Paul Pugliese.
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March is a great time to plant Irish potatoes in North Georgia. There are literally hundreds of cultivars of potatoes that come in every shape, color, and size imaginable. Potatoes can be white, red, purple, blue, and yellow. The Irish potato gets its name from the history of the Irish potato famine. The popular term…
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Weeds make flowers and flowers make seeds—lots of seeds. Although plants don’t have legs or feet to move around, they do have the ability to move their seeds. In fact, there are several seed dispersal mechanisms used by plants to move about. This is the reason why weeds are seemingly a never-ending problem for farms,…
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Last week I was working in the backyard and discovered an Eastern Kingsnake eating another Eastern Kingsnake! This a one-in-a-million chance encounter with one our most incredible native snake species that is found throughout Georgia and the Southeast. I quickly ran inside the house to get my nine-year-old son to come out and watch this…
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Caution! Warning! Danger! Poison! These are the signal words that you will find on the labels of various pesticide products. These signal words are listed in order of least toxic (Caution) to most toxic (Poison). Typically, most of the products you would find at the local garden center fall into the “Caution” category. The signal…
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I can never tell if my clients are serious or just pulling my leg when it comes to old wives’ tales and folklore related to farming, gardening, and predicting the weather. I’m a big fan of the classic movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. This movie underscores the absurdity of the whole Groundhog Day tradition. …
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During the last week of February, I was out pruning some trees and got to experience an amazing sap flow on one of the river birch trees we have planted in our front yard. Usually, I prune my trees earlier in the winter, but got behind with some other chores this year. When I removed…
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The Holly (Ilex) genus consists of more than 400 species. Hollies offer a diverse range of plant characteristics. They can be deciduous or evergreen and vary from small (18 inches) to very large (over 50 feet). Fall and early winter is the ideal time to plant hollies and other new shrubs in your landscape. Female…
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Construction and major landscape renovations can have a negative impact on existing trees, but the damage is often not immediately visible. We commonly see trees, in close proximity to the construction zone, die within five to seven years of building a new home. In many cases, trees should be removed prior to a home being…
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Recently, we had a client contact the Extension office asking about watering newly planted landscape shrubs. The client asked, “I have gotten such mixed messages on how I should have been watering — gardeners are telling me [water] every day; arborists and the nursery are saying [water] once a week, which I did. That didn’t…
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There are many options for controlling weeds in home lawns. Many of the turfgrass herbicides on the market today are highly selective and control specific weeds without damaging the grass. However, it’s important to note that these herbicides are not completely harmless to lawns and the ability of a lawn to “tolerate” an herbicide depends…