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Considered a native of the Eastern U.S., the smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) is a showy shrub that sports large, velvety leaves and chartreuse-to-white blooms. (Photo by Sheri Dorn) CAES News
Smokin Hot Garden
Has the heat got you inside looking out? Are you enjoying gardens and landscapes only from the comfort of your air-conditioned car? Indeed we are in the throes of summer in Georgia, but even though it’s brutal for us outside, there are many landscape plants that are in their glory this time of year.
Plants with contrasting or showy characteristics, like this weeping, red, cut-leaf Japanese maple, can provide a clever solution to filling a hole in the landscape. CAES News
Landscape Refresh
Now that the weather has warmed up, many Georgians have found that where their yards once had healthy and full plantings, there are now holes and scraps of plants. Residents of Georgia and other parts of the Southeast inevitably arrive at the same observation: Cold temperatures this past December and weather conditions in subsequent months wreaked havoc on home landscapes.
Stretch the season of your favorite flowers, like irises, by planting cultivars with different bloom times. CAES News
Plant Color
Gardening is often described as an art and a science. And while this suggests a degree of nuance to gardening, it is also quite true. Landscape design principles used to create an aesthetic garden space include color, form and balance, among others.
Bob Westerfield, UGA Extension consumer horticulturist, demonstrates a pruning technique during a class held on the UGA campus in Griffin, Georgia. CAES News
Plant Pruning
To prune or not to prune, that is the question. Pruning is an important part of maintaining plant health and maximizing plant productivity. This is often a topic that brings fear and confusion, but pruning is, in fact, a beneficial and routine task.
Many of the leaf spot diseases that are apparent on hydrangeas in the fall are actually the result of infections that occurred in the spring. Cercospora leaf spot, pictured here, is a common disease on bigleaf hydrangeas. CAES News
Seeing Spots
With all of the rain that we’ve experienced this year, many fungal leaf spot diseases are active. Hydrangeas are particularly susceptible to several different leaf spot diseases that favor moist weather. Some of the most common diseases people ask about are known as Corynespora leaf spot and Cercospora leaf spot on bigleaf hydrangeas.
Student work harvesting herbs at UGArden. CAES News
Beyond Hemp
Although you may not have the kind of backyard garden that University of Georgia horticulture Professor Jim Affolter has, you might find many natural and traditional remedies hiding in plain sight in your ornamental garden.
A crowd gathers at a past Ornamental Horticulture Research Field Day at UGA's Durham Horticulture Farm. This year's tour, which is free and open to the public, will be Oct. 6. CAES News
Horticulture Field Day
The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) Department of Horticulture will host Ornamental Horticulture Research Field Day at UGA’s Durham Horticulture Farm in Watkinsville, Georgia, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 6.
A silver-spotted skipper perches atop a rudbeckia triloba. The brown-centered coned-flowers have petals of yellow-orange that are produced in abundance from late summer into fall. Some references suggest it's biennial, or a short-lived perennial, while others call it a perennial that reseeds. CAES News
Brown-eyed Susan
It’s been 20 years since the Georgia Gold Medal program gave its prestigious award to one of the most persevering native perennials of all time, the Rudbeckia triloba. It is quite remarkable that a plant with no dazzling name other than the "three-lobed rudbeckia" or "brown-eyed Susan" staked a place not only in fame but also in the marketplace.
The shady, woodland garden at the Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences. CAES News
Native Plant Garden
The Native Plant Garden at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon, Georgia, once thrived on the campus of Wesleyan College. A group of University of Georgia volunteers relocated it so that visitors to the museum can learn about native plants.
'Prairie Sun' produces flowers that are 5-inches wide. The large disk, or eye, of 'Prairie Sun' is green and generates glances from passing visitors. CAES News
'Prairie Sun'
Fourteen years ago, ‘Prairie Sun,’ one of the most striking gloriosa daisies ever, was chosen as an All-America Selections award winner. This followed on the heels of ‘Indian Summer,’ another outstanding selection, and might have garnered all the love and attention it deserved. Thanks to progressive greenhouse growers and a new generation of landscape color professionals, this outstanding Rudbeckia hirta is generating a lot of dazzle in both commercial and homeowners’ landscapes.