April in the Garden
By April, wherever in the country you live, spring has arrived in some form. In the north it is still tentative, and there may even be persistent patches of snow lying in deep,…
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Buying Garden Plants Online – a How-to Guide
Wow have things changed, and in ways we never could have imagined. We don’t know when it is going to change back – or if it ever will be the same again. Preserving…
March in the Garden
What happens in your garden in March depends on where you live. In colder zones the answer will probably be, “Broken promises,” with warmer, sunny days that turn cold at night and then…
Should I Remove That Tree?
Everyone loves trees, and we love even more older trees, because we know how long it takes for a tree to grow to maturity. That makes it difficult for us to take down…
Using Ornamental Grasses in Your Garden
Older gardeners will remember a time when ‘grass’ was just that green stuff you had to mow every week, but for today’s gardens it means so much more. With their unique look, their…
Choose the Right Red Maple for Your Garden
There was a time when our streets were lined with elm trees, but those days are gone. Much more likely today is to find streets lined with Red Maple, Acer rubrum, a native…
How to Choose a Flowering Dogwood Tree
Flowering Dogwood Trees are among the most spectacular flowering trees there are, and they are top choices for any garden. Grown as a lawn specimen, planted as background trees for your garden, or…
The Killer Disease Stalking our Dogwoods
Flowering dogwood trees are a major highlight of spring and early summer throughout the east. In the woods and in gardens the glory of these trees is an annual event so glorious it…
Montezuma Cypress – a Gift from the Aztecs
If asked what the largest living thing on the planet is, most people will answer, “Whales.” The more adventurous might talk about the enormous soil fungi that cover acres of woodland, as wispy…
How to Choose a Tree Surgeon
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been looking at tree care. Winter is a good season for this, because the lack of leaves makes it easier to see what needs doing,…
The Basics of Tree Trimming
In our previous blog, Should I Trim My Trees? we talked about how to look at a mature tree and decide if the time has come for some trimming. On a larger tree…
Should I Trim My Trees?
Trees are great to have on your property, bringing beauty and shade, cleaning the air and removing CO2 from the atmosphere – we should all be planting more of them. Older trees, though,…
Why Garden?
It’s the beginning of not just a new year, but a new decade too, and such moments can bring on episodes of deep reflection. Here at the Tree Center we focus on the…
January in Your Garden
Of all the months of the year, January is the one which will be very different in your garden, depending on where you live. In colder zones you can pretty much guarantee it…
Plant a Tree – Your Gift to the Future
2019 saw a lot of big stories. But the biggest was the final realization by people (most politicians still have some catching up to do) that we are in danger of leaving our…
Dark Foliage in the Garden – Use it Effectively
Everyone is using colored leaves in the garden these days – colored something other than green that is. Perhaps it is precisely because green is so ubiquitous that there is an eternal fascination…
Grow Versatile Tree Roses in Your Garden
There are many kinds of roses – Hybrid Tea, Floribunda, Landscape Rose, and many more – but the same rose can come in different ways too. Typically, they are grown to produce stems…
Rebloom or Encore Azaleas – Which Should I Grow?
Evergreen azaleas are among the most attractive and colorful flowers we can grow in our gardens. It used to be that spring was the season for them, and they brighten our beds and…
The Taming of the Mountain Laurel
Across the hills of a large part of eastern North America, carpeting the forest floor beneath trees, growing on slopes, or edging streams, grows the mountain laurel. Found all the way from southern…
Eastern Arborvitae – the Tree for Cold Seasons
North America is a vast land, and the seasons are very different, depending on what climate zones you are. This seems obvious, but when it comes to gardening, that variation means making different…
The Story of Lilacs
Lilacs hold a special place in gardens, and in the hearts of garden lovers. Praised by poets, they spell ‘home’ to many of us, with their old-fashioned charm and their association with older…
Japanese Maples – Bark Can be Beautiful Too
One of the best features of Japanese Maples is their fall color, but after that there is not so much to see, and during winter many are brown or perhaps green. The idea…
Trees and Shrubs for Winter Bloom and Berries
Most gardens look their best in spring and early summer. That is when the majority of plants flower, so is easy to have flowers then, and if you don’t plan your planting, you…
8 Fall Cleanup Tips for a Better Spring Garden
November will soon arrive, and that means increasing cold and shorter days in the garden. Especially in the north, some preparation is needed, although in warmer zones this is also a good month…