HGEC Newspaper Articles

The UConn Home & Garden Center's horticultural consultants and affiliate staff write a weekly column that is submitted to The Chronicle, The Hartford Courant, and other local news outlets. Read our previous articles below.

2024

Berry Good Pick for Winter Interest

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View As PDF By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center Looking for a splash of color in your yard amid winter’s dreary landscape? Check out one or more of the many winterberry (Ilex verticillata) cultivars. This deciduous member of the holly family sports bright, shiny red berries from early fall through late winter. […]

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The Fall Invasion of the Asian Lady Beetle

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View As PDF By Marie Woodward, UConn Home & Garden Education Center As the leaves change color and the weather turns colder, many people look forward to the beauty and coziness of autumn. However, one uninvited guest often accompanies the season: the Asian lady beetle. This insect, scientifically known as Harmonia axyridis, can be a […]

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Do You Dig Dahlias?

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View As PDF By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate to visit the spectacular dahlia gardens on Enders Island in Mystic. For those unfamiliar with this retreat, an 11-acre seaside estate was donated to the Society Edmund by Mrs. Alys E. Enders in 1954. This […]

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Helping Plants During the September-October Drought

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View As PDF By Pamm Cooper, UConn Home & Garden Education Center Here at the UConn Home and Garden Center we have been getting questions about lawn and garden issues that have been particularly widespread in the state. Whether in the landscape or the garden, there is always something going on, good or bad, and […]

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Gorgeous Grasses

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View As PDF By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center Autumn shines a spotlight on ornamental grasses. With their rustling blades and fluffy seedheads they are star performers in late season gardens going head-to-head with asters, mums, Montauk daisies and boltonias. Plus, they are great in fresh or dried cut flower arrangements. The […]

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I Want My Mum: A Fall Classic Through the Ages

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View As PDF By Abigayle Ward, UConn Department of Plant Science & Landscape Architecture Graduate Student With the arrival of fall, one popular bloom brings the brilliant colors of forest foliage to our doorstep: With flower colors coming in purple, red, orange, yellow, and more, chrysanthemums, or more simply, mums, have been a favorite for […]

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Coax Bulbs into Bloom for Late Winter Color

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View As PDF By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center Autumn adorns us with vibrant leaves, whispering grasses, warm colorful mums, colorful cucurbits and sun-bleached cornstalks. Time spent cleaning up the gardens and yard now will be appreciated come spring. A favorite fall task is selecting and planting bulbs for spring color, accent […]

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Is Early Leaf Drop an Indicator of Tree Health?

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View As PDF By Nick Goltz, DPM, UConn Home & Garden Education Center, Plant Diagnostic Lab The autumnal equinox, one of two times of the year at which day and night are equal in length, just passed on Sunday the 22nd. While this point marks the astrological start of fall, many of the trees lining […]

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Time to Fertilize Your Lawn

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View As PDF   By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center While September brings with it shorter days, we still have plenty of opportunities to attend to those fall yard and garden chores. Among them is applying fertilizer to lawns. Keep in mind that for the most part, our lawns consist of cool […]

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Tips from UConn Floriculture Help Spruce Up Container Plantings

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View As PDF     By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center As summer wanes and the cool breezes of autumn begin to roll into Connecticut, it’s the perfect time to refresh your container plantings. Shelley Durocher-Nesta, UConn Plant Science Floriculture Grower, says this summer’s rain and high temperatures have many of our […]

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Fall is a Fabulous Time to Plant!

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View As PDF     By Heather Zidack, UConn Home & Garden Education Center There’s no doubt that spring planting is exciting. The instant gratification that comes with putting in our new gardens and seeing flowers and greenery right away is unmatched.  Late season planting is a different animal altogether. There’s a slower pace, less […]

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End of Season Strawberry Renovation

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View As PDF     By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center So, you decided to grow some strawberries this year. You carefully prepared the bed and have enjoyed your first crop. Now you are wondering what to do to keep your strawberry bed healthy and productive. In part, the care after harvest […]

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Spectacular Sedums: Your New Favorite Groundcover

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View As PDF By Abigayle Ward, UConn Dept. of Plant Science & LA Graduate Student With varieties native to North America, tolerance to frigid temperatures down to minus 40 degrees F, and nearly 500 species described, sedums subvert all expectations of a succulent. Also known as stonecrop, sedums have been a garden favorite since the […]

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Current Landscape and Garden Conundrums

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View As PDF By Pamm Cooper, UConn Home & Garden Education Center Here at the UConn Home & Garden Education Center we have been getting questions about three pests that have been particularly widespread in the state. Whether in the landscape or the garden, there is always something going on, good or bad, and keeping […]

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What’s Eating My Brassicas?

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View As PDF   By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center Broccoli, cabbage, kale and other members of the brassica family are tasty and so good for you but its not just us who find them delectable. Brassicas have a number of insect pests but probably several caterpillar species do the most damage. […]

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Coleus: A Victorian Dream

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View As PDF   By Abigayle Ward, UConn Dept. of Plant Science & LA Graduate Student Seen anywhere from great-grandma’s ornamental garden to your neighbor’s hanging basket, coleus are the colorful, velvet-textured leafy cousins of oregano and deadnettle. Native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, it is thought that Dutch botanists introduced the […]

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Calling the Cut – Tree Triage, Care, and Removal

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View As PDF By Nick Goltz, DPM, UConn Plant Diagnostic Lab/UConn Home & Garden Education Center The forecast is looking good for a perfect 4th of July weekend. Most folks will take advantage of the weather ahead to plan that perfect grilling menu for when their friends and family visit. This is a much-needed respite […]

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Firefly Petunias Light Up the Night

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View As PDF   By Dr. Matthew Lisy, UConn Adjunct Faculty The world of genetics has really had a tremendous impact on our lives. There is a lot of talk about GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, in the news. Labels even alert us to the presence of these crops in our foods. I wanted to […]

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Keep your Perennials & Annuals Looking Fabulous All Season Long!

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View As PDF By: Heather Zidack, UConn Home & Garden Education Center Hanging baskets, planter boxes and perennial gardens that are bursting with color are seldom planted in spring and left untouched until autumn. Deadheading, pruning, trimming and pinching are all techniques that gardeners can use to get that perfect look all season long. While […]

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Luscious Lemony Herbs

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View As PDF By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center With summer almost around the corner, many of us are setting in vegetables and herbs in hopes of preparing delectable culinary delights as these plants mature. Aromatic herbs bring amazing flavors and zing to all sorts of savory and sweet concoctions. A citrusy […]

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DIY – Grow Flowers for Cutting

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View As PDF   By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center Do you just love fresh flower arrangements for the table or even that single bloom in a vase by your bedside? Wouldn’t it feel great to just stroll out your back door, clip some blossoms, bring them inside and enjoy their beauty? […]

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It’s Spring! Time to Feed the Plants!

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View As PDF By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center Plants need nutrients to grow and develop just like we need vitamins and minerals. They get most of their nutrients dissolved in the water they take up with their roots. When we add fertilizer to the soil around our garden plants, we are […]

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Watch for Bulb Diseases

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View As PDF   Dr. Nick Goltz, UConn Home & Garden Education Center; UConn Plant Diagnostic Lab Gardens in New England come to life in spring thanks, in large part, to bulbs! Spring bulbs are reliable, perennial color-bringers and seem equally at home in landscapes and containers. Daffodils (Narcissus spp.), grape hyacinth (Muscari spp.), and […]

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Grow Vegetables – Save Money

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View As PDF   By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center Anyone who grocery shops on a regular basis has likely noticed a higher tally at the checkout counter. The latest consumer pricing analysis from the USDA is predicting a 1.3 percent increase in food prices. While we can’t do much to lower […]

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Sensational Sansevieria

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View As PDF   By Dr. Matthew Lisy, UConn Adjunct Faculty The Sansevieria group make up some of my favorite houseplants. Scientists recently placed them in the genus Dracaena, but its former scientific name seems to be also one of its common names.  This plant has many common names including “snake plant” and my personal […]

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The Do’s and Don’ts of Early Spring Gardening

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View As PDF By Heather Zidack, UConn Home & Garden Education Center  There’s a well-known scene in the movie “Braveheart” where Mel Gibson’s character, commands his men to “Hold!” as the enemy is rushing upon them. It’s a scene that I often reference as an analogy for this part of the year. Daylight savings time […]

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Celebrate the Year of the Squash – 2024

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View As PDF Celebrate the Year of the Squash – 2024 By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center Tomatoes and peppers certainly have a wide and varied selection of species, cultivars and varieties but I think squash beats them both out when it comes to sizes, shapes, colors and uses. Perhaps that’s one […]

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Tips for the February Gardener

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View As PDF Tips for the February Gardener By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center February is a tough time for gardeners. Days are getting longer but the cold temperatures, and in many cases, snow, are keeping us inside. This is a good month to provide houseplants with a little TLC before the […]

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Connecticut Barns

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View As PDF Connecticut Barns By Pamm Cooper, UConn Home & Garden Education Center Venturing out in the rural Connecticut landscape, there are reminders of the agricultural age that dominated the landscape. Farms that once used their land for raising livestock and growing crops have either been abandoned or slashed in size to accommodate new […]

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Hearts for Valentine’s Day

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View As PDF  Hearts for Valentine’s Day By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center While there’s always the traditional Valentine’s Day gifts of flowers and candy, why not give that special someone a plant with heart-shaped leaves that will likely last much longer than chocolates or bouquets. There are actually a number of […]

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Watch Out for These Nutrient Deficiency Symptoms

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Download PDF Watch Out for These Nutrient Deficiency Symptoms By Haiying Tao, Ph.D., UConn Home & Garden Education Center Plants need at least seventeen essential nutrients to complete their life cycles. Scientists group these essential nutrients into macronutrients (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, sulfur, calcium and magnesium), which are required in large quantities and […]

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Alluring African Violets Chosen as 2024 Houseplant of the Year

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Download PDF Alluring African Violets Chosen as 2024 Houseplant of the Year By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center   This last decade or so has seen a burgeoning interest in houseplants. While this has led to the introduction of some new and exciting species, classic stalwarts are still in demand as evidenced by […]

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How to Identify and Treat Salt Damage on Plants

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Download PDF How to Identify and Treat Salt Damage on Plants Laurel Humphrey, UConn Home & Garden Education Center From freezing temperatures to blistering winds, the harsh winter elements can pose a challenge for people and plants alike. One common issue many gardeners face during the wintertime is salt damage on plants. While deicing road […]

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2024 All-American Selections

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Download PDF 2024 All American Selection Winners By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center As we usher in the New Year, garden enthusiasts and horticulturists alike eagerly anticipate the unveiling of the All-America Selections (AAS) winners for 2024. The AAS is a prestigious organization that annually recognizes outstanding new varieties of flowers, vegetables, […]

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