I hate pickleworms for attempting to ruin my summer squash! They slip into my zucchini, pattypan, and straight-neck squash unawares until I see the telltale hole and frass. Cut open, the squash is generally hollowed out… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell One flowering bulb that always catches my eye in the garden center spring bulb displays is the calla lily. A member of the Aroid family, this flowering plant forms a spathe… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell While some people may miss the spring flowers of the north – tulips being one of them – we have many flowering bulb substitutes which put on a similar show right… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell One or two flowering plants hardly make an impact at a glance, but a whole line of them close to the road can make you put the brakes on! Once I… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell As you are planning your annual flower bed this year, one that I have really had good success with in Charlotte County is Cosmos. This annual flowering plant comes in many… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell I was out in our Demonstration Garden at the East Port Campus on Harbor View Road in Port Charlotte this morning and smelled a floral fragrance of some type –a honey-like… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell Blooms at this time of year catch the eye and draw you to a passing landscape. I have been seeing powderpuff shrubs in bloom with their puffy pink to red flowers… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell My first experience with a ylang ylang tree was living next door to one in the West Indies. At night, the heavenly fragrance would slowly drift through the air currents and… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell I recently visited the Naples Botanical Garden and was overwhelmed by the beauty and the splendor of the plantings – my first visit! Of all the plants I could have focused… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell Unawares, you could be walking on a Lilliputian orchid in your own lawn and not know it! This orchid is known as the Soldier’s Orchid or Lawn Orchid. I have always… Read More
