This month’s plant spotlight is the tea olive, also known by scientific name as Osmanthus. Tea olive is a dense, evergreen shrub that is better known for its fragrant fall flowers. The leaves of tea olives resemble holly leaves, often being confused with hollies, giving it the other common name of false holly. It is…… read more »
Category Archives: Gardening Tips
Plant Spotlight: Tea Olive
Successfully Grow Fruit Trees In Your Garden
With the start of the New Year, many of us have New Year resolutions such as getting healthy, lose weight, reduce stress or start a new hobby. Gardening can be a way to accomplish many of these resolutions. With interest in growing one’s own food increasing in popularity over recent years, fruit trees are just…… read more »
January Gardening Tips
As the holiday season is now behind us, many of us gardeners begin to dream of warm spring days when we can spend more time in our gardens. Take advantage of January to plan and prepare for the gardening season. General Garden Tips: Make sure your tools are ready for the spring growing season. Sharpen…… read more »
Plan Next Year’s Garden By Ordering Seeds
After the holiday season, January can be a long, dull month but for gardeners January can be an exciting time. January is the month when garden enthusiasts spend hours looking through seed catalogs, dreaming, and planning for their upcoming spring garden. Eventually gardeners decided what new vegetable or flower cultivars to order along with ordering…… read more »
Poinsettias Make The Holidays Bright
Poinsettias are a very common site during the Christmas holidays. You can find them in a wide range of colors from reds, pinks, marbles, and whites. With proper care, poinsettias will provide color and beauty for several weeks during the holidays. The poinsettia is a small tree and is native to the tropical area of…… read more »
Winter Gardening Chores
Winter weather is here and activity in the garden has slowed down. For gardening enthusiasts, their green thumbs might be itching to be outside doing something in the garden during this time of year. Winter is a great time to do several garden activities that can pay off in the spring. Below are a few…… read more »
Holiday Cacti Provide Color During The Holiday Season
You don’t typically think of cacti blooming at Christmas time, but the Christmas and Thanksgiving cacti offers exotic flowers in many different colors during the holiday season. These cacti are different than typical cacti because they are thorn-free. There are actually different types of holiday cacti named for the time they bloom: Easter, Thanksgiving and…… read more »
December Gardening Tips
In December our minds are probably more on preparing for the holidays than working in the garden. If you need a break from the holiday rush, use these tips to guide you in the garden: Trees, Shrubs and Flowers Do not prune azaleas, rhododendrons and other spring flowering shrubs because they have already set their…… read more »
Collards Are In Season, Just In Time For Holiday Meals!
For many people in our area, the first fall frost of the season usually means that it is time to include collards with our fall meals. There is something about that first frost that people say makes collards taste so good. Collard greens have long been a staple vegetable in Southern US cuisine. Collard greens…… read more »
Common Mistakes To Avoid In The Landscape
One of the great things about gardening is everyone can incorporate their own styles by selecting plants and features they enjoy. However, there are some common mistakes in the landscape everyone should avoid so that they can avoid future problems and keep their plants healthy. Here would be my “Top 5” common landscape mistakes (in…… read more »
