Early Start On Spring Gardening

You don’t need to wait for warm weather to start your vegetable garden. Did you know there are several types of vegetables you can start as early as March? Radishes, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, onions and many more vegetables are all quite frost tolerant, and you can seed or transplant them in the garden from mid-March to early April. Continue reading

Time for 5 Eastern Tent Caterpillar Egg Hatch

After spending about 9 months as eggs in masses on twigs of wild cherry and related trees, the first few tiny eastern tent caterpillars (ETC) of the season should soon be leaving their eggs. The onset of the single generation that occurs each year varies with the character of the season. Hatch was noted as early as March 14, 2012 during an unseasonably warm spring and as late as April 2, 2014 during one that was slow to develop. Continue reading

Hellebores

A plant that flowers in winter has a head start in making it onto any plants lover’s list. This perennial is one that can grow in Kentucky gardens from the knobs and bluegrass to Ohio River, making it a plant for all regions, over a wide range of climates. Despite its common name, Lenten Rose is not a garden rose at all. Continue reading

Serviceberries Are Great for Small Landscapes

Serviceberries, Amelanchier spp., are an ideal sized tree for most landscapes. Sometimes considered large shrubs, serviceberry trees are usually grown in clumps with many upright branches, although they can be trained to a single trunk. They reach sizes of 25 feet tall by 15 to 20 feet wide. Amelanchier is one of those trees whereby the common name can sometimes make it difficult to identify. In addition to serviceberry, these trees are also known by Saskatoon, shadblossom, shadbush, shadwood, Juneberry, mountain blueberry, or sarvis-tree. Being a native tree to woodland borders and hillsides in eastern North America, settlers who encounter and admired Amelanchier contributed to the multiple common names it now carries. One name, serviceberry, originated because branches were collected in mid-winter and forced into bloom for church services. Continue reading