Ravenel’s Swamp Rattlesnake Master

Allyson Brady, McMaster University

Hydrangeas, with their extravagant blooms, are a quintessential part of any garden. However, coaxing the best performance from these plants requires more than just basic gardening skills. This guide will share some secret Master Gardener’s Tricks to Grow the Successful Hydrangeas!

Are you interested in learning how to garden more effectively? Would an online gardening class fit more easily into your schedule? Want to garden, but don’t have the time to volunteer? Would you love to become a Master Gardener, but can’t make the in person classes?If any of these questions apply to you, then maybe it’s time to think about taking Master Gardener training in an online environment!

2020 Master Gardener Training Course registration is OPEN

Registration Link: https://secure.touchnet.net/C20569_ustores/web/classic/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=3151

Scarlet swamp hibiscus (Hibiscus coccineus) is in the Malvacea family and is native to the Southeastern US. Hibiscus in Greek and Latin means mallow, and in Latin, coccineus means scarlet. Plant geeks, like me, are fascinated with knowing the meaning of scientific plant names.

Are you looking for ways to contribute to your community in a way that strengthens food systems? Becoming a South Carolina Master Food Preserver enables opportunities to volunteer and contribute to the educational service that Clemson Cooperative Extension provides.

I recently had the opportunity to attend a gardening symposium in Louisiana. One of my favorite fall-flowering wildflowers, swamp sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius), was in full bloom all along the roadsides. Thankfully, I wasn’t driving, so I could enjoy the stunning display.

MY GARDENING LIFE STARTED with a hedge—cutting one back hard, specifically. It was the threadbare, tall old privet surrounding my childhood home, and I was determined to “rejuvenate” it, after reading about the process in a book. No artful hedge has ever been created by my hands, though—a fact that feels all the more lamentable after watching Sean Conway’s video tour (above) of designer and nurseryman Piet Oudolf’s garden in the Netherlands. What magic.

Tom Stearns is founder of High Mowing Organic Seeds in Vermont, with more than 20 years specializing in breeding, selecting and marketing of organic varieties. From microgreens indoors to baby-leaf to mini-heads and up to full-sized heads in the garden, we talked about timing, spacing and making lettuce happy—even which types hold up best in the heat (and ways to help all lettuce do better when summer arrives).Read along as you listen to the Jan. 14, 2019 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).success with lettuce, with tom stearnsQ. Over the years on the show you and I have talked about tomato h

DID YOU KNOW that robins can count, or that food (not paper or plastic) is the biggest single source of fodder for U.S. landfills? Those stories, and more, are among the latest links.

Now, I can tell you from first-hand experience that the purple markings on the rounded, 6- or 7-inch green pods look nothing like those on an Eastern timber rattler. But when grown until the pods mature and dry (here’s how to grow and dry shell beans), they’d be more in the snake’s tan and brown color range, if not the right pattern, exactly. The bean seeds are somewhat pinto-like, but much smaller, and speckled the way the green pods are before they turn solid green when cooked.Besides being beautiful, the fresh snap beans are somewhat sweet-tasting and easy to grow, and especially cooperative in hot weather (making them a favorite in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic, says Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, which lists them as 73 days to producing size).  Up north in Maine, Fedco’s catalog says 70 days–and that down south they’re sometimes called Preacher Beans, which Seed Savers confirms (offering a range of harvest time from 60-90 days); High Mowing See