How to Grow and Care for Braeburn Apple Trees

Helianthus annus ‘Sonja’

Lauren Alex O’ Hagan, Cardiff University

Header image: Virgin Galactic’s Carrier Aircraft VMS Eve and VSS Unity Take to the Skies (Virgin Galactic)

Last weekend, as the temperatures soared, I found a certain amount of solace in learning more about how plants are being grown in Antarctica – the coldest place on Earth. 

Header image: The Artemis II mission will send four astronauts on a flyby of the Moon. NASA

Eastern redbud is a popular landscaping tree for many reasons. It grows in a variety of conditions. It doesn’t grow too large. It’s a native species in many states. But, most importantly for many homeowners, redbuds produce a stunning display of early spring flowers. The popularity of the tree has led to the development of many eastern redbud cultivars with varied colors and forms.

The elm zigzag sawfly (Aproceros leucopoda, SLF) is one of the latest non-native species to take hold in the U.S. It was first found in Virginia in 2021, and active infestations are now established in Maryland, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. EZS has not been detected in South Carolina, but it is an insect for which we need to be on the lookout.

THE TERM “food forest” from the permaculture world sounds big—like if I suggested you start one, you’d probably say, “I don’t have room for a forest of any kind.”

As native grasses such as little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium and cvs., Zones 3–9) and prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis and cvs., Zones 3–9) increasingly gain traction in gardens, exotics such as miscanthus (Miscanthus sinensis and cvs., Zones 4–9) are losing favor because of their invasive tendencies. But not all exotic grasses are troublesome and need to be avoided. Feather reed grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora and cvs., Zones 5–9) is a natural hybrid of C. arundinacea and C. epigejos, which are both nonnatives and prolific self-sowers, but the hybrid rarely sets fertile seed—a major plus for an exotic grass, right? So why are other reed grasses—‘Karl Foerster’ aside—so underused? To answer that question is to understand the phenomenon of ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (C. × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’).

New Trees: Recent Introductions to Cultivation by John Grimshaw, Ross Bayton and illustrated by Hazel Wilks. Amazon

Ornamental Japanese Maples are widely available for planting in your garden. The autumn colouring makes these trees spectacular when planted en mass in a woodland or Japanese garden setting.

The title of this post gives the game away but I will pose  the question anyway. ‘What do Croatia, USA, Germany, UK, Cyprus, Portugal, Ireland, Poland any several other central European countries have in common?’