Joy Campbell Fine Gardening

11/05/2022

Well, it;s been a great run, but I've returned to the corporate world so I can have some retirement. But I'll still be here to remind you of things like this annual necessity!

One of the most valuable things you can do to support pollinators and other invertebrates is to provide them with the winter cover they need in the form of fall leaves and standing dead plant material. Frequently however, this is the hardest pill for gardeners to swallow.

10/14/2022

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has a W**d of The Month. I love reading about the wild plants that can be found all around us.

The W**d of the Month series explores the ecology and history of the common wild plants that most gardeners consider weeds. Learn to identify the plants you pull, and find out more about each one.

09/14/2022

Goldenrod is blooming, and the insects love it! I can't say enough how much I love late-season color. Planted items are accented by nutsedge, which grows at will on the property and adds a fountain of long green leaves topped by a little firework of a seed head.

08/24/2022

This is why I leave seed heads. In addition to their value to birds, etc., they can add so much beauty to a garden.

07/23/2022

We are fortunate to have a hummingbird moth as a regular visitor to the garden center! Today's sighting courtesy of Emily Ribet

07/18/2022

When you go to a garden center, and have a staff member show you around various plants, suggest ideas, look at photos of your proposed planting area, please do not end your visit with something along the lines of, "Well, we'll have my landscaper Ritchie come by to buy these, since he has an account."

Why is this inappropriate?

If Ritchie has a contractor's account, the discount he gets is not like having a Costco card. It's not a reward for being a landscaper; it's essentially a commission for bringing business to the garden center. (It's also a way that he makes money, so you are not entitled to your landscaper's discount, FYI.) If you want to use Ritchie's discount, or if Ritchie wants to use his discount, Ritchie can get his professional self to the garden center with you, his customer, and do the work of showing you plants and helping you figure them out. Because Ritchie doesn't pay me to help you pick out plants; the garden center does. And the garden center's prices pay for that.

07/18/2022

Pollinator garden in front of the house - courtesy of rabbit-wire fencing! There is nothing like a changing field of flowers to lift your spirits.

06/29/2022

Now that we are getting into the heat of summer, we should hold off on any extreme pruning. Pruning promotes a growth response in plants, and as we head into hot weather and low rain, we want to avoid asking them to exert unnecessary energy. We also need to give new growth time to harden off before winter.

With evergreens such as hollies, early spring is the time to do any heavy pruning. This spring, I tackled a client's gorgeous holly that had been sheared for shape over the years. The result was growth on the ends of the stems, with nothing inside. Thus when I went to prune the size back, there was nothing under the first foot or so of the "shell." Because it was early in the season, I hard-pruned the entire shrub, bringing it all the way back to whips less than a foot long all over the plant. I prepared the client for the shock and assured them I hadn't destroyed their shrub (I'm not sure they believed me!)

Here are the Before and After photos. This pretty girl took advantage of good spring growth to flush out. I'm confident she will be a beautiful refreshed specimen very soon.

06/12/2022

If you saw these on your shrub, what would you do? Freak out? Swat them off? Reach for the spray? Sing from happiness? If you would do anything but the last, this is a good example of why we say that if you don't know what it is, leave it the heck alone.

These are ladybug larva!!!!!!

I was working in the bed next to one of my beach plums when a red spot on it caught my eye ... then another, then another. There were loads of ladybugs on that plant. On further inspection, I saw that there were aphids all over the ends of many branches, being farmed by ants.

The ladybugs had come, and were mating like mad because there was gooooood eatin' for their young.

I checked in pretty much daily; today, I saw ladybug larvae all over the affected areas. They look like little black-and-orange alligators.

We often forget that beneficial insects are attracted to gardens because there is something there for them, and it's not just about flowers. By leaving the aphids to the ladybugs, I left them a delicious all-you-can-eat buffet.

Party on, ladybugs!!!

05/14/2022

If your thought when looking at a property that has healthy trees on it is that you want to cut them down for some reason like "you don't like leaves," do the trees and the planet a favor and buy a townhouse in the city.

05/13/2022

Hello from Mr. Discarded No-Ears Rabbit statue who has found a new home.

05/13/2022

Pussytoes (Antennaria) stick their heads (or toes) up amidst wildflowers like dead nettle, bittercress, and wild buttercup (Actually, the wild buttercup is not native and takes over, so that had to go.)