Everyone loves a mystery, the saying goes. At the garden centre mysteries usually come in the form of plants, or more correctly, pieces of plants that customers need identified. Is it a weed or a valuable ornamental? Annual or perennial? What have I got growing in my garden? Sometimes the mystery is in the name […]
I’m not about to rename “Turf’s Up” to “Pestilence and Plagues” but this week’s column follows up the grasshopper entry with an insect that many people consider to be the most annoying of all-ants. Ants and aphids are definitely the most common insects that we field calls about at the garden centre and ant activity […]
I would like to present my nomination for “Most Annoying Garden Pest in a Continuous Role.” Every summer my garden, any many others, is plagued with grasshoppers. Perhaps plague is too strong a word because they don’t swarm through and eat everything as in a Hollywood movie. But they certainly enjoy certain plants; they leave […]
Gardening is a Tough Business I stopped being sentimental about plants three decades ago when I started working in horticulture for a living, but I sympathize with those who hate pulling plants out of the garden. Gardeners are, after all, growers and nurturers. Sometimes, however, a plant has to go. Whether it’s sending shoots metres […]
