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| Layering is an easy way to propagate plants (For Release On Or After 05/25/12) Propagating plants means to create new plants from those you already have, and you can do that in many different ways. Planting seeds and rooting cuttings are two of the most common methods of propagation. But another technique, called layering, is useful in propagating a wide variety of ornamental plants. |
| Brighten your garden with summer bulbs (For Release On Or After 05/18/12) Summer-flowering bulbs provide an excellent way to introduce colorful flowers, interesting foliage and even fragrance into the summer landscape. Most summer-flowering bulbs are native to tropical or subtropical climates and will reliably bloom here for many years. |
| Composting recycles yard waste (For Release On Or After 05/11/12) You can recycle yard waste back into the landscape through the process of composting, which benefits your garden, your budget and the environment. Compost is used primarily in bed preparation to improve the soil and can even be used in preparing potting mixes. |
| Penny Mac hydrangea selected as La. Super Plant (For Release On Or After 05/04/12) Hydrangeas have a long tradition of use in shady Southern gardens. From late April through July, huge flower heads of light pink, pink, rosy red, lavender, light blue, bluish purple and blends of those colors as well as white appear above the rich green leaves. |
| Fresh herbs are delicious, easy to grow (For Release On Or After 04/27/12) Interest in growing herbs has been rising over the years as Louisiana gardeners increasingly plant herbs in gardens, containers or in beds among existing plants. Especially popular are the culinary herbs used to flavor food. |
| There is more to the cucumber family than cucumbers (For Release On Or After 04/20/12) Some of the most popular vegetables planted in Louisiana home vegetable gardens belong to the cucumber family, or Cucurbitaceae. Members of that family, which can be planted this month, include summer squash, winter squash, mirliton, pumpkin, gourd, cucuzzi, watermelon, cantaloupe, cushaw, luffa and, of course, cucumber. |
| Senorita Rosalita cleome is a winner (For Release On Or After 04/13/12) A new cleome called Senorita Rosalita is a radical departure from the cleomes, or spider flowers, we have grown in the past. |
| BabyWing begonia named Louisiana Super Plant (For Release On Or After 04/06/12) The genus Begonia is large and amazingly diverse with a mind-blowing number of species. There are even plant societies devoted to this fascinating group of plants. |
| Cucumber family provides many favorite vegetables (For Release On Or After 03/30/12) The cucumber family, properly known as the Cucurbitaceae (cu-cur-bit-A-cee-ee), provides a wide variety of vegetables popular for the spring, summer and fall home vegetable garden. |
| Dealing with scale insects (For Release On Or After 03/23/12) Scale insects are one of the more common groups of insects that attack plants. You may find them feeding on trees, shrubs and even indoor plants. |
| Get a handle on landscape maintenance (For Release On Or After 03/16/12) I am often asked about low-maintenance landscaping. After a brief conversation, I get the feeling that what the person is actually looking for is a no-maintenance landscape. Unfortunately, if you are going to have a landscape with trees, a lawn, shrubs and flowers, maintenance is going to be involved. |
| Use insecticides only when needed (For Release On Or After 03/09/12) Yard and garden pest problems will become more common as we move into the warmer summer months. Some gardeners still feel that they should immediately get an insecticide and begin spraying when they see insects or some apparent insect damage in their gardens. |
| Ground covers have many advantages (For Release On Or After 03/02/12) Lawns have their purpose in the landscape. They create a restful contrast to flowerbeds and other elements in the landscape. Lawns are also often needed for outdoor activities and are indispensable if you have kids. |
| Plant ground covers in early spring (For Release On Or After 02/24/12) Using ground cover plantings in landscapes is becoming increasing popular. Areas planted with ground covers establish landscape effects that are impossible to create with grass – and generally require far less maintenance. |
| Prune crape myrtles properly (For Release On Or After 02/17/12) Now is an appropriate time to prune summer-flowering trees and shrubs. This includes such trees as crape myrtles, vitex, pomegranate, mimosa, tung tree, elderberry and parkinsonia, and shrubs such as abelia, buddleia, althea, hibiscus, tibouchina, indigo, Turk’s cap, Confederate rose, oleander, fire bush, duranta, Mexican heather, buttonbush, and thryallis. |
| It’s time to plant roses (For Release On Or After 02/10/12) Around the world, there is no better loved or more recognizable flower in the plant kingdom than the rose. It you are thinking about adding roses to your garden, here’s some information that will help you get them off to a good start. |
| There’s still time to plant La. Super Plants (For Release On Or After 02/03/12) Last fall, the LSU AgCenter announced three outstanding Louisiana Super Plant selections for Louisiana landscapes. If you haven’t planted them yet, February is an excellent time to add these beautiful plants to your gardens. |
| Consider planting spring-flowering trees (For Release On Or After 01/13/12) The third Friday in January is Arbor Day in Louisiana – a day we set aside to celebrate and appreciate the role living trees play in improving our lives and our environment. Many people plant trees to celebrate the occasion. |
| Manage for nematodes in vegetable gardens (For Release On Or After 01/27/12) There is an invisible pest living in the soil of our vegetable gardens. For many Louisiana gardeners, high population levels of nematodes can reduce the vigor and productivity of their vegetable plants. |
| It’s time to plant hedges (For Release On Or After 01/20/12) If you are considering planting a hedge, now is a great time to get it done. This allows the shrubs to take advantage of the less-stressful conditions during the cool season to get established in the landscape. Newly planted hardy shrubs will not be bothered by winter freezes. |
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| Take a look at the 2012 All-America Selections Winners (For Release On Or After 01/06/12) All-America Selections is a non-profit organization that tests newly developed seed-grown varieties of bedding plants and vegetables in garden plots all across the United States. Duplicating conditions in the average home garden, the testing program is independent and unbiased. |
| Winter, early spring are good times to prune most trees, shrubs (For Release On Or After 12/30/11) Pruning is one gardening job that often neglected because gardeners are not exactly sure what to do. There is a great deal of confusion about how to prune, when to do it and even why pruning is done. |
| Louisiana’s winter landscapes are different (For Release On Or After 12/23/11) I recently received a copy of a book called “The Garden in Winter.” Imagining what I would see inside, I opened the book, and the pictures were just what I had expected. |
| Take care of winter garden chores (For Release On Or After 12/16/11) The pace of things tends to slow down a bit this time of year in the garden. Although we may continue to plant, prepare beds, harvest winter vegetables and enjoy cool-season flowers, most gardeners find this a more relaxed time of year. |
| Forcing amaryllis and paperwhite bulbs (For Release On Or After 12/09/11) Paperwhite and amaryllis are two bulbs that are popular for forcing in Louisiana during the winter. Forcing bulbs means growing them to bloom earlier than they would under normal landscape conditions. Paperwhite bulbs and amaryllis bulbs are commonly available from November to late December. Forcing them for bloom during the winter is not difficult, and the results are beautiful. |
| Care for tropical plants in landscapes (For Release On Or After 12/02/11) As cold winter weather begins to settle in over the state this month, we can expect freezing temperatures in the 20s and even occasionally the teens for the next few months. With cold weather comes concern for tropical plants in our landscapes. |
| Now is the time for planting hedges (For Release On Or After 11/25/11) If you are considering replanting a lost hedge, now is a great time to get the job done. A common part of landscapes, hedges generally are created by planting a row of shrubs or small trees. |
| Try growing edible flowers (For Release On Or After 11/18/11) Flowers are the delight of gardeners. Their beautiful colors, shapes and fragrances are the inspiration for gardening efforts by countless hobby horticulturists. There is more to flowers, however, than meets the eye – or the nose. Your taste buds can also appreciate the many edible flowers that we can grow. |
| Harvest winter vegetables at the proper time (For Release On Or After 11/11 /11) The vegetables we grow in Louisiana during the cool season are some of the most delicious and nutritious that our home gardens can produce. Many of the vegetables we planted in late summer and early fall are ready to harvest – or will be soon. It is important to harvest vegetables at the proper stage for best results. |
| Swan columbine named Louisiana Super Plant selection for fall 2011 (For Release On Or After 11/04/11) Louisiana gardeners seldom grow columbines (Aquilegia species and hybrids) in their flower gardens. This is likely due to unfamiliarity with columbines – there is no tradition of using columbines here in the Deep South – and lack of availability in local nurseries. |
| Fall is the time to plant spring-flowering bulbs (For Release On Or After 10/28/11) We’ve become accustomed to running out and buying flats or pots of blooming bedding plants to create “instant flower gardens.” This last-minute approach, however, will simply not work when using spring-flowering bulbs in the landscape. If you want beautiful beds of daffodils, tulips or Dutch irises next spring, you should think about planting them now. |
| Try growing delicious fall vegetables (For Release On Or After 10/21/11) Cooler mornings in October make it a joy to get out and work in the home vegetable garden. A number of delicious and nutritious vegetables will thrive in the coming cool season. Indeed, some of our favorite vegetables can only be grown in Louisiana from October through April. |
| Redbor kale selected as a Louisiana Super Plant (For Release On Or After 10/14/11) Redbor kale is the first edible Louisiana Super Plants selection. It is an incredible multiuse annual for the cool-season flower or vegetable garden. Although perfectly edible, it is so attractive it is being promoted as an ornamental for planting in flowerbeds. |
| Belinda’s Dream rose selected as 2011 Louisiana Super Plant (For Release On Or After 10/7/11) Belinda’s Dream rose is the first Louisiana Super Plant selection to be announced for the fall 2011 season. With beautiful flowers, excellent disease resistance and a bushy growth habit, it well deserves the recognition. |
| Lawns require fall care (For Release On Or After 09/30/11) Lawn care definitely changes as the weather begins to cool, and by October the growth of warm-season grasses like St. Augustine, centipede, Bermuda and zoysia begins to slow down. As a result, now is not a good time to do anything that would disrupt or damage the turf such as filling, aerification or dethatching. |
| You can save your own seeds (For Release On Or After 09/23/11) Many summer-blooming annuals, perennials and vegetables are setting seeds now, and you can harvest the seeds, store them and then grow a new crop of plants for your garden next year. This can be fun, save a little money and allow you to share seed with gardening friends. |
| How to deal with storm-damaged trees (For Release On Or After 09/16 /11) September is one of our most active months for tropical storms and hurricanes. Although parishes in the southern portion of the state are most vulnerable, these powerful storms can and do produce high winds and heavy rains as they move north. And tropical storms aren’t all we have to worry about. Violent summer storms can produce high winds and tornados as well. |
| How to choose a fertilizer (For Release On Or After 09/09/11) One of the most common questions I receive from gardeners is, “What kind of fertilizer should I use?” The gardeners generally assume there must be an easy answer for this if they just tell me what kind of plant they are growing. |
| September is time to prune and fertilize (For Release On Or After 09/02/11) In late summer gardeners need to think about two important points of landscape maintenance – fertilizing and pruning. This time of year is the latest we should fertilize lawns, hardy shrubs and ground covers in the landscape. Now is also the time to prune many shrubs, cut back overgrown tropicals and trim some bedding plants. |
| Prune roses now for beautiful fall flowers (For Release On Or After 08/26/11) We are fortunate that everblooming roses produce two really great seasons of bloom in Louisiana. The first outstanding season occurs in spring and early summer from April to early June. Roses continue to bloom through the summer, but the flowers produced in mid- to late summer generally don’t have the quality of the flowers produced earlier. |
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| Gardening and the Internet (For Release On Or After 08/19/11) Reading garden books has always been a favorite pastime of mine, and I still keep my most useful references close at hand. But I have to admit that more and more I find myself doing research on my computer. The amount of information on the Internet about gardening is nothing short of awesome. |
| Here’s how to grow bromeliads from ‘pups’ (For Release On Or After 08/12/11) Bromeliads are a wonderful group of tropical or semi-tropical plants that are very popular container plants. Because they are easy to grow, colorful and stay in bloom for a long time, they are also commonly used by florist as gift plants. As a result, even people who are not familiar with bromeliads sometimes find themselves the owner of a plant they do not know how to grow. |
| Here’s how to root cuttings (For Release On Or After 08/05/11) When gardeners get together and someone compliments a plant, it’s not unusual for the admirer to be offered a “piece” to take home and root. Sharing plants is one of the pleasures of gardening. Getting that piece – or cutting – to survive and grow into a new plant is the challenge. |
| Training vines enhances their beauty (For Release On Or After 07/29/11) No other group of plants can be used to create the effects that vines do in the landscape. They can soften and link architectural structures such as pergolas, arbors, buildings, fences and arches to the gardens around them. Vines can be used to provide shade, privacy, flowers, ground covers, edible or attractive fruit, fragrance and food for wildlife. It would be hard to imagine a well-planted landscape without the use of vines somewhere. |
| You can have happy houseplants (For Release On Or After 07/22/11) Whether we admit it or not, heat and humidity this time of year make gardening outside less enjoyable. I have to confess to retreating into the coolness of my air-conditioned home and spending less time in the garden now that midsummer has arrived. But when I don’t spend as much time in my outside garden, I can turn to my collection of indoor plants to keep me happy. |
| July isn’t too late for bedding plants (For Release On Or After 07/15/11) If you want to boost the color in your landscape, nurseries still have a good selection of colorful bedding plants that will thrive in whatever heat the summer throws at them. They come in a variety of heights, textures and colors and are adapted to grow in everything from moist, shady areas to hot, dry, sunny locations. |
| Don’t let poison ivy get you (For Release On Or After 07/08/11) I recently came across some poison ivy as I was working in an out-of-the-way area of my landscape. Poison ivy is abundant in urban, suburban and rural landscapes. I keep a sharp eye out for this plant because I’m quite allergic, and I promptly and ruthlessly deal with any as soon as I see it. |
| Lawns require summer care (For Release On Or After 07/01/11) Lawns and the people who maintain them face a number of issues in mid- to late summer. A variety of lawn-care activities and pest problems need to be dealt with this time of the year. |
| Too much shade means lawn problems (For Release On Or After 06/24/11) Often, the things people plant first in new landscapes are the lawn and shade trees. As time goes on, however, sun-loving lawn grasses and shade trees don’t go together particularly well. |
| These colorful plants take the heat (For Release On Or After 06/17/11) There is still time to add colorful bedding plants to your landscape, but it’s important for you to choose plants that are able to thrive in the intense heat of a Louisiana summer. Summer bedding plants come in a variety of heights, textures and colors, and they are adapted to grow in everything from moist, shady areas to hot, dry, sunny locations. |
| Summer storms and hurricanes are coming: check your trees (For Release On Or After 06/10/11) Violent thunderstorms can occur around the state during the summer, and in south Louisiana high winds from hurricanes are a real concern. That means it’s an excellent time to take a look at trees in your landscape. Although they add immeasurably to our home grounds, trees with problems can be a liability during storms. |
| Proper watering is important during dry weather (For Release On Or After 06/03/11) Dry weather has been common around the state since spring started, and most of us have received less than the typical amount of rain this year. We don’t know how much rain will fall this summer, but we can be fairly certain that there will be at least some periods of hot, dry weather when we will need to water our landscapes. |
| Shoal Creek vitex named Louisiana Super Plant (For Release On Or After 05/27/11) We all crave color in our landscapes. Beds full of annual and perennial flowering plants are often the primary source of landscape color, but they require a lot of work to keep them looking nice. |
| You can plant and enjoy herbs this summer (For Release On Or After 05/20/11) To be honest, our best herb gardens occur during milder times of the year between October and May. The intense heat of summer takes its toll on many of our favorite culinary herbs, such as thyme, parsley, dill, cilantro, chives, lavender and French tarragon. But herb gardens should be looking great now, and heat loving herbs can be planted for summer production. |
| Caladiums are colorful choices for shady flowerbeds (For Release On Or After 05/13/11) If you asked me about my favorite plants for summer color, caladiums would absolutely be on the list. You won’t find a better plant for reliable color in areas that get some shade. And one investment can provide years of color. |
| Pentas can give your yard summer-long color (For Release On Or After 05/06/11) The Louisiana Super Plant spring season is in full swing. The LSU AgCenter has previously announced Frostproof gardenia and the Serena series angelonias as Louisiana Super Plants selections for spring 2011. Now, the spotlight is on another spring selection – the superb Butterfly series pentas. |
| Summer bulbs can enhance gardens (For Release On Or After 04/23/10) Now is a great time to add summer bulbs to your gardens. Most summer-flowering bulbs are native to tropical and subtropical climates and will reliably bloom in Louisiana for many years. Summer bulbs are those that bloom roughly from May through September. |
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