Many people have a love/hate relationship with their pachysandra. They love that it is a durable, reliable ground cover that performs well in sun or shade. It requires almost zero care or even attention and provides an island of dark green that contrasts nicely with other elements of the landscape. When planted, it spreads easily…
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Tag: Redding Nursery
The Trial of the Killer Tomatoes
You say tomato and I say tomahto… But 200 years ago you might have said poison! When the Spanish introduced the tomato to Europe in the 1500s, the plant was greeted with skepticism and fear. The harmless tomato resembles (and is a distant relative of) the belladonna or deadly nightshade plant. For many years Europeans associated…
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“The Revenge of the Acorn”: Lyme Disease Explosion
It is shaping up to be a very bad year for ticks in Redding, Connecticut. The risk of Lyme Disease is higher than ever and the CDC is reporting that a higher percentage of ticks are carrying the Borrelia bacteria spirochetes which cause the disease. This comes as a surprise to many who thought the…
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Augusta National…The Gardener’s Dream
It is perhaps the most beautiful sports venue in the world. Augusta National, home of The Masters, brings the term “landscaping” to an entirely different level. Rolling hills of the greenest green grass, broken up by stands of long-needle pines and luscious southern magnolias. All of this, punctuated by mounds of brilliant azaleas and rhododendrons,…
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Delightful Deer and the Damage They Do
Growing up in Connecticut in the 1970s, the sight of a deer was such a rare event that you would stop your car and get out to take a closer look. Today there are so many deer you have to swerve your car to avoid hitting them. The same is true in many suburbs across…
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Learning About the Lace Bug
Lace & Bug. Two words that don’t seem to go together. Kind of like “Jumbo Shrimp” or “Awfully Good.” But put these two words together and you create an oxymoron that will make your plants look “Pretty Ugly.” Lace Bug damage is on the rise. Their favorite host plant is Andromeda (Pieris spp.). Like the…
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Arborvitae Destruction in a Bag
A couple of summers ago, our family took a trip to the Antietam Civil War Battlefield. I love history as much as I do plants. You can imagine my joy as we walked out of the hotel parking lot and I saw an insect I had not seen since childhood. I got my kids…
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Let’s Talk Ticks, and Powassan Virus Risk
The snow has finally melted, so it’s time to talk ticks. Unless you’ve had your head buried in the snow, you know why. Over the past couple of weeks, news media stories about the “new” tick-borne Powassan virus — have multiplied exponentially, as has the public’s growing alarm. Concern, certainly, is justified because the virus…
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