Jasmine Hughes

Suddenly spotting green anoles everywhere you look in your yard can feel like something shifted overnight. For North…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 12

If your backyard bumps up against woods or a brushy fence line, ticks are likely closer than you…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 12

Liriope has edged walkways in North Carolina yards for decades, but it does not actually feed local wildlife…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 11

Spotting a hawk gliding over your North Carolina yard is one of those moments that stops you mid-task.…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 11

Most North Carolina homeowners walk right past American persimmon without giving it a second thought, and that is…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 11

Spotting a large bee hovering near your porch rail or finding a perfectly round hole in a beam…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 11

Something colorful and unfamiliar has been landing on fences, tree trunks, and garden plants across parts of North…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 11

Spotting a box turtle near your garden beds can feel like a sign from nature, and in a…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 11

Yard fences, shrubs, and garden walls across North Carolina have been crawling with small green lizards this summer,…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 10

By late summer, many North Carolina homeowners start noticing wasps everywhere, around the porch railing, hovering over the…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 10

If you step outside on a warm summer evening in North Carolina and hear a wall of sound…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 10

Stepping onto your porch one July morning to find a dozen shield-shaped bugs clustered on the siding can…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 10

Crossvine is a fast-growing native vine that most North Carolina homeowners walk right past at the nursery, and…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 10

Every North Carolina homeowner who has walked out to find hostas stripped bare or daylilies chewed to stubs…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 10

Late August has a way of draining the color out of most garden beds, leaving North Carolina homeowners…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 9

Spotting a fox trotting through your yard once is a treat. Seeing the same animal cross the same…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 9

Step outside on a warm July morning in the Piedmont or coastal plain, and you might count a…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 9

If you have a wooded property line in North Carolina, you have probably wondered what you can plant…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 9

Most North Carolina gardens hit a wall in August, when the heat and humidity cause flower after flower…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 9

Spotting a large bee hovering near your porch railing and then disappearing into a hole in the wood…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 9

Spotting a cluster of fresh mounds in your garden bed can feel alarming, but the story behind them…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 8

Finding an eastern box turtle slowly making its way through your tomatoes or flower beds can stop you…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 8

Cracked tomatoes are one of the most frustrating sights in a late-summer garden, especially when you have been…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 8

Every August and September, North Carolina yards fill with a rising chorus of rasping, buzzing calls coming from…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 8

Fall broccoli is one of the most rewarding cool-season crops a North Carolina gardener can grow, but getting…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 8

Spotting a copperhead along the edge where your yard meets the woods can stop you in your tracks,…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 8

Most North Carolina homeowners have seen a Bradford pear in full white bloom and thought it looked like…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 7

Walk the edge where your lawn meets the woods and you might brush past a thorny, low-growing shrub…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 7

Every fall, North Carolina homeowners start sneezing and immediately point a finger at the bright yellow wildflower blooming…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 7

Something unsettling happens when a patch of your lawn turns brown in a matter of days, and no…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 7

Every July and August, North Carolina homeowners spot something alarming: huge, yellow-striped wasps hovering low over the grass…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 7

Spotting a large, fast-moving spider along your foundation can stop you in your tracks, especially when it seems…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 7

Stepping outside to find praying mantises perched on every shrub and fence post can feel like your yard…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 6

Spotting a copperhead along your yard’s wooded edge in late summer can stop you cold, and it raises…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 6

Every summer, North Carolina gardeners walk outside to find their rose bushes looking like lace curtains, stripped of…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 6

Chain-link fences are practical, but they are not exactly beautiful, and most homeowners would rather look at something…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 6

Most backyard blueberry growers in North Carolina spend the summer focused on picking fruit, but the work that…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 6

Spotting a hawk once is exciting, but seeing the same bird swoop through your backyard again and again…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 6

Finding a handful of large, fast-moving spiders patrolling your foundation on a cool October evening can make any…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 5

Walk outside on a warm August evening in North Carolina and you might feel like the trees have…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 5

A patch of ragged, browning grass can send a North Carolina homeowner straight to the garden center, but…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 5

Spotting a nearly round hole in your deck rail or fence post can stop you mid-step, especially when…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 5

Every summer, Japanese beetles show up in North Carolina yards and go straight for roses and bean plants,…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 5

Glance out at a North Carolina yard in late summer and you might spot a dozen small green…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 5

Late summer in North Carolina often brings a surprise in the backyard: silky white webs draped over the…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Spotted lanternflies have been showing up in more North Carolina yards, and the egg masses they leave behind…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Stepping outside on a warm North Carolina evening and spotting wolf spiders scattered across your yard can feel…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

A colorful, fast-spreading insect called the spotted lanternfly has been turning up in North Carolina yards, and one…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Every October, a lot of North Carolina yards sit bare and brown while neighbors wonder what went wrong…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4