(For Release On Or After 02/22/08) Color is very important to us. We use it everywhere in our surroundings, including in our landscapes and on our bodies.

(For Release On Or After 02/08/2008) Homeowners often are dismayed to find trees that existed on their lots when their houses were build start declining in health or dying a few years after construction. But this tragedy can be avoided if existing trees are properly protected during construction around them.

(For Release On Or After 02/15/08) Most trees are just beginning to enter a growth phase – or they will within a few weeks. Fertilizing this month provides them with nutrients just when they can use them most effectively.

(For Release On Or After 02/01/2008) At some point, many gardeners discover there is a much greater selection of annual flowers and vegetables available in seed catalogs than can be found at local nurseries. To grow those wonderful plants, however, you must be able to grow your own transplants from seed.

(For Release On Or After 03/21/08) I am often asked about low-maintenance landscaping. After a brief conversation, however, I often get the feeling that what the person actually is looking for is a no-maintenance landscape. Unfortunately, if you are going to have a landscape with trees, a lawn, shrubs and flowers, maintenance is going to be involved.

(For Release On Or After 03/14/08) Almost every landscape has shady areas, and ferns are a great group of plants that are just perfect for shady spots.

(For Release On Or After 03/07/08) Gardening is no different from any other human endeavor. Whether you want to repair your own car or cook a fancy meal, there is information you must understand and techniques you have to learn and do properly.

(For Release On Or After 03/28/08) The cucumber family, properly known as the cucurbitaceae (cu-cur-bit-A-cee-ee), provides a wide variety of vegetables popular for the spring, summer and fall home vegetable garden.

(For Release On Or After 01/26/07) Now is an excellent time to consider adding roses to your landscape, so you can enjoy the beautiful blooms this summer. Before you go to the nursery, however, it’s important to think about the type of roses you want to grow so that you make the proper selections.

(For Release On Or After 01/19/07) We are fortunate indeed to live in a state where the mild winter climate allows us to grow camellias in our landscapes. The dark-green, shiny, evergreen foliage alone is a beautiful addition to our landscapes. Then, during winter, we are rewarded with a fantastic floral display.

(For Release On Or After 01/12/07) The third Friday in January is Arbor Day in Louisiana, which this year falls on Jan. 19. It’s a day we set aside to celebrate and appreciate the role living trees play in improving our lives and our environment, and many people plant trees to celebrate the occasion.

(For Release On Or After 01/05/07) Gardeners are always looking for reliable new plants they can try. When it comes to bedding plants and vegetables, the All-America Selection Winners generally are considered good choices, and four of those have been named for 2007.

(For Release On Or After 02/02/07) Most roses will benefit from some pruning now, and some types must be pruned to perform the way we want them to. Hybrid tea and grandiflora roses, in particular, should be pruned every year during the first or second week in February.

(For Release On Or After 02/09/07) When you finally reach the "been there, done that" stage with the cycle of planting annuals, you might consider that perennials offer exciting challenges and great fun. February is a good time to transplant or divide perennials already in your landscape, and now through April is an excellent time to plant new perennials.

(For Release On Or After 02/23/07) Horticulturists don’t often discuss the fact that many of the plants we grow as ornamentals are considered poisonous. After all, cases of people eating poisonous plants are relatively rare, and there is no need to cause the public undue alarm. But there is a need for people – particularly those with children – to be aware that poisonous plants exist in our landscapes and inside our homes and to know how to deal with the situation.

(For Release On Or After 02/16/07) Now is an appropriate time to prune summer-flowering trees and shrubs, but you should take care to make sure you do it right. Especially in the case of trees, pruning should generally be done to enhance their natural shape while correcting any problems.

(For Release On Or After 03/16/07) The buck moth caterpillar can be found feeding on trees in spring – particularly oaks such as the live oak and water oak. Populations vary around the state from year to year, but this is an excellent time to start checking your oak trees for signs of infestation.

(For Release On Or After 03/30/07) I love to garden in shady areas, although I know gardeners who complain they have trouble gardening successfully in the shade. Trouble mostly occurs when sun-loving plants are planted in shady locations. But when the proper plants are selected for shady areas the results can be beautiful and enduring. And let’s face it. I’d much rather work in a shady garden during summer than a sunny one.

(For Release On Or After 03/09/07) Pest problems will become more common as we move into the warmer summer moths. Although some gardeners still feel they should immediately get an insecticide and begin spraying when they see insects or apparent insect damage in their gardens, just seeing an insect or insect damage is not reason enough to spray.

(For Release On Or After 03/02/07) Lawns have their purpose in the landscape. They create a restful contrast to flower beds and other elements in the landscape. Lawns also are often needed for outdoor activities and are indispensable if you have kids. On the other hand, ground covers can add beauty and interest to the home landscape, as well as reduce maintenance, when used in some areas.

(For Release On Or After 03/23/07) Scale insects are one of the more common groups of insects that attack plants. You can find them feeding on trees, shrubs and even indoor plants.

(For Release On Or After 04/06/07) Average minimum temperatures are an important issue when choosing plants that are well-adapted to our climate. But so are the summer temperatures, since our landscape plants must be able to survive both extremes.

(For Release On Or After 04/27/07) As May approaches, we move from the warm days and cool nights of spring and early summer to the hot days and warm nights that will be with us until sometime around September. With the increasing heat, you also will notice the inevitable decline of your cool-season bedding plants.

(For Release On Or After 04/20/07) Who knows what Spanish moss and pineapples have in common? Believe it or not, they actually are related and belong to the same family of plants – the Bromeliad family.

(For Release On Or After 04/13/07) I don’t know about you, but as the hot weather of summer arrives I’d much rather work in shady gardens than sunny ones. I’ve heard gardening in the shade called challenging, but when the proper plants are selected for shady areas the results can be beautiful and durable. Lots of great plants for shady areas can be found among the ferns.

(For Release On Or After 05/04/07) Successfully creating colorful flower beds and container plantings for summer depends a lot on which plants you choose. Fortunately, we have many attractive and colorful heat-tolerant plants to do the job.

(For Release On Or After 05/25/07) You can recycle yard waste back into the landscape through the process of composting, which benefits your gardens, your budget and the environment. Returning these organic materials to the garden maintains natural biological cycles and is an ecologically sensible means of recycling organic waste.

(For Release On Or After 05/11/07) Proper watering can make the difference between life and death to newly planted lawns, trees, shrubs, bedding plants, vegetable transplants and ground covers during the summer. With their root systems still limited to a relatively small area of soil, they are especially vulnerable to drought stress.

(For Release On Or After 05/18/07) We generally are interested in something to eat when we grow vegetables. In some cases, however, certain vegetable cultivars have been bred and selected for their ornamental characteristics rather than food quality.

(Audio 06/04/07) Mowing is the main lawn chore during the summer months. You need to mow often enough so that when you do mow you are not cutting off more than a third of the leaf blade. Of course, this will mean mowing at least once a week. (Runtime: 60 seconds)

(For Release On Or After 06/08/07) One of the most popular summer bedding plants is the periwinkle or vinca. Known for its prolific and long blooming season, it is heat- and drought-tolerant and thrives in our climate.

(For Release On Or After 06/15/07) Adequate moisture is critically important to landscape plants during hot weather, but too much rain or excessive watering also can bring problems. Wet soil combined with high temperatures can create stressful conditions for bedding plants, vegetables, shrubs and even trees – especially those just planted this year.

(For Release On Or After 06/01/07) June marks the beginning of hurricane season, and it’s important to understand powerful hurricanes can affect the entire state – not just the southern portions. As you make your plans, remember there are things that need to be done to prepare a landscape for the possibility of storm and things to do when a storm threatens.

(For Release On Or After 06/22/07) There is still time to add colorful bedding plants to your landscape, but it’s important for you to choose plants that are able to thrive in the intense heat of a Louisiana summer.

(For Release On Or After 06/29/07) The heat is on, and we can expect daytime highs around 90 or above and nighttime lows in the 70s from now until September.Trees that shade the house during the summer can lower air-conditioning bills by blocking the sun from the windows, exterior walls and roof.

(For Release On Or After 07/06/07) One of the great joys of gardening is discovering new and attractive plants that thrive in our climate. An outstanding summer bedding plant called angelonia (Angelonia angustifolia) falls precisely into this category.

(For Release On Or After 07/13/07) I recently came across some poison ivy as I was working in an out-of-the-way area of my landscape. I keep a sharp eye out for this plant, since I’m quite allergic, and I promptly and ruthlessly deal with any as soon as I see it.

(For Release On Or After 07/20/07) When it comes to vegetable gardening in Louisiana, gardeners should take advantage of our year-round growing season. Yes, even in the torrid depths of summer there are delicious, heat-tolerant vegetables you can plant now to keep your garden productive.

(For Release On Or After 07/27/07) If you haven’t paid a lot of attention to sunflowers for your garden lately, you may think only of the gigantic sunflowers that reach for their namesake in the sky – towering to heights of 8 feet or more. You also may think they only come in yellow. But the truth is that today’s gardeners have a lot of choices when selecting sunflowers.

(For Release On Or After 08/03/07) Our yards and gardens generally look a little frayed around the edges by this time of the year. On top of heat stress, plants also are more vulnerable to insect and disease problems now.

(For Release On Or After 08/31/07) In Louisiana our ever-blooming roses fortunately provide us with two really great seasons of bloom, and now is the time to prune in preparation for one of those seasons.

(For Release On Or After 08/10/07) Growing plants in containers outdoors is popular for a variety of reasons, and such plants can be used to enhance your outdoor landscape.

(For Release On Or After 08/17/07) Flower beds that are past their prime and overrun with weeds can be a common sight in our late-summer landscape. But you don’t have to just give up and accept such sad-looking elements in your landscape, since there are ways you can freshen up these tired beds.

(For Release On Or After 08/24/07) Sharing plants is one of the pleasures of gardening. When gardeners get together and a plant is complimented, it is not unusual for the admirer to be offered a "piece" to take home and root.

(For Release On Or After 09/14/07) In late summer gardeners need to think about two important points of landscape maintenance – fertilizing and pruning.

(For Release On Or After 09/28/07) As we move toward October, it is not too early to make plans for houseplants that spent the summer outdoors. You will need to bring them back inside when it starts to get cold, and there are a variety of jobs you can look at doing now.

(For Release On Or After 09/21/07) Bromeliads are a beautiful group of tropical plants. With their many shapes and colors and their ease of culture, once you have one bromeliad you are likely to want more.

(For Release On Or After 09/07/07) September is a transitional month in the vegetable garden. Toward the end of this month we should see some relief from the intense heat of mid- to late summer. Still, September can be quite warm, and daytime highs in the 80s are common well into October.

(For Release On Or After 10/19/07) We’ve become accustomed to running out and buying flats or pots of blooming bedding plants to create “instant flower gardens.” This last-minute approach, however, will simply not work when using spring-flowering bulbs in the landscape. If you want beautiful beds of daffodils, tulips or Dutch irises next spring, you should think about planting them now.

(For Release On Or After 10/12/07) Cooler mornings in October make it a joy to get out and work in the home vegetable garden. A number of delicious and nutritious vegetables will thrive in the coming cool season. Indeed, some of our favorite vegetables can only be grown in Louisiana October through April.

(For Release On Or After 10/05/07) Fall is a prime planting season in Louisiana. Cool-season flowering bedding plants and cool-season vegetables are planted from now through February, and November through February is the best time to plant hardy shrubs, ground covers and perennials in the landscape. How well you prepare the soil before planting has an enormous effect on the health and growth of your plants.

(For Release On Or After 10/26/07) October is a transitional month in Louisiana flower gardens. Many warm-season annuals have finished or are finishing, and gardeners’ thoughts begin to turn to cool-season bedding plants for fall, winter and spring color.

(For Release On Or After 11/2/07) Gardening is a well-documented and beneficial form of exercise. It contributes to a healthy lifestyle.

(For Release On Or After 11/16/07) Botany lessons are often helpful for gardeners to understand some of the underlying reasons why plants behave the way they do and why we do things a certain way. When growing a plant that is expected to produce fruit, knowing something about the reproductive workings of the plant is in the gardener’s best interest to prevent disappointment.

(For Release On Or After 11/02/07) Gardening is a well-documented and beneficial form of exercise. It contributes to a healthy lifestyle, and I am always impressed when I meet gardeners in their seventies, eighties and even nineties that are still actively gardening. But the strenuous activities also can cause problems as well, especially for those of us who get very little exercise sitting at desks (and in front of TVs) during the week, only to get out and overdo it on the weekend. Sore musc

(For Release On Or After 11/09/07) Fresh, ripe strawberries are a favorite with just about everybody, and now is a great time to plant them into your garden. Strawberries are best planted from late October through November for production next spring. They are easy enough that growing a crop is a fun project for kids at home or in school.

(For Release On Or After 11/23/07) Many plants seem to save up all summer for the spectacular display of flowers, fruit and foliage showing up in our gardens now. If you want to punch up the color level in your garden from October through December, here are some trees, shrubs and perennials you might consider including in your landscape.

(For Release On Or After 11/30/07) The vegetables we grow here during the cool season are some of the most delicious and nutritious that our home gardens can produce. Many of the vegetables that we planted in late summer and early fall are ready to harvest – or will be soon. It is important to harvest vegetables at the proper stage for best results, so here are a few guidelines for some common cool season crops.

(For Release On Or After 12/14/2007) The majority of the plants in our landscapes are completely winter hardy. The primary concern during freezes is our tender plants in the ground or in containers outside. These plants – native to tropical regions of the world where it never freezes – do not have the ability to protect themselves from sub-freezing temperatures. If we want them to survive freezing temperatures during winter, we must provide protection for them.

(For Release On Or After 12/28/2007) The basic techniques of gardening today are not that much different than those our great grandparents used. Still, technology and the age of communication are definitely changing the way we live, work and garden. Gardeners will, with greater ease and frequency than ever before, exchange ideas and be exposed to new concepts about how and why we garden. How will the new trends affect the plants we use and how we design with them and care for them?

(For Release On Or After 12/21/2007) The pace of things tends to slow down a bit this time of year in the garden. Although we may continue to plant, prepare beds, harvest winter vegetables and enjoy cool-season flowers, most gardeners find this a more relaxed time of year. This is especially true for high-maintenance jobs like mowing lawns, shearing hedges and watering, since lawn grasses and shrubs are dormant, and cooler, wetter weather reduces the need for extra irrigation.

(For Release On Or After 01/20/05) Arbor Day is celebrated in Louisiana year on the third Friday in January. This date is set aside to encourage people to plant trees.

(For Release On Or After 01/06/06) A variety of beautiful flowers and delicious vegetables were named All-America Selections winners for 2006, and some of them are suitable for growing during the cool season in Louisiana.

(For Release On Or After 01/27/06) Cool days and chilly nights are just the kind of weather lettuce enjoys. Lettuce is a vegetable that is easy to grow, delicious and so attractive that any gardener – whether you have a vegetable garden, flower garden or even a garden in containers on a balcony – should include it in the garden.

(For Release On Or After 01/13/06) Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) is almost indispensable for many traditional Louisiana dishes. It’s a member of the carrot family native to Europe that’s generally grown in Louisiana as a cool-season annual from October through May.

(For Release On Or After 02/03/06) Some plants have public relations problems through no fault of their own. The worst situation exists when a plant becomes associated with an event that is sad or distressing. For example, the lovely calla lily has almost become a cliché for funerals.

(For Release On Or After 02/24/06) Using ground-cover plantings in landscapes is becoming increasing popular, and early spring is a good time to plant them. Planting ground covers now will provide them with a chance to settle in and become somewhat established before hot weather arrives.

(For Release On Or After 02/17/06) February weather often includes heavy and frequent rain, and this should remind us that Louisiana has a relatively wet climate. It is important for gardeners to realize that plant selection and the gardening techniques we use are largely influenced by the generous amount of rain we get during other parts of the year.

(For Release On Or After 02/10/06) Although our lawns are still dormant this month, you can begin to plan your strategy to have an attractive, healthy lawn this summer.

(For Release On Or After 03/31/06) Gardening activities and maintenance always increase in the spring. That’s why it is so important to make sure your landscape is designed in a way that does not demand more time than you are able to provide.

(For Release On Or After 03/24/06) It’s time to plant tomato transplants into the garden, especially in South Louisiana. North Louisiana gardeners may want to wait another week or two to be cautious. But, either way, early planted tomatoes produce more and higher quality tomatoes.

(For Release On Or After 03/03/06) Mention blooming wildflowers and most people think of country meadows and drives along rural roads. Wildflowers, however, are to be found everywhere, including cities and suburbs.

(For Release On Or After 03/17/06) A common question around here this time of year is whether it’s spring yet. If you look around now, it’s obvious the seasons are changing.

(For Release On Or After 03/10/06) Lawn grasses around Louisiana begin to wake up from winter dormancy and turn green in March, so now is a good time to plan your strategy for having an attractive, healthy lawn this summer.

(For Release On Or After 04/21/06) An important part of successfully gardening is learning to water your plants properly. Doing it correctly is not complicated, but during hot, dry weather watering appropriately can make a world of difference to the health of the plants in your landscape.

(For Release On Or After 04/07/06) Fertilizing lawns is best done in early to mid-April. Some people try to rush it and fertilize earlier, but it’s important to wait until the right time – which is about now.

(For Release On Or After 04/14/06) It’s great to spend time outside with your children, but you need to take a few precautions to ensure they stay safe.

(For Release On Or After 04/28/06) Daylilies are coming into bloom about now, and gardeners would be hard pressed to find a plant that provides so many colorful flowers for so little effort. Available in an amazing variety of colors, shapes and sizes, there are daylilies to fit virtually every taste and garden situation.

(For Release On Or After 05/12/06) Humans have a long history of growing plants in containers. That history goes back thousands of years, and the popularity of growing plants in containers continues today for many reasons.

(For Release On Or After 05/19/06) Insect problems increase when the weather warms up, and many gardeners still feel they should immediately get an insecticide and begin spraying when they see insects or some apparent insect damage in their gardens or landscape.

(For Release On Or After 05/05/06) Choosing a fertilizer for your landscape is not as difficult as it might seem – particularly if you look at it the right way.

(For Release On Or After 05/26/06) The high temperatures that will be with us from now until October take their toll on some vegetables – although others like it hot. To be successful, you should plan your garden accordingly.

(For Release On Or After 06/30/06) Shade trees often are the things people plant first in new landscapes As time goes on, however, sun-loving lawn grasses and shade trees don’t go together particularly well.

(For Release On Or After 06/16/06) As if mowing the lawn wasn’t trouble enough, dealing with and disposing of grass clippings is a major pain.

(For Release On Or After 06/02/06) Dry weather has been common around the state since last summer, and most of us have received less than the typical amount of rain this year. Who knows how much rain will fall this summer? But one thing is fairly certain – we will need to water our landscapes during periods of hot, dry weather.

(For Release On Or After 06/09/06) Gardeners crave color in shady areas of their landscapes just as much as they do in sunny areas. Unfortunately, shade-loving plants generally are not so flamboyant, and the selection of colorful bedding plants for shady gardens is limited. Thank goodness for caladiums.

(For Release On Or After 06/23/06) Plant propagation is fun and provides you with extra plants for your landscape or to share with friends. Layering is one method that’s often overlooked by gardeners who are unfamiliar with the technique.

(For Release On Or After 07/21/06) Some of the most beautiful flowers in our summer gardens are produced by vines. Better yet, since vines climb, the flowers often are produced at eye-level or overhead – allowing us the chance to easily smell the fragrance or closely examine the details of the blooms.

(For Release On Or After 07/28/06) Vines are an amazing group of plants with enough diversity to boggle the mind of any gardener. What binds these wonderful plants together is their universal lack of strong stems. Since vines don’t have to put effort and energy into producing a strong stem to hold the plant upright, what do you think they do with all of that energy? They grow.

(For Release On Or After 07/07/06) If you regularly read national gardening magazines and get a variety of gardening catalogs, you may have noticed tropical-look landscaping is a trend gaining attention across the country these days. For Louisiana gardeners this hot concept is old hat. We’ve been gardening in the tropical style as long as anyone can remember.

(For Release On Or After 07/14/06) Whether we admit it or not, heat and humidity this time of year make gardening outside less enjoyable. I have to confess to retreating into the coolness of my air-conditioned home and spending less time in the garden now that mid-summer has arrived. But when I don’t spend as much time in my outside garden, I can turn to my collection of indoor plants to keep me happy.

(For Release On Or After 08/18/06) Reading garden books has always been a favorite pastime of mine, and I still keep my most useful references close at hand. But I have to admit that more and more I find myself doing research on my computer.

(For Release On Or After 08/11/06) I was recently asked what should be done in the garden in August, and I replied, "As little as possible!" Seriously, though, there is at least one important task you can perform, and that’s evaluating how well your plants are doing.

(For Release On Or After 08/04/06) August is a month when gardeners should think about two important aspects of landscape maintenance – fertilizing and pruning. This month is the latest time in the year when we fertilize lawns, hardy shrubs and ground covers in the landscape. It’s also the time to finish pruning many shrubs, cut back overgrown tropicals and trim some bedding plants.

(For Release On Or After 08/25/06) Bromeliads are a wonderful group of tropical or semi-tropical plants that are popular container plants. Because they are easy to grow, colorful and stay in bloom for a long time, they also are commonly used by florists as gift plants. As a result, even people who are not familiar with bromeliads sometimes find themselves the owners of plants they do not know how to grow.

(For Release On Or After 09/29/06) Lawn care definitely changes as the weather begins to cool, and by October the growth of warm-season grasses like St. Augustine, centipede, bermuda and zoysia begins to slow down.

(For Release On Or After 09/22/06) Many summer-blooming annuals, perennials and vegetables are setting seeds now, and you can harvest the seeds, store them and then grow a new crop of plants for your garden next year. This can be fun, save a little money and allow you to share seeds with gardening friends.

(For Release On Or After 09/08/06) Some of the most beautiful irises we can grow in our gardens are the hybrids of several species that grow right here in Louisiana. Called Louisiana irises, they are becoming increasingly popular in gardens all over the world.

(For Release On Or After 09/15/06) Anyone cleaning out overgrown areas or even just weeding should beware. Poison ivy may be growing among the plants you are handling.

(For Release On Or After 09/01/06) Labor Day often is touted as the traditional "end of summer," and according to the calendar, fall officially will begin with the fall equinox at 10:03 p.m. Sept. 22. In Louisiana, however, we know good and well that our summer season extends a good bit longer.

(For Release On Or After 10/06/06) Caladiums are among the most reliable summer bedding plants for providing color in shady areas. They stay attractive despite the intense heat of summer and are rarely bothered by insects or disease. By the end of September or beginning of October, however, they reach the end of their growing season and begin to decline in appearance.

(For Release On Or After 10/20/06) When I was a child my family lived in Germany for a time. I remember attending the annual Oktoberfest in Munich, where thinly-sliced white radishes were served with salt as a nibbler to accompany the famed draft beer. Although I couldn’t appreciate the beer at that age, I loved the radishes. I also think of radishes in October for another reason, because this is a great time to plant them in your garden, and there are no vegetables easier to grow.

(For Release On Or After 10/27/06) Gardeners are often advised that the key to gardening success is planting the right plant in the right place. Although this sounds relatively simple, a lot goes into the decision of what plants should be used and where they should be planted in the landscape.

(For Release On Or After 10/13/06) I’m not a big fan of bringing in new soil and replacing the original soil in a garden bed. There are times, however, when it is necessary to purchase additional soil for the garden – especially when creating new raised beds or raising the grade of existing ones.

(For Release On Or After 11/03/06) Louisiana gardeners often use containers of tender tropical plants on decks, patios, porches and courtyards to provide color and beauty through the summer. These plants thrive in outdoor conditions, but since they cannot withstand freezing temperatures they must be protected over the winter.

(For Release On Or After 11/10/06) Flowers are the delight of gardeners. Their beautiful colors, shapes and fragrances are the inspiration for gardening efforts by countless hobby horticulturists. But there is more to flowers than what meets the eye or the nose. Your taste buds also can appreciate the many edible flowers that we can grow.

(For Release On Or After 11/24/06) Hedges can create privacy, block unwanted views, screen out noise and serve other important roles in our landscape. If you’re considering planting a new hedge or replacing a lost one, now is a great time to get it done.

(For Release On Or After 11/17/06) Insect outbreaks on indoor plants can be disastrous. So you need to keep a close watch on your houseplants to prevent major problems from developing.

(For Release On Or After 12/29/06) The next few weeks are an important time for planting tulips, hyacinths and other bulbs you previously stored in your refrigerator to get them ready for planting. Won’t it be great to get the refrigerator space back!

(For Release On Or After 12/08/06) Paperwhite and amaryllis are two bulbs popular for "forcing" in Louisiana during the winter. Forcing bulbs means growing them to bloom earlier than they would under normal landscape conditions.

(For Release On Or After 12/15/06) An easy-to-make garland might be just what you need to spruce up your front entrance before your holiday company arrives, and you may be able to make one from the "trimmings" you have from pruning trees and bushes this time of year.

(For Release On Or After 12/01/06) This time of the year deciduous trees drop tons of leaves. Most people rake them up, put them in bags and place the bags on the curb to be picked up with the trash. What a shame!

(For Release On Or After 12/22/06) The winter solstice occurred this week, and it marks a turning point in the length of our days and nights. Why is that important for gardeners? Mainly because it reminds us that changing of the seasons affects the way our plants perform.

(For Release On Or After 02/18/05) If you’re a fan of figs, you’ll be glad to know that fig trees are one of the easiest fruit trees to grow around your home. With little care, they will produce crops of juicy, sweet figs every year.

(For Release On Or After 02/04/05) Around the world, there is no better loved or more recognizable flower in the plant kingdom than the rose, and now is a good time to plant them.

(For Release On Or After 03/11/05) Many of us already know herbs are vital to the flavor of many of our favorite dishes. But you might not realize herbs are easy to grow and can add flowers, fragrance and textures to the landscape.

(For Release On Or After 03/25/05) It’s time to decide if your aquatic garden could use a good cleaning, since now is the best time to accomplish that task.

(For Release On Or After 03/18/05) Louisianans have appreciated the enjoyable qualities of spicy foods for generations, and peppers from your backyard garden can help contribute to that.

(For Release On Or After 03/04/05) Azaleas are spring showoffs, even though some newer varieties now bloom in other seasons.

(For Release On Or After 04/08/05) The more thought you put into your planting decisions, the more satisfactory the results are likely to be.

(For Release On Or After 04/29/05) Mulching makes gardening easier, and I think more gardeners should take advantage of this important labor-saving technique.

(For Relsease On Or After 04/01/05) This message is for tomato lovers. It’s time to plant! More specifically, if you want to grow fresh, flavorful, vine-ripened tomatoes in your garden, you need to get them planted by the middle of April. Early planting ensures more production and higher-quality tomatoes.

(For Release On Or After 04/22/05) There’s much more to the cucumber family than cucumbers.

(For Release On Or After 05/13/05) Summer-flowering bulbs are a great way to brighten up your garden, and since most of them are native to tropical or subtropical climates, they will reliably bloom here for many years.

(For Release On Or After 05/20/05) Hydrangeas can bring color to your shady beds. Among the most popular summer flowering shrubs for shady gardens, hydrangeas provide flower clusters like fluffy balls of cotton candy.

(For Release On Or After 05/27/05) “Layering” is an easy way to propagate plants – to create new plants from those you already have. And now is an excellent time to layer plants.

(For Release On Or After 05/06/05) Basil isn’t just great tasting; it’s also easy to grow and attractive. Grown and used in cuisines around the world, basil is indispensable to Louisiana cooks, so it’s also a great addition to your summer herb garden.

(For Release On Or After 06/03/05) Successfully creating colorful flowerbeds and container plantings for summer depends a lot on which plants you choose. Fortunately, a lot of attractive and colorful heat-tolerant plants are available to do the job.

(For Release On Or After 06/24/05) When people take summer vacations, they often make arrangements to have someone take care of everything from their pets to the newspaper. It’s also important to have someone look after the plants and home grounds during an extended absence.

(For Release On Or After 06/17/05) Fire ants inflict painful stings and create unsightly mounds in our landscapes, so most of us would be happier if there were no fire ants around. It’s interesting to note, however, that fire ants are excellent predators and help control such pests as fleas and ticks in lawns.

(For Release On Or After 06/10/05) Violent thunderstorms can occur across the state during the summer, and in South Louisiana high winds from hurricanes are a concern in summer and fall. Although trees add immeasurably to our home grounds, trees with problems can be a liability during storms or hurricanes.

(For Release On Or After 07/15/05) Whether we admit it or not, heat and humidity this time of year make gardening outside less enjoyable. Certainly I have to confess to retreating into the coolness of my air-conditioned home and spending less time in the garden now that mid-summer has arrived. But when I don’t spend as much time in my outside garden, I can turn to my collection of indoor plants to keep me happy.

(For Release On Or After 07/22/05) Plants that are native to tropical areas of the world are not bothered in the least by the hot days, muggy nights and frequent afternoon rain showers that we see during mid- to late summer in Louisiana. Indeed, that’s just the kind of weather they love.

(For Release On Or After 07/08/05) By the middle of summer, many adults are trying to think of ways to provide something for children to do until school begins again. Why not start a gardening project? You can introduce your youngsters to the joys of gardening and at the same time exercise their bodies and brains.

(For Release On Or After 07/29/05) No other group of plants can be used to create the effects that vines do in the landscape. But you need to keep in mind their growing habits and how you may train them when adding them to your landscape.

(For Release On Or After 07/01/05) If you want to boost the color in your landscape, nurseries still have a good selection of colorful bedding plants that will thrive in whatever heat the summer throws at them.

(For Release On Or After 08/19/05) Plants under heat stress are weakened, and we generally see an increase in disease and insect problems at the end of the summer. Keep an eye out this time of year for pests, and be sure to monitor population levels and damage carefully.

(For Release On Or After 08/26/05) It would be hard to find a more dazzling flowering tropical plant than the bougainvillea. The bougainvillea is a tropical shrubby vine, and its bright magenta, pink, white, gold or purple flowers positively glow.

(For Release On Or After 08/05/05) There’s something particularly satisfying about putting quality, nutritious food on the table as a direct result of your gardening efforts, and August is a transitional time in the vegetable garden. Although planting of cool-season vegetables will begin in earnest next month, some of the more heat-tolerant ones, such as the cole crops, can be planted now.

(For Release On Or After 08/12/05) Right about now is a good time to look over your landscape and evaluate how things are growing. Some of your plants may need your guiding hand.

(For Release On Or After 09/09/05) Birds can contribute wonderful, unique and desirable things to your landscape such as movement, color, sounds and pest control. Although certain birds can damage some fruits and vegetables, the presence of birds is almost universally welcomed by gardeners.

(For Release On Or After 09/23/05) The satisfaction of growing fresh vegetables is undeniable, but many gardeners do not have a suitable in-ground location to grow them. If your circumstances force you to do your gardening in containers, you should know that many cool-season vegetables can be grown successfully in containers

(For Release On Or After 09/16/05) Gardeners use the term "volunteer" for the seedling of a desirable plant that appears in the garden even though it wasn’t actually planted there. These plants can be the offspring of trees and shrubs but are most often the result of seeds dropped by annuals or perennials that were previously grown in the garden.

(For Release On Or After 09/30/05) Now is an excellent time to assess your landscape and make plans, since November through February is the prime time for planting hardy trees, shrubs and ground covers in Louisiana.

(For Release On Or After 09/02/05) If we’re lucky, we might have some cooler days this month, since cool fronts often begin to make their way this far south in September. After the long, hot summer, these last scorching days are especially hard to bear for gardeners and their landscapes.

(For Release On Or After 10/07/05) It seems that everywhere you look in October you see chrysanthemums blooming. Widely available and relatively inexpensive, they are almost indispensable for providing quick color to the fall landscape.

(For Release On Or After 10/28/05) In the South, the term "greens" refers to vegetables whose leaves are eaten when cooked until tender. During the cool fall season, mustard, turnips, collards and other greens flourish in the vegetable garden.

(For Release On Or After 10/21/05) As the weather cools down and nights get nippy over the next few weeks, gardeners need to decide what to do with their outdoor tropical plants that are in containers.

(For Release On Or After 10/14/05) Like most gardeners, I occasionally love to seize the moment and plant something on a whim. But for spring flowering bulbs, that approach simply isn’t practical.

(For Release On Or After 11/18/05) Few gardeners can resist the visual beauty and delightful sound that water brings to the landscape, and as a result aquatic gardens have become quite popular with Louisiana gardeners. Chilly weather and light freezes already have encouraged dormancy in some aquatic plants and the growing season for aquatic gardens is winding down, but those gardens still will need some of your attention in late fall and winter.

(For Release On Or After 11/25/05) There are few flowering bulbs that can surpass the stately beauty of the amaryllis. Typically blooming in April, this popular bulb is a star performer in the spring garden, but dormant bulbs are readily available now, and with proper care, they can become a long-lasting part of your landscape.

(For Release On Or After 11/11/05) The high winds of hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused the loss of many trees around the state. If you are considering replacing trees that were lost, you actually can begin planting right away.

(For Release On Or After 11/04/05) Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused extensive damage in South Louisiana, but their effects weren’t limited to that area. Throughout the state, high winds caused damage as the storms moved northward. Properly dealing with the resulting tree damage is important.