It is perhaps the most beautiful sports venue in the world. Augusta National, home of The Masters, brings the term “landscaping” to an entirely different level. Rolling hills of the greenest green grass, broken up by stands of long-needle pines and luscious southern magnolias. All of this, punctuated by mounds of brilliant azaleas and rhododendrons,…
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Posts by Sean McNamara
Best Spring Cleaning Garden Tip: DORMANT OIL
We don’t usually think of our plants needing a good spring cleaning, but landscape trees and shrubs need more than the occasional April shower. Over the previous year, millions of insects have visited our landscaping, many making it their home and laying eggs for the next year. And while insects are an important part of…
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Delightful Deer and the Damage They Do
Growing up in Connecticut in the 1970s, the sight of a deer was such a rare event that you would stop your car and get out to take a closer look. Today there are so many deer you have to swerve your car to avoid hitting them. The same is true in many suburbs across…
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Learning About the Lace Bug
Lace & Bug. Two words that don’t seem to go together. Kind of like “Jumbo Shrimp” or “Awfully Good.” But put these two words together and you create an oxymoron that will make your plants look “Pretty Ugly.” Lace Bug damage is on the rise. Their favorite host plant is Andromeda (Pieris spp.). Like the…
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Arborvitae Destruction in a Bag
A couple of summers ago, our family took a trip to the Antietam Civil War Battlefield. I love history as much as I do plants. You can imagine my joy as we walked out of the hotel parking lot and I saw an insect I had not seen since childhood. I got my kids…
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Philadelphia Flower Show
Nothing gets me ready for Spring like a visit to the Philadelphia Flower Show. Touted as “the world’s oldest and largest indoor flower show,” this annual show not only inspires, it takes your breath away. And after this past winter, I was in desperate need of a little inspiration. Produced by the Pennsylvania Horticultural…
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Let’s Talk Ticks, and Powassan Virus Risk
The snow has finally melted, so it’s time to talk ticks. Unless you’ve had your head buried in the snow, you know why. Over the past couple of weeks, news media stories about the “new” tick-borne Powassan virus — have multiplied exponentially, as has the public’s growing alarm. Concern, certainly, is justified because the virus…
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A Rose by the Name of Knock Out®
Any gardener will tell you that roses are the star of the garden. Give them the celestial spotlight and they will outperform the rest of the cast. Their gorgeous flowers and sweet aroma will draw you near. But come a little too close and risk the sting of their thorns — a little too complacent…
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Tulip Mania
A customer recently inquired about the price of our tulips. An intriguing question, for what price can we put on beauty? What will we pay to see the first herald of spring? What would we give to gaze upon a field of red and yellow and white? HOW MUCH INDEED! Did you know that there…
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Big Problem: Small Scale
If asked to visualize an insect, you would probably imagine something the size of your fingernail, flying or crawling along the ground. But the insect world is populated by a vast number of species, all with their own wide varieties of shapes and sizes. Some are favorites because of their beauty and, conversely, their rugged…
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