Welcome to Triangle Gardener!
In the May-June 2013 Issue
Pick up a copy today. Remember, it’s FREE! Click on “Where to Find Us” for a complete list of distributors who carry Triangle Gardener.
Jazz Up Your Foundation Plants
Shade Tolerant Roses
Revisiting the Front Porch
10 Must Have Plants
Slow Flower Farming
The Shrimp Plant
Free and Easy Garden Structures
The Gardener’s Vocabulary
Southern Showstoppers
Lemurs Go for Local Food
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Web Only Feature
Ten Ways to Keep Trees Healthy
Trees are the most valuable and hardest working parts of our landscape. They shade our homes and neighborhoods, cutting energy costs. They increase property values, reduce air pollution and soil erosion, and provide habitat for wildlife. Not to mention the beauty and calming presence they add to our everyday lives. Since they are such a peaceful, serene part of the background, it’s easy to forget that trees require our care to thrive. Proper tree maintenance is essential to their continued growth and ongoing health. With that in mind, here are 10 tips to keep your trees healthy…CLICK FOR MORE.
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Dahlias in the South
With a little foresight it is possible to enjoy dahlias in our southern gardens during our hot, humid summers—the key word here is “foresight.” Ideally, this Mexican native wants cool nights and warm days, something California with its Mediterranean climate can provide but which we cannot…CLICK FOR MORE.
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Chicken Keeping 101
Keeping chickens in the back yard has progressed well past hobby or fad to become a mainstay in our otherwise high tech lives. The allure of farm fresh eggs each morning is a typical response for why this dream becomes a reality. Yet if the truth be known, among modern day urban farmers, eggs are but a small part of the benefit of a coop and a few hens nestled amid the flower and vegetable gardens…CLICK FOR MORE.
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The Incredible, Edible (Even Ornamental) Eggplant
May and June are prime planting times for eggplant in the Triangle, and while classic varieties such as ‘Black Beauty’ and ‘Black Magic’ are certainly worth growing, there are newer, sassier selections available as appealing to the eyes as they are to the taste buds…CLICK FOR MORE.
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10 Tips for Creating a Low-Maintenance Garden
If you’re like many gardeners, you get overly zealous in the spring, creating larger flower beds, carefully edging existing beds, meticulously spreading mulch where needed, trimming the grasses, tending to newly sprouted perennials, etc. Then by mid to late summer, you realize your energy isn’t quite the same and there are certain areas of your garden that, well, just don’t look as tidy as you’d like. Surely there are some ways to create the garden of your dreams that does not take as much time and effort…right? CLICK FOR MORE.
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Top 10 Most Unwanted Vegetable Garden Pests
Insects play a vital role in our world. Most food producing plants on our planet are dependent on insect pollinators. In addition, insects serve as a primary food source for many species higher up on the food chain. Of the over one million insect species in the world, less than one percent inflict an economical impact on plants. In other words, most insects are beneficial…CLICK FOR MORE.
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All About the Birds and the Bees
Let me tell you about the birds and the bees. Spring is here, and as the song goes…CLICK FOR MORE.
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Go Beyond Red – Expand Your Tomato Color Palette
Consider the tomato. In grocery stores they are unappetizing pinkish red things, ominously piled up, hard to the touch and devoid of flavor. But gardeners today are lucky indeed, because never in horticultural history has there been a greater array of tomatoes to grow. The range of sizes, colors, shapes and flavors is limitless, and astounding…CLICK FOR MORE.
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Gardening Myths: Fact or Fiction
There are a great many garden traditions without basis of scientific fact that nonetheless help shape our approach to gardening. Traditions pass through generations and many are as good as gold…CLICK FOR MORE.
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Create a Magical Fairy Garden
Fairy gardens are miniature gardens that, with their small plants, houses, outdoor structures, and furnishings, give the illusion of tiny creatures living there…CLICK FOR MORE.
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Grow Your Own Vitamins
You already know that eating fresh, local and organically grown food is good for you. It doesn’t get any fresher than when it comes out of your own yard, right?…CLICK FOR MORE.
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2013 Perennial of the Year
Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’) is the Perennial Plant Association’s 2013 Perennial Plant of the Year™. This all-season perennial has greenish-white flowers in late spring and variegated foliage throughout the growing season. The foliage turns yellow in the fall and grows well in moist, well-drained soil in partial to full shade. CLICK FOR MORE.
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Before Planting, Learn How to Control Invasive Plants
Space Invader Plants
If you’ve spent any time in a Triangle garden or walked in our local woodlands, you’ve seen space invaders. Invasive exotic plants are rapidly out competing native plants in our fields, forests, and waterways. CLICK FOR MORE.
Managing Invasive Japanese Stilt Grass
Japanese stilt grass (Microstegium vimineum), occasionally called bamboo grass as well as other names not fit to write, is considered an exotic invasive plant and poses a threat to many of our native plants and habitats. CLICK FOR MORE.
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How to Prune Hydrangeas
You prize your hydrangeas for their beautiful flowers. You also want to make sure you prune them at the right time to encourage the stunning blooms every season. But do you wonder whether or when to prune them? CLICK FOR MORE.
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Have a Plan Prepared
As an avid gardener and design professional, I understand the importance of getting another opinion. Long ago I left my ego at the curb, gaining the confidence to ask for help. Decisions about a design element that would paralyze me in my own garden were the same ones I could easily make for my clients. Sometimes we just need to step away from something that is too familiar and ask for help. CLICK FOR MORE.
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Buying and Planting a Balled and Burlapped Tree
In early spring, many trees are offered for sale with the roots and soil contained in burlap and held together by twine. These trees have been grown in the field for two, three or many more years and are harvested in winter, dug either by hand or machine. CLICK FOR MORE.
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Hunting for Wild Camellias in China
Times have changed since the romantic adventures of the 19th and early 20th century plant hunters when it was easy to discover new plants. Nowadays you have to get well off the beaten path to find the more unusual plant species. CLICK FOR MORE.
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Growing a Medicine Chest in the Garden
People have been using botanical medicines since before history began. Archeologists in Central America have found traces of chocolate in ancient ceramic containers, apparently buried with the dead to give them the strength to get through their journey to the afterlife. Perhaps the Neanderthal who buried their dead with ephedra flowers had something similar in mind. The flowers are long gone, but the pollen has shown up in analyses. CLICK FOR MORE.
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Training Fruit Trees
Many home gardeners who grow fruit trees know that pruning is essential for best production. However, most don’t realize that a little training will make the tree more productive. There are two basic systems with several variations on each used to train fruit trees. CLICK FOR MORE.
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Adding Layers of Light to Your Garden
An evening stroll through the garden in winter is enhanced by the low glow of yellow light. Adding layers of light, gives your garden charm, mystique, and the ability to enjoy the garden at night. CLICK FOR MORE.
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Designing a Japanese Garden
A Japanese garden design should be a response to nature. Your success in the design and implementation of this garden style will be determined by how well it is woven into the fabric of your landscape. Selection of the space and the details you include in your design will also influence the realization of your dream. CLICK FOR MORE.
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Re-Engineering Your Garden
Re‑engineering is a popular buzzword today. Basically, it means taking a look at where you are and reassessing what you can do to capitalize on what you have. And what holds true for established corporations surprisingly holds true for the established home garden. CLICK FOR MORE.
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The Basics of Composting
Starting a compost pile is as easy as following a cooking recipe. Just get the right ingredients together, mix well, and let it cook. In a matter of months you’ll have finished “black gold” to mix into the soil of your flower, herb and vegetable gardens. CLICK FOR MORE.
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Ornamental Grasses for the Garden
Gardeners today want exciting plants that are easy to maintain, drought-tolerant, low cost, and deer-resistant. Impossible? Ornamental grasses meet those requirements and feature ease of establishment, unusual textures, and movement, plus many of these provide winter interest, too. CLICK FOR MORE.
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