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Snowy tree crickets, found through the United States, are around from July to October and are called “snowy” because of thier pale color. These crickets have a chirp that is easy to count and related to temperature.  Viewer Tip: Head outside after dark to listen for crickets. Count the number of chirps you hear in 13 seconds and [...]

As we move into the warmest months of the year, it is important to pay attention to the amount of moisture available to plants in your garden. Heavy rains in the spring can be followed by the driest of summers. Plant selection becomes even more crucial in areas prone to drought. Check the drought trends [...]

…So provide brunch! A perfect garden is not necessarily one without “flaws.” Often those munched-on leaves indicate a very happy caterpillar and a beautiful butterfly or moth soon to follow. Viewer Tip: As you think about spring gardening, New England Wild Flower Society recommends adding some plants to your garden which encourage caterpillars to forage. [...]

Flexible young trees are often used by whitetail buck deer as antler rubbing posts in fall and winter. They remove the velvet covering from their antlers by rubbing them against the trees. This also helps the male deer mark their territory and strengthen their necks for battling other bucks for mates. This is not a good [...]

Even after the lightest snowfall, the activity of our unseen neighbors can be found the next day by observing their tracks. Squirrels, rabbits, voles, fox, owls, coyotes, deer and neighborhood pets are all active in the dead of winter and leave evidence of their travels. Often the trails criss-cross and stories can abound in the [...]

Most gardeners have favorite plants that cost a tidy sum to purchase at a nursery. Before snow arrives and buries your plants, check them for seeds. Collect a sampling from around your garden, but leave plenty for winter feeding of birds and self-seeding for next year’s crop of plants. Viewer Tip: New England Wild Flower [...]

Fall is a great time to visually scan your trees for limbs that might snap during the winter. It’s also a great excuse to look closely at the beautiful fall foliage that is abundant at this time of the year. Look for heavily weighted branches, splits where limbs join trunks and dead branches.  Viewer tip: [...]

This is the time of year when falling leaves are abundant. Composting leaves and vegetable scraps reduces waste in our landfills. It also reduces the amount of energy needed to haul debris away from homes and yards. If you build a compost pile at home, allow it to touch the ground. By doing so, you [...]

When designing your outdoor space, think of it as a room. Many homes have area rugs instead of wall to wall carpeting. Your grass area can also be an area rug. Mowing a shape into your field can make the area much more interesting than a huge area of mowed grass – preserving “wild” vegetation [...]

Invasive plants are not invasive everywhere. It is only when they are introduced into an environment which does not contain any natural enemies, like insects, that they begin to overwhelm the landscape and choke out native plant species. Some invasive plants in New England have hundreds of natural deterrents in their home countries. The problems [...]

Containers are not just for patios and decks. Large, colorful containers in a garden bed bring color, structure and beauty to a more remote area.  Choose native plants for easier care during the spring and summer season. In the fall, you can incorporate the plants in your garden into containers for continued enjoyment. Viewer Tip: [...]

The time between day and dark is a prime viewing time for wildlife. Watch for bats flying at dusk in an open area of lawn or above a pond. These tiny creatures  “clear the air” of many mosquitoes during summer, making your environment safer and more enjoyable. Their darting about makes for a fascinating early [...]

April showers bring May flowers or so the poem states. However, a garden needs proper drainage or spring rain will sit and soak the soil, rotting plants, or the rain will run so fast down a hill that it creates deep trenches. Proper drainage also prevents run off of fertilizers and pecticides into streams and [...]

Gardeners get itchy to be in their gardens as days get longer and the sun starts to warm the earth. However, the frozen earth takes time to warm. Gardeners need to wait until the full depth of the frost has left before starting to work their gardens lest they compact the soil. Compacted soils lose their [...]

A “snag” is a standing dead tree. If it does not have the potential to fall on any buildings, a snag can be a good thing to have. And, the removal of any tree can be very expensive. Snags make excellent habitats for owls, bats, insects and other fascinating creatures. All the residents of your [...]

Winter strips everything down to the bare essentials and often adds a coat of white in the process. Most people plan their gardens with shapes that are full of color, striving to maximize excitement during the spring and summer months. New England winters are quite long, often providing cold temperatures for five to six months of the [...]

All animals need food, water and shelter throughout the year. Constructing habitat boxes is a great way to help. New England Wild Flower Society added several of these hanging, open-ended boxes to the Wildlife Garden at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, MA, this year. They are partially filled with objects like branches and broken [...]

Have you ever watched the flow of water on and around a plant when it is raining? It is a fascinating process of moving water off the plant and into the soil surrounding the plant in order for the water to provide nutrients for growth. The leaves of many plants are beautifully engineered with a [...]

The next time you see an ant hill in your garden, don’t fret - it just might be a very good thing. Ants disperse seeds for about 20 percent of our woodland wildflowers. Some seeds, from plants such as bloodroot and trillium, have a fatty substance called an eliasome on them. Ants find the eliasome to [...]