Even though hurricane season and afternoon storms are about a month out, now is the time to be thinking about the trees around our homes. There is no “risk free” tree however; there are strategies that we can undertake that can create ... READ MORE
Category: , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension
Is your lawn burning a hole in your wallet? Think about this: the average home in Florida uses 991 gallons of water every irrigation cycle! That's like running your dishwasher 50 times or keeping the bathroom faucet running for more than 8 hours...and ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, UF/IFAS ExtensionA "fencepost mentality"? We don’t often think about the roots of trees until there is a problem. A forester friend of mine called it a “fencepost mentality”. Being underground, they are often out of sight out of mind. However, ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension
By now you may have heard that this February, a Phase II Severe Water Shortage was declared in Duval County. We also had some unusually cold temperatures through the winter months that killed many of our landscape plants. But what do those ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, UF/IFAS Extension
Harvesting: By early May, most of the cool season crops have been harvested. The peas have been suffering in the heat and succumbing to powdery mildew, so we harvest and pull up the plants. The lettuce has threatened to bolt, so it too has ... READ MORE
Category: Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension
A common question we get at the extension office has to do with little round balls falling out of trees Sometimes they are fuzzy, and sometimes they are smooth. The fuzzy balls falling to the ground are called woolly oak leaf galls. They are ... READ MORE
Category: Forests, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension
My favorite part of spring is when the grey, baren branches of deciduous trees starts to come alive with new light green foliage It is also the time when folks start to look at their trees with a new interest, seeing things they had not noticed ... READ MORE
Category: Forests, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS Extension
Recently, someone emailed me photos of vegetable plants with cupped and deformed leaves Strange, deformed new growth on plants is a common symptom of herbicide damage, but she had not sprayed any herbicides near her garden. The most likely ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension
Many people are still unaware that the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) released an updated Plant Hardiness Zone Map in 2023. The most recent edition of the map until now was published in 2012 and put Duval County in Zone 9A. The average ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension
Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are all warm weather vegetables from the Solanaceae family They feature prominently in many of our favorite Mediterranean cuisines—from Italian, Spanish and Portuguese to Middle Eastern and North African. All ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension