Gardeners love their gadgets, especially if they make work easier, yet so many of us are also spendthrifts, reluctant to drop our coin on the tools and accessories we secretly crave. Read More ⇒

Dear Aggie: I admire the amaryllis plants that are commonly grown during the holiday season. Are they difficult to grow? Read More ⇒

DEAR JOAN — I just picked a mushroom out of my lawn. I have two beagles that eat everything. Is this a dangerous one? They are coming out everywhere! Read More ⇒

Joseph Schwartz and his family live in a wooded part of Delaware County, Pa., where they say power outages occur too frequently for comfort. Without power, his family also loses water and sewer service because their private well and wastewater system rely on electric pumps. Read More ⇒

SAN DIEGO — By 12:30 p.m. Oct. 25, the long, snaking line of visitors outside the San Diego Botanic Garden had grown to nearly 200 people, at least one of whom admitted to driving from Texas overnight just to see the ephemeral bloom of the rare Amorphophallus titanum plant. Read More ⇒

The temperatures are dropping and the leaves are falling. They always do. Read More ⇒

If it’s possible to embarrass a snake, Congaree National Park in South Carolina may have done it this fall on Facebook. Read More ⇒

Dear Aggie, Read More ⇒

October is Bat Month and a good time to make sure they are not roosting in your home. The Humane Society of the United States has tips to evict them so they don’t hibernate in your home for the winter. Read More ⇒

As my beautiful, friendly, and fun-loving yellow lab, Abby, has gotten older and our walks have gotten shorter and nonexistent on some days, I’ve realized how much I’ve enjoyed those end-caps to my days over the last almost 12 years. Walking is good for us (pets and humans alike) for many re… Read More ⇒

Q: Despite the struggling economy, our condo passed a significant special assessment to repair the roof. Many residents cannot afford to pay this. What would happen if a couple of dozen of us refused to pay? Read More ⇒

What are round-ish, mostly orange and commonly found in October on front porches or near entryways? Obviously the answer is Harmonia axyridis, aka the multicolored Asian lady beetle or lady bug. This insect, although beneficial to gardens, is no treat when it gathers by the hundreds on your … Read More ⇒

Q: We are getting older and ready to move to a smaller home. Our plan has always been to rent our existing house to make extra money toward our retirement. After the eviction moratorium, we are nervous. Is it a good time to be a landlord? Read More ⇒

As you prepare to finalize a home purchase, there’s an important step to take before the closing: the final walkthrough. This personal inspection helps ensure that the home you committed to on paper is in relatively identical condition to when you first visited, and that the seller is compli… Read More ⇒

CROGHAN — He was told not to do it, that it would be a lot of work, but Travis Proulx could not resist buying the Basselin House to bring back its luster and turn it into a home. Now his efforts are being rewarded. Read More ⇒

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The three-bedroom, two-bath home has a corduroy-patterned exterior, rounded corners — and a cement pour that oozed from an industrial-sized toothpaste tube. And most intriguing of all, it comes from a 3D printer. Read More ⇒

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell in August, suggesting that demand is moderating as lean inventory and high prices squeezed out some buyers. Read More ⇒

Dear Aggie: I would like to buy beef raised locally. What is the difference between beef processed at a USDA plant and a custom processor? Read More ⇒

Now that the weather’s getting cooler ... Read More ⇒

Panicle hydrangeas, or Hydrangea paniculata varieties, have skyrocketed in popularity, largely thanks to producers that have given us more varieties than we could have ever imagined. The Garden Guy is here to tell you the panicle partnerships for the landscape are only limited by your imagination. Read More ⇒

Dear Aggie: Every time I plant blueberries, they die. What am I doing wrong? Read More ⇒

We have entered September. Today is the 1st, so we are only a month away from daughter Loretta and Dustin’s wedding day. Time does not stand still. We had a break in the humidity and heat. Nights are cool which makes for nice sleeping weather. My gardens are emptying out with only tomatoes a… Read More ⇒

Today daughters Lovina, 17, and Loretta, 21, and I canned 42 quarts of red beets from our garden. Yesterday we froze sweet corn and now tomorrow plans are to freeze green beans. Read More ⇒

The Garden Guy is boldly going into August with geraniums blazing. I could also say I am going into August with Boldly geraniums blazing. It wasn’t too long ago that August and geraniums in the South would have been the definition of a garden oxymoron. Boldly geraniums have changed all that. Read More ⇒

It’s normal to tune out all the Chicken Littles (such as yours truly) who run around squawking about this or that invasive forest pest or disease that pose a threat to trees. I mean, how many times can the sky fall, anyway? But the real danger is when we feel so overwhelmed that we throw up … Read More ⇒

We enter August with some much cooler than normal temperatures. We painted sons Joseph and Kevin’s bedrooms last week. Our next project is to paint the bedroom daughters Loretta and Lovina share. Loretta has moved a lot of her things over to Dustin’s house, so now with the room emptier, we d… Read More ⇒

DES PERES, Mo. — A vegetable garden was first on Tom Millis’ to-do list when he bought his home in the St. Louis suburb of Des Peres a decade ago. Then he and his now-wife, Elsa Stuart, added native flowers to their 2-acre property. Read More ⇒

Dear Aggie: I have a small flock of ducks and geese. How do I tell which ones are male or female? Read More ⇒

This morning I was up early (for me) and could barely make out the plants outside. But I saw the Superbells calibrachoas moving as if a ghost were in the midst. I knew immediately it was a Ruby-throated hummingbird wasting no time in the daily feeding ritual. Read More ⇒

LOS ANGELES — When Los Angeles woodworker C.C. Boyce selects locally sourced pieces of California sycamore and speckled maple at Angel City Lumber in Boyle Heights, the artisan has powerful inspiration for her custom-made planters: the deceased. Read More ⇒

“OK, I’ll just deal with it.” Read More ⇒

July 14th — today our oldest son and fourth child turned 22 years old. How the years fly by. Happy birthday, Benjamin! I had Benjamin at home with Joe’s aunt as my midwife. Benjamin weighed only 4 pounds, 13 ounces and was doing pretty good until he was 2 weeks old. He caught the flu and sta… Read More ⇒

We humans fancy ourselves the masters of our own destiny, or at the very least, feel that we make choices of our own free will. The idea that someone or something might be able to control our thoughts and actions is terrifying. We desperately hope that “mind control” is limited to Jedi mind … Read More ⇒

CLAYTON — The Thousand Islands Land Trust is hosting a trek designed for kids this month. Read More ⇒