler weather that many parts of the eastern United States are experiencing this week is causing many gardeners to think about what this fall will be like. In fact, many farmers in Georgia are already planting fall crops, and I am sure that many gardeners are also busy with their own fall planting if they live in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes. In this blog post we will discuss seasonal forecasts and how you can use them to plan and plant your garden.… Continue reading this article “Getting Ready for Fall: What do the long-range outlooks tell us?”

by Hamutahl Cohen

You’ve probably seen Neem oil recommended in blogs, gardening forums, and on the shelf at your local gardening store. Neem is derived from the seeds of the Azadirachta indica tree, and is one type of horticultural oil that is used by gardeners looking for alternatives to synthetic insecticides. But is it effective? Is it benign? This post explores the pros and cons behind neem and other horticultural oils.

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What Are Horticultural Oils?

Horticultural oils are either plant-based (like neem, canola, or clove oil) or mineral-based (refined petroleum products), and they work mostly by smothering soft-bodied pests like aphids, scale, and whiteflies.… Continue reading this article “To Neem or Not to Neem, That Is the Question”

Have you ever stopped while you were gardening to look at the clouds? Clouds, like flowers, come in a variety of shapes and sizes that can form beautiful patterns in the sky. But clouds are not just pretty, they can also be used to make predictions about the weather in the coming days. In this week’s post, we will look at the different types of clouds and how they relate to coming weather. You can use that to prepare for your garden work by knowing when it will be sunny and predicting when rain is coming.… Continue reading this article “Using clouds to predict the weather”