Ellen Peffley

In the March 6 and March 13 columns were guidelines for choosing fruit trees for our USDA Hardiness zones 7 and 8. In today’s column are guidelines for training stone fruit trees.Pruning of fruit trees is done to train the tree to a specific growth system. The most popular stone fruits are peach, apricot, plum, nectarine and cherry.The primary reason for pruning stone fruit trees is to open the…

Gardening for You: Protect Spring greens from hungry critters

Easter lilies are the traditional flower for Easter celebrations with their white, trumpet-shaped, strongly fragrant flowers. The heavy fragrance of the Easter lily can be attributed to its prominent and profuse pollen. Not only does the pollen elicit a heavy fragrance, but the pollen can also trigger severe allergic reactions, influencing many to seek alternative flowering plants for the Easter lily.

It is finally the month of April, after what seems to have been an odd few months.Maybe our weather will settle into a predictable pattern now that it is spring and April is here. Yes, this is optimistic considering we may have another freeze before our average last freeze date of April 20 — but plans for a garden can still be made.In April, gardeners are keen to get outside. Maybe that is why in…

April has arrived and with it the official National Lawn and Garden Month ( ngb.org ).

Gardening for You: Redbuds for spring color

Gardening for You: Breeding new hyacinth cultivars

Gardening for You: Tiny tunnels give seedlings a microclimate

Tussie mussies are a sweet way to share garden flowers with someone special on May Day. May is Flower Month. What better compliment to a friend or loved one than giving a tussie mussie as a surprise expression of devotion on the first day of May, May Day?

Those white potatoes that were planted on the Ides of March have a lot of activity going on under the ground right now.