Pests, Plagues, and Varmints

Most of you don't realize it, but Cold Climate Gardening is host to a secret club, the Stink Bug Haters Club. It all started innocently enough with this post. But as more and more stink bug sufferers found the post and took advantage of the Subscribe to Comments feature, it started to take on a [...]

Many gardening books for children take what I think of as the art project approach: here's what you need, this is what you do, isn't that cute?, now show it to Grandma. Very few books out there take children--or a child's interest in gardening--seriously. I prefer to regard children as apprentice gardeners, gradually acquiring more [...]

Goldenrod is my enemy There, I've said it. I don't care if goldenrod is a native plant; it is no longer welcome in my gardens. I tried to be understanding, truly, I did, but it just did not want to play nice with the other plants. It did not want to play at all: total [...]

These plants don't look too happy, but I'm not sure if it's the cold that put them in a snit, or a viral infection. Left to right: Daylily 2E, Colchicum giganteum, Daylily 4B, C. 'Harlequin,' Daylily 4C, C. speciousumAfter nearly two weeks of warm, frost-free weather in April, my garden got socked with a 22 [...]

New Hampshire resident Mike Cherim is in the business of putting bad bugs out of business. I first contacted Mike because he offers a very secure contact form for WordPress. I later used his theme for my Blogging Art and Practice site. Then I discovered that before he started designing websites, he sold--and continues to [...]

Update: Bee Virus Story Breaks Earlier this week I brought two informative articles about Colony Collapse Disorder to your attention. Both alluded to a study that scientist Ian Lifkin was involved with, which he was confident would be considered a breakthrough when released. The study that Lifkin referred to hit the news stands today. Here [...]

This looks like a bee visiting a corn poppy, but really it's a fly. This comment explains.Perhaps, like me, you've noticed there haven't been as many bees flying around this year. If you're the sort of person who gets nervous around bees, this might even seem like a good thing to you. But perhaps, like [...]

A reader wrote last night I would very much like to purchase Jewell Weed Seed. I live on 47 beautiful acres, that is infected with poison ivy. I am VERY allergic to poison ivy. Can you help me? I don't know of a source for jewel weed seed. If anyone does, please comment. But I [...]

Canada thistle weaves throughout the peony bedObservant readers may have noticed the prickly-leaved weed sidling up to 'Rozella' in my last post. That dastardly villain is Canada thistle, aka Cirsium arvense, and it is one nasty customer. According to the University of California Cooperative Extension, Once established, Canada thistle spreads rapidly by horizontal roots, up [...]