Jasmine Hughes

Japanese beetles are a real headache for North Carolina homeowners, but the timing of when to act matters…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 5

Hard concrete edges can make a patio feel cold and uninviting, but the right plant along that border…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 5

Weeding around zinnias all summer is one of those chores that never seems to end, and plenty of…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 5

Eastern purple coneflower, known by its scientific name Echinacea purpurea, is one of North Carolina’s most reliable native…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 5

A Cooper’s Hawk dropping into your backyard while you are watching the bird feeder is one of those…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 5

Asparagus is one of the few vegetables you plant once and harvest for many springs to come. North…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 4

Most birdbaths sit in the yard looking lonely, drawing a splash or two and then going ignored for…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 4

Most gardens in North Carolina fizzle out by late summer, leaving beds bare just when you crave fresh…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 4

Tomato leaves curling up in the July heat is one of the most unsettling sights in a North…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 4

Blueberry bushes are patient plants, but years of skipped pruning can slowly work against them. An overcrowded, aging…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 4

Black widows are real residents of North Carolina gardens, hiding in woodpiles, under pots, and inside stored gloves.…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 4

Imagine walking through rows of sunflowers so tall they reach over your head, scissors in hand, ready to…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 3

Ajuga is one of the most popular shade groundcovers in the South, but plenty of North Carolina gardeners…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 3

Black-eyed Susans are one of the most cheerful native wildflowers in North Carolina gardens, pushing out golden-yellow blooms…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 3

Yellowing leaves on a tomato plant can send a gardener scrambling for fertilizer, a watering can, or a…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 3

Japanese beetles can turn a healthy Knockout rose into a ragged mess of skeletonized leaves and chewed blooms…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 3

English ivy looks tidy when you first plant it along a fence, but it has a way of…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 3

North Carolina grows more sweet potatoes than almost any other state, and a big part of that success…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 2

Every August, North Carolina gardeners find the same grim surprise: lamb’s ear that looked silver and lush in…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 2

Late summer in North Carolina can be rough on tomato plants, and when the harvest slows down or…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 2

Boxwood has been the go-to front-yard shrub for so long that most North Carolina yards look nearly identical.…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 2

Weeds in a North Carolina garden bed can feel like a fight you can never fully win, no…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 2

Bare, shady dirt under big oaks and pines is one of the trickiest spots in any North Carolina…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 2

Most North Carolina gardeners know the feeling: it is the middle of July, the tomatoes are sulking, the…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 1

Your tomato vines are full of leaves, growing fast, and putting out flowers – yet the fruit just…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 1

A headline promising that one missed September cut will wipe out your spring flowers sounds alarming enough to…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 1

Every spring, millions of North Carolina gardeners fill their shady beds with annual impatiens, then do it all…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 1

Growing basil through a North Carolina summer sounds simple until the plant shoots up, flowers, and turns bitter…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 1

Spotting a small, fluffy fox kit curled up in your North Carolina garden can stop you in your…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 1

Imagine planting one tree today and letting it feed your kids, and maybe even your grandkids, for the…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 31

One morning you walk outside and realize the bluebirds that spent all spring nesting near your yard are…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 31

Cardinals are one of the friendliest sights in any North Carolina yard, and the good news is you…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 31

Fall is the right time to get bulbs in the ground in North Carolina, and choosing the right…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 31

Most North Carolina gardens hit a wall in late summer, when the heat cranks up and the flowers…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 31

Growing broccoli in the fall sounds simple until you end up with a yard full of leafy plants…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 31

If you have a shady bed under shrubs or trees and you’re tired of the same imported groundcover…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 30

Collard greens have fed North Carolina families for generations, and late summer is the moment many eastern and…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 30

August is when a lot of North Carolina cucumber vines seem to hit a wall, and gardeners are…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 30

Those so-called weeds popping up across your North Carolina yard might be doing more good than you think.…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 30

Most gardeners in North Carolina pack up their seed trays by midsummer, but one cool-season crop can still…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 30

Stepping onto your porch and finding a dark snake curled near the steps is startling enough once, but…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 30

Borage is a Mediterranean herb with bright blue, star-shaped flowers that most North Carolina gardeners walk right past…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 29

Most purple perennials throw a good show in May, then quietly quit when July heat settles in. One…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 29

Most North Carolina homeowners don’t expect to find a deer curled up in the corner of their yard…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 29

Something small, fuzzy, and surprisingly dangerous may already be resting on the oak or magnolia in your North…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 29

Burning bush looks pretty in fall, but it spreads into North Carolina woods and does almost nothing for…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 29

Summer heat has a way of testing every flower bed in North Carolina, but the right plants will…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 29

Late summer might feel like the garden is winding down, but for North Carolina yards it’s actually prime…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 28

Raised beds can turn any North Carolina yard into a food-growing machine, but not every vegetable is happy…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 28