Gardening Tips

Oregano has been growing quietly in North Carolina gardens for years, doing its job without much fanfare. Whether…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 8

When cooler nights arrive, it is tempting to haul every potted plant back inside for the season. But…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 8

Landscape fabric sounds like a smart shortcut, but in North Carolina beds it usually breaks down, traps weeds…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 8

Lavender looks like a forgiving plant until one season it stops flowering and starts looking like a bundle…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 8

Fall can feel like the perfect time to tidy up your hydrangeas, but for many Southern gardeners, that…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 8

Peonies are one of the most rewarding perennials a North Carolina gardener can grow, but they come with…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 8

Purple coneflowers look stunning in a sunny garden, but plenty of Southern gardeners end up with scraggly plants…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 8

If you have a plant sitting on your windowsill that everyone calls a Christmas cactus, September is the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

That soggy corner where your downspout empties never seems to dry out, and most plants rot there within…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 7

Few things are more frustrating than watching your fall broccoli shoot up yellow flowers before you ever get…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

Bell peppers turning red right on the plant can feel alarming, especially when the skin starts to wrinkle…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

Watching a baby zucchini swell with promise, then shrivel and rot before it reaches your kitchen, is one…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

Deer can hit backyard gardens hard during late summer and fall, especially when heat and drought reduce the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

Waking up to a yard full of fresh holes is one of those gardening surprises that turns a…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

Clematis can fill a fence with lush green growth all season long and still disappoint you with barely…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

You walk past your Christmas cactus and notice the stems have gone soft and droopy, so your first…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

Buying bag after bag of mulch every spring gets old fast, and it drains your wallet while doing…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 7

When tomato vines start looking rough, it can be hard to know whether to keep nursing them along…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

Fall is a tempting time to tidy up the garden, and hydrangeas with their faded, papery blooms can…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

Lantana is one of the most reliable warm-season bloomers in North Carolina yards, but even the toughest plants…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 7

Picking up pruning shears when the air cools down feels like responsible garden care, but for hydrangeas, that…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

A bare chain-link fence is one of the least attractive features a yard can have, and most homeowners…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 7

September in Florida and Texas can feel like the yard is shutting down for hummingbirds. Flowers that fed…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

You water it, you train it, and every spring you stand there staring at a wall of green…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

Late summer and early fall bring a hidden hazard to many North Carolina lawns: a possible underground yellowjacket…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 7

Holding a packet of zinnia seeds in September and wondering if you’ve already missed your chance is a…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

Watching a hydrangea droop in the afternoon heat is one of those moments that makes every Southern gardener…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

Every summer, North Carolina gardeners watch deer strip their hosta beds overnight, leaving nothing but ragged stems. Hostas…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 7

Late summer is prime time to watch hummingbirds fuel up at your backyard feeder, but something else may…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 7

Bare patches in a Southern lawn are an open invitation for weeds, and no amount of pulling seems…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

You might be surprised to learn that a few plants sitting in your Southern garden right now could…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Purple coneflowers are supposed to be tough, but plenty of gardeners watch them struggle season after season despite…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Fall is sneaking up on Southern gardens faster than most people realize, and a few perennials in your…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Seeing your hydrangea flowers turn brown while the leaves stay perfectly green can send a gardener into a…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Waiting three years for a new flower bed to look full is nobody’s idea of fun. Some North…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 6

Ever notice your tomato plants looking healthy but barely setting any fruit? Sometimes the problem is not the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

American elderberry is a native shrub that can soften a fence line, supply summer fruit for birds, and…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 6

When summer winds down and your garden beds look worn out, it can feel like the season is…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Scattering grass seed over a bare patch feels like a simple fix, but plenty of Southern homeowners end…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Staring at a bare, empty flower bed can feel discouraging, especially when you want color fast. The good…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Bare patches in a North Carolina yard can feel like an open invitation to weeds, mud, and eroding…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 6

When your tomato plants start looking tired and leggy, it can feel like the growing season is over.…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Ticks are a real concern for North Carolina homeowners, especially during the warmer months when people and pets…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 6

Bare patches showing up in your lawn right before fall can feel like a race against the clock.…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Plenty of North Carolina homeowners have looked at a crape myrtle growing in the wrong spot and thought,…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 6

If your porch or balcony geranium looks more like a bare stick with a few leaves at the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

You water them, you feed them, and your geraniums look full and green – but the flowers just…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Zinnias are one of the most rewarding flowers you can grow in a North Carolina yard, but keeping…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 6

You walk out to your bird feeder in the morning and find seed scattered everywhere, the feeder tipped…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6