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By MICKEY RATHBUN

A few years ago I was having coffee with my two sisters-in-law at a family gathering in North Carolina. Both of them had recently built new houses and were quizzing me about how to create gardens in the bare dirt surrounding their homes. The question...

By HomeAdvisor

Professional chefs around the world have known for years that cooking with steam means moister, better tasting food and faster cooking times. In fact, steam assist ovens have been standard fare in the restaurant business for quite some time. Lucky for...

Growing up in Virginia, one of my favorite spring sights was the blooming of eastern redbud trees, Cercis canadensis. Redbud trees are one of the earliest spring bloomers. Their abundant pea-sized flowers bloom simultaneously, creating purplish pink...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

How does a gardener celebrate the first day of summer? The June solstice was traditionally a time for farmers to mark their calendars for dates to plant and harvest crops. For Peter Schoenberger, the newest member of the Garden Club of Amherst, it’s...

This summer, you may have noticed that many trees and shrubs are being defoliated by gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) caterpillars. We are experiencing an unusually heavy infestation this year, as we did in 2016, and the effect on our trees has been...

Most spring bulbs have flowered by now and are looking a bit forlorn, surrounded by burgeoning spring perennials that are growing almost visibly by the day. The green stalks and leaves of tulips, narcissus and other bulbs may look idle, but they are...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

In 1966, an American archaeologist named Wilhelmina Feemster Jashemski was working on a dig at Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried under ash and pumice during the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. She noticed something unusual going on...

We’re entering that dark cold part of the year, when color drains from the landscape and we yearn for some bright growing things. A terrific way to enliven the winter months is to pot up some amaryllis bulbs. At first sight, the large, knobby bulbs...