Amanda Wilkins

The holidays can bring a bounty of baked goods and savory treats, and leave you with a variety of odd ingredients. People come and go from your home, bringing you food from all over; it can be overwhelming.

I have written extensively about invasive plant species hiding out under our noses in our gardens and local natural areas. It is up to us to learn to identify those

The nighttime scents and sounds of the Costa Rican Caribbean forest are as idyllic as any you can imagine. You have chirps, tweets, hums, growls, barks....the soundtrack we in North Carolina can relate to from our summer days sitting on the back porch.

Winter is the time to observe the bones of your garden, and reflect on how the previous year went.

Tony Avent prunes the muscadines at Juniper Level Botanic Garden in Raleigh, NC in the winter of 2021. Photo by Amanda Wilkins

February roadsides in the South are peppered with historical patches of daffodils. All that is left of some old home foundations are lines of the cheerful winter blooms.

Clover lawns are touted as the saving grace of the low green areas (aka lawns) we demand around our homes and buildings for folks who want to provide nectar and forage for pollinators. Everyone seems to have an opinion on this, from dime-a-dozen garden bloggers to well-known names like Bob Villa and big box store brands. You could swim in the conflicting opinions and perspectives, but this isn’t helpful at the end of the day. You need to have reasonable expectations for what to expect and under what circumstances to use clovers in your lawn areas.

I love driving around Lee County and looking at what folks are growing in their yards.

Crapemyrtles, Lagerstroemia ssp., are a staple of the Southern landscape in the US. The breeding efforts of US National Arboretum, USDA and keen horticulturists brought diversity and interest into the group in the 70’s and 80’s; following the 1950’s expedition that brought the famous Lagertstroemia fauriei ‘Fantasy’ to what is now called the JC Raulston Arboretum. Now, there is a crapemyrtle of every size, shape and color for every niche you might have in your yard. Yet, there is danger in the overutilization of the same species or group of plants: susceptibility to pests and diseases. The time has come for crapemyrtles to meet their match.

Minda Daughtry, Horticulture Agent, Updated by Amanda Wilkins