The plant of the month is fothergilla. It is so designated because we now have one large plant and many suckers courtesy of our donor extraordinaire John. The large plant was 3 feet tall and very heavy. We rolled it off the truck and into a hole so hopefully it will adapt and provide us...

  Sometimes we notice things in our gardening endeavors that are puzzling. In time the proverbial light bulb may appear over our heads and an explanation for the oddity presents itself. One of those eureka moments occurred recently. Several years ago I ordered seeds for a purple tomatillo (Physalis ixocarpa.) These tomatillos are much sweeter...

Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Adelges tsugae Many landowners have been culling ash trees in anticipation of the devastation anticipated by the arrival of the Emerald Ash Borer   (There is a very good reason for this and we will explore it next month.)  The next victim of insect invasion may be the hemlock. Cook Forest has one...

We recently had a question as to whether black-eyed- Susan is a perennial, a short lived perennial or a biennial. For some gardeners the clumps come back every year, grow bigger and eventually require division. For other gardeners the plants will reseed but the plant never seems to get bigger but there are always black-eyed-Susans...

Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) As fall approaches plants go on sale. The lower prices give us the opportunity to take chances with plants that are questionable for our area or the situation in which we wish to grow them. We will be experimenting with a new one this fall. There is a section on the...