Author: Laura Lee Rose

Pests in the garden are certainly problems. Weeds are wildflowers in the wrong place, according to some, but they have adapted over the centuries to adversity and poor soil. In rich garden soil they can thrive! At best they compete with your fancy posies for space, water, and nutrients.

  Whether it’s an overgrown shrub, hedge, tree or trellis you should have a goal in mind when you prune. Unfortunately many shrubs and trees were improperly planted in the landscape. Foundation plants may be too close to the building and too close to each other. Trees may have been installed as specimens but over time began to crowd or shade other plantings.

One strategy for optimizing garden harvest is to plant early and often. According to my planting chart it is time for some seed sowing and soil preparation. Of course a soil test will help take the guess work out of your fertilizer purchases. Don’t guess, do the test.

  Living by the seat of our gardening pants is my usual gardening style. There is a time to every season and a right time to do most tasks. The logical order is plan, prepare the soil, plant and of course harvest.

“She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey.” – Van Morrison   Driving up the back roads and highways of South Carolina we do see seasonal color. This past weekend was exemplary! There were fabulous yellows, pinks, purples, oranges and whites.

Fall is in the air and night temperatures are at a lovely low after the humidity of the past summers’ sticky caress. The roadsides and fields are blooming whites, yellows and lavenders as flowers are desperately trying to attract bees, flies, moths, and butterflies.

I’d like you to meet the Mallow family. They are a handsome bunch and will add daily interest and color to your perennial and shrub beds during the summer and fall.

I just got back from a week in the Appalachian Mountains where North Carolina borders Tennessee. It was so nice to go from mid-90 to mid-60 temperatures. We were also at an elevation that was literally in the clouds.

Found on the southeastern edge of the continent, Sea Island address, marsh viewI was lying in my hammock contemplating the forms and shapes in the leaf canopy overhead when I was shocked to discover that a tree growing by the corner of the screen porch was an imposter, at least not what I had unwittingly supposed was a hickory.

The daffodils are some of the first heralds of spring in my pass along garden. They are the alarm clock that let me know that the garden soil temperature is warming. The red maples and Carolina jessamine are also coloring the skyline and treetops.