By Tonya Ashworth, Extension Agent Right now, my plants outside look a bit sad. But, like many gardeners, I can’t go for too long without getting some dirt under my fingernails. So, to pass the time as we wait for spring, we turn ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes
After several mild winters, NorthEast Florida has experienced several recent cold spells where we have turned up the thermostats in our homes. Homes typically have low humidity levels anyway but during the winter, heat pumps and other ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
With three days of hard freeze already this winter and another weekend of freezing temps ahead, our gardens need us to brush up on frost protection. When does frost occur? Frost, which is a layer of ice crystals, is formed when water ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
Early in my career as a forester I advised a homeowner to use a certain pesticide to treat an insect problem he was having. He called me back a week later to tell me that after he followed my advice, his plant was killed. How could that ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Lawn, Pests & Disease, Turf
Historically, nothing said spring had arrived any better than a flowering dogwood tree. It remains a favored tree in southern landscapes. Sometimes you may see an occasional dogwood in bloom in the local pine forests. However, it is very ... READ MORE
Category: , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Pests & Disease
When I graduated as a forester 37 years ago, the northern range of mangrove trees in coastal waters was about the Merritt Island area roughly 100 miles south of here. However, with climate change reducing the number of extreme cold events it ... READ MORE
Category: , Coasts & Marine, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Natural Resources, Water
As we prepare our yards for a fresh start in 2023, perhaps one of our New Year’s resolutions can be to be to make some changes in how we maintain our landscape. By doing so perhaps we can save some money and have a healthier landscape ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Lawn, Pests & Disease
The stuff of horror movies is in your garden; meat eating plants, larvae that devours you from within, birds that attack you. They are the inspiration of movies such as “Little Shop of Horrors,” “The Birds” and many space alien invaders ... READ MORE
Category: , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
Pumpkin! The very word whispers of fall and Halloween and Thanksgiving and golden pies. The fruit of a vining squash plant, pumpkin plants sprawl out 6 feet in each direction, taking up a lot of landscape. The fruit itself can come in colors ... READ MORE
Category: Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes
As we consider global warming, storm season, and weirder weather in general, the case for a smart irrigation controllers becomes more persuasive. More than the savings in your monthly JEA bill for water usage, it is the saving of our state, ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes