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Yard and Garden News

The following news stories are written by Rosie Lerner, Extension Consumer Horticulture Specialist, and are distributed to news media around the state by Agricultural Communication Service, at Purdue University.

Purdue Offers Plant Propagation CD for Home Gardeners

If you’re a gardener interested in propagating your own garden and landscape plants, Purdue has just the tool for you. Purdue University’s “Plant Propagation” CD-ROM is kind of like a well-illustrated book AND a hands-on class — only better! In “Plant Propagation,” you can read about each technique and immediately see how it’s done. There are 52 videos and hundreds of photos, animations, and graphics that show everything from the simplest planting of a seed […]
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Assess Pruning Needs

Now that other yard chores have slowed down, many gardeners turn to their landscape plants to assess their pruning needs. Dead limbs can and should be taken down whenever they are present. But cutting into live tissue should be delayed until late winter or early spring. That is the time of year when the pruning cuts will heal most rapidly. Pruning at the wrong time of year will not kill a tree or shrub outright, […]
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Water To The Rescue

Though drought in summer is more the norm, lack of rain this fall has resulted in late-season wilting of landscape plants. Such drought-stressed plants will be in poor condition to face winter, unless gardeners take action. Though trees, shrubs and hardy perennials will be dormant in the winter, they continue to lose moisture through the biological process known as transpiration. Once the ground freezes, plant roots will no longer be able to take up water […]
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Gardeners Should Prepare to Avoid Frost

Recent hot weather has perhaps lulled us into forgetting that fall is upon us. But, soon, that first frost shall arrive. For gardeners who are prepared, an early frost does not need to halt the gardening season. The first frost or two is often followed by several weeks of good garden-growing weather. Gardeners can take advantage of these extra gardening weeks by protecting their plants through early light frosts. Plants vary in their susceptibility to […]
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Fall Comes Early This Year

Fall is such an appropriate name for the season — leaves are falling with or without changing color! And it seems to be getting an early start this year, as many landscape plants have started their annual ritual of changing colors and dropping leaves. Certainly, some of the reason why plants display fall colors has to do with the genetic makeup of the plant. That doesn’t change from year to year. But the timing and […]
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Fall Comes Early This Year

Fall is such an appropriate name for the season — leaves are falling with or without changing color! And it seems to be getting an early start this year, as many landscape plants have started their annual ritual of changing colors and dropping leaves. Certainly, some of the reason why plants display fall colors has to do with the genetic makeup of the plant. That doesn’t change from year to year. But the timing and […]
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Feed Garden Soil With Cover Crops

Many gardeners have used cover crops to help keep soil from blowing away over winter. An added benefit of raising cover crops is that the foliage and root growth can be tilled under in late winter to help loosen heavy soils and improve overall soil structure and fertility. Also known as “green manure,” these cover crops can be especially valuable in preparing a new site for gardening or for rehabilitating a heavy or compacted site. […]
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Pawpaw: The Midwest Banana?

Although the pawpaw is native to the eastern and central United States, it is a surprisingly well-kept secret. Those who do know this fruit are not likely to forget its delightful aroma and flavor. The pawpaw has been called the Hoosier Banana, but probably only by Hoosiers themselves. The same plant is also known as the Michigan Banana, Kentucky Banana and other regional favorites. Botanically, the plant is known as Asimina triloba. The tree can […]
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Just Have to Transplant in Summer?

Today’s mobile society often lands gardeners in the predicament of moving away from their beloved gardens at a time of year that is less than ideal for transplanting. Devoted gardeners just hate the thought of leaving all of their beautiful flowers behind. Ideally, the time to move most perennials is either spring or early fall. The hot, generally dry weather of summer is about the worst time of year to move any plant. But, sometimes, […]
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Just Have to Transplant in Summer?

Today’s mobile society often lands gardeners in the predicament of moving away from their beloved gardens at a time of year that is less than ideal for transplanting. Devoted gardeners just hate the thought of leaving all of their beautiful flowers behind. Ideally, the time to move most perennials is either spring or early fall. The hot, generally dry weather of summer is about the worst time of year to move any plant. But, sometimes, […]
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Page last modified: October 26, 2016

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