Jasmine Hughes

Gardenias in North Carolina can be stubborn about flowering, and late August is exactly when a small misstep…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 24

That steep bank in your yard is a headache waiting to happen. Every hard rain washes soil downhill,…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 23

Leyland cypress used to be the go-to privacy plant in North Carolina yards, but too many folks watched…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 23

Picking the right mulch for your North Carolina yard is less about brand loyalty and more about reading…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 23

Lantana is one of the toughest, most colorful plants you can grow in a North Carolina summer, but…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 23

Fall beets grown in North Carolina can reward patient gardeners with roots that are more tender and better…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 23

A butterfly bush drooping in the August heat can send a gardener straight for the hose, but watering…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 23

Camellias are some of the most rewarding shrubs a North Carolina gardener can grow, putting on a flower…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 22

If you have a wooded edge in your North Carolina yard, you have probably wondered how to make…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 22

Few things are more discouraging than watching a plant that thrived all spring suddenly droop and die in…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 22

Lantana can put on one of the longest color shows in a North Carolina yard, but getting the…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 22

Coneflowers get all the attention, but they often fade just when North Carolina summers get brutal. The good…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 22

North Carolina gardens get a whole second season when the summer heat finally breaks, and fall is honestly…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 22

That sweet-smelling vine crawling up your fence might be doing more harm than good in your North Carolina…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 21

Hostas get all the attention in shady yards, but they melt in North Carolina’s sticky summers and get…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 21

Every evening, across neighborhoods from the Piedmont to the coastal plain, North Carolina homeowners are watching the same…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 21

Japanese beetles can turn a healthy rose bush or grapevine into a skeleton of stems in just a…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 21

Landscape fabric rips, clogs, and eventually lets weeds win anyway. The smarter move for a hot, sunny North…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 21

Nobody wants to spend every weekend trimming, staking, and babying the plants along their walkway or flower bed.…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 21

If you have spent any time cutting those stubborn shoots off your crape myrtle only to find them…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 20

Late summer heat can turn a once-green North Carolina lawn into a patchwork of brown and gray almost…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 20

Pulling weeds feels like a losing battle, but those plants showing up in the same spots year after…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 20

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds pass through North Carolina yards every spring and summer, and most homeowners never know what draws…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 20

Most North Carolina homeowners know the sound well: a warm evening chorus of crickets rising from the lawn,…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 20

Hydrangeas are one of the most beloved flowering shrubs in North Carolina yards, but a common pruning mistake…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 20

Fig trees in North Carolina can produce a generous late-season crop, but hot, dry August weather puts developing…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 19

Spotting a fox trotting across your yard can stop you in your tracks, especially when kids or pets…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 19

Pull back a clump of daylilies or shift a bag of mulch in a North Carolina yard and…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 19

Retaining walls are practical, but most homeowners would rather not stare at a bare concrete or block face…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 19

Crape myrtles are one of the most reliable bloomers in North Carolina yards, but August can bring confusing…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 19

Most North Carolina homeowners drive past sourwood trees every summer without giving them a second look, but bees…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 18

Blueberry bushes that flower every spring but barely produce fruit are one of the most frustrating problems in…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 18

Panicle hydrangeas are one of the most reliable flowering shrubs in North Carolina yards, putting on a show…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 18

A fast-growing invasive tree called tree-of-heaven is already rooted in many North Carolina yards, and right now it…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 18

Spotting a box turtle near your garden beds once might feel like a lucky surprise, but finding one…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 18

Walk out to your porch on a warm North Carolina morning and you might spot a fat, shiny…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 18

Most North Carolina property lines and fence rows look pretty forgettable by October, once summer color has faded…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 17

Every August and September, North Carolina yards fill up with a loud, raspy chorus that seems to come…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 17

Ticks are a real problem for North Carolina families who spend time near wooded backyard edges, and most…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 17

Crape myrtles are one of the most common trees in North Carolina yards, and late summer tends to…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 17

Black gum, also called black tupelo, is a North Carolina native tree that quietly supports wildlife from spring…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 17

Every late summer, North Carolina homeowners start noticing a familiar, shield-shaped visitor crawling along windowsills or slipping under…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 17

If you have ever watched fireflies blink along a dark tree line at dusk, you know how much…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 16

Walk out to your North Carolina porch on a warm summer morning and you might spot a large,…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 16

Spotted lanternflies are spreading across North Carolina, and homeowners are right to look for practical ways to fight…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 16

If you have a wooded backyard edge in North Carolina, you already know that spot is prime tick…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 16

Somewhere in a pocosin thicket along the North Carolina Coastal Plain, a tree you have probably never heard…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 16

Walking out to your garden and spotting a dozen praying mantises perched on your tomato cages and shrubs…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 16

American beautyberry is a North Carolina native shrub that catches your eye every fall with clusters of vivid…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 15