Tag: gardening

Don’t Miss the Spring Master Gardener Plant Sale!

by Caitlin Sollazzo
April 9, 2025

If you love plants, Florida-friendly landscapes, or just chatting with someone who can tell you what’s going on with your yard, this event is for you. The 2025 Spring Master Gardener Plant Sale is happening Saturday, May 3rd, in Manatee County—and ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Horticulture
Tags: FFL, Florida Friendly, Florida Friendly Landscape, Gardening, Manatee County, Manatee County Extension, Master Gardener, Master Gardener Volunteer, Plant Sale

Cultivating Curiosity: A New Plant Podcast

by Alyssa Vinson
March 7, 2024

Hours long commutes, appointments, meetings, kids, family obligations, mindless scrolling; all the ways that we inadvertently chip away at our finite resource of time. I often find myself seeking out those timeless moments, watching a cloud ... READ MORE

Category: Home Landscapes, Horticulture
Tags: Adam Dale, Andrew Koeser, Botany, Featured Hot Topic, Gardening, Marc Frank, Plants, Podcast, UF/IFAS Extension

The Gathering Spring

by Alyssa Vinson
February 2, 2024

Found lacking her sense of urgency, she perused the leaves of eggplant fuzzy with their new growth. Swollen plump, but not quite ripe, tomatoes dripped along stalks, she examines and passes them by. Looking for something fragrant and unique, ... READ MORE

Category: Home Landscapes
Tags: Featured Hot Topic, Florida Friendly Landscape, Florida Master Gardener Volunteer, Gardening, Horticulture, Insects

The Nose Knows: Aromatic Gardens in Florida

by Alyssa Vinson
October 27, 2023

Oberon: I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night [A Midsummer Night’s ... READ MORE

Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Horticulture
Tags: Aromatic Garden, Aromatic Plants For Florida, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Flowers, Gardening, Herbs, Landscapes In Southwest Florida

There is Mush Below our Feet: Common Landscape Mushrooms

by Alyssa Vinson
March 3, 2023

As if by magic, overnight, tucked neatly beneath a cap of mulch, or peaking deftly between blades of grass, mushrooms appear in all shapes, sizes, and colors imaginable. What we observe, recognized as mushrooms, are the reproductive spore producing ... READ MORE

Category: , Home Landscapes, Natural Resources
Tags: Featured Hot Topic, Florida Mushrooms, Gardening, Mushroom Identification, Mushrooms

Snails Pace

by Alyssa Vinson
September 14, 2022

In an instant, from muted light to profuse and blinding, an assault of color and form on my freshly hatched eyes. Pulling tendril-like stalks close to my lacquer thin and transparent shell, I gather my composure. Slowly extending from the edge ... READ MORE

Category:
Tags: #bugs, Featured Hot Topic, Gardening, Horticulture, Snails, UF/IFAS

From Soil to Sky: Roots

by Alyssa Vinson
August 15, 2022

The following series of columns entitled 'Soil to Sky' are an examination of five different facets of environment, structure, and life that are instrumental to trees in our forests and landscapes. Trees are instrumental to our wellbeing, both ... READ MORE

Category: Home Landscapes, Natural Resources, Work & Life
Tags: Gardening, Landscapes, Meditation, Mindfulness, Poetry, Trees, Wellness

Talk Plants with Me

by Alyssa Vinson
August 5, 2022

Do you have wilting tomatoes? Aphid infestations? Not sure what that bug is? Maybe you are new to Florida and need some help figuring out the seemingly endless array of gardening challenges? We’ve got a solution for that: Talk Plants with ... READ MORE

Category: Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Featured Hot Topic, Florida Master Gardener Volunteer, Gardening

Uncommon Edible Landscape Plants

by Alyssa Vinson
April 25, 2022

Part 2 in the Uncommon Edible Landscape Plants Series, Part 1 can be found here. The landscapes that surround our dwellings, for some, may be our first and last connection to nature. They offer respite, little bastions of nature that connect ... READ MORE

Category: Health & Nutrition, Home Landscapes
Tags: Edible Landscaping, Edibles, Featured Hot Topic, Flowers, Gardening, Home Landscapes

Growing Alligator Pears

by Lisa Hickey
February 8, 2022

Avocados, historically known as alligator pears, have become very popular over that last decade. They can be spread over toast, mashed into dips, blended into milkshakes, and even pressed for cooking oil. These deliciously creamy fruits (yes, ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Crops, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture
Tags: Avocado, Backyard Fruit, Fruit Trees, Gardening

UF/IFASExtension Manatee County

Subscribe For More Great Content

UF/IFAS
Extension Manatee County