When it comes to sharing space, humans and wildlife don’t see eye to eye. “Our homes and gardens often overlap with spaces and resources used by wild animals, both native and non-native,” said Dana Sanchez, Oregon State University Extension Service wildlife specialist. “A ‘shared habitat’ situation can pose some challenges when the animals’ day-to-day activities
As the gardening season gets started in earnest, you may want to think about how you can be kinder on the environment – and your wallet, too. “Everyone can be sustainable,” said Ross Penhallegon, a horticulturist for Oregon State University Extension Service. “If you use drip irrigation, you’re doing your part to save this resource.
As you celebrate spring, get your hands in the soil and start buying plants to decorate your garden, consider the benefits of natives. “There’s a new aesthetic,” said Weston Miller, horticulturist with Oregon State University’s Extension Service. “Gardeners want to connect to nature and the heritage of plants that grow in the Pacific Northwest.” Part
Wet weather, which is bound to come in the weeks ahead, builds potential for apple scab, a fungal disease of apples. The apple scab disease fungus overwinters on dead apple leaves and fruit left on the ground, explained Ross Penhallegon, horticulturist for the Oregon State University Extension Service. During spring moisture, scab spores are forcibly
We all make gardening mistakes, some more serious than others. Planting an invasive plant will plague you for years. Putting the right plant in the wrong place can be fairly easily resolved by taking up a shovel and moving it. At a recent meeting of the Oregon State University Extension Service Benton County Master Gardeners,
Spring is here and you’re raring to get your garden in. Well, hold on just a minute. Sowing seed or planting seedlings at the wrong time will bring nothing but heartache. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to plant too early,” said Weston Miller, a horticulturist with Oregon State University’s Extension Service. “They
Hummingbirds are garden jewels, as beautiful as they are valuable. Each weighing less than a nickel, hummingbirds play an important role in the garden as pollinators and insect predators. Five kinds of hummingbirds regularly visit Oregon, according to Nancy Allen, faculty member in fisheries and wildlife at Oregon State University. Rufous hummingbirds, the most common,
With deeply lobed silver leaves and a 3-foot stature, the artichoke unfolds as much mystery in the garden as it does on the dinner table. Used to set off any color in a perennial border, as a striking specimen plant or the flagship of a vegetable garden, the artichoke has much to recommend it to
Western Oregon homeowners with boxwood shrubs should keep their eyes peeled in early spring for signs of a disease that’s been making gradual headway in the state. Boxwood blight first showed up in nurseries in Oregon in 2011, and has continued to make inroads in the Portland area, according to Jay W. Pscheidt, a plant pathology
For mason bees, the wait for their first meal is a long one, nine months or more while they wait for the day to emerge, sun themselves a bit and fly off for an awaited meal. There’s no TV, no smartphone, not even a book to while away the time as these solitary bees hang
Get onions in the ground in spring and avoid heartbreak when it comes time to harvest big, beautiful bulbs this summer. Plant as soon as the soil is dry enough to work, said Jim Myers, a plant breeder at Oregon State University. March and April are prime times. Most onions grown in Oregon are long-day
If you don’t have space for a garden – or even if you do – a terrarium may be in your future. “Terrariums are an easy way to have some greenery,” said Brooke Edmunds, a horticulturist with Oregon State University Extension Service. “And they’re fun to make.” Not only that, a terrarium can take on