Making It Grow Minutes

When people from the the Mediterranean areas of Europe came to North America and saw native redbuds, they called them by the familiar name of Judas tree.

Well, as soon as you think you’re giving the right information, you find something that makes you back track. Our native redbuds prefer partial shade but driving down Devine Street in Columbia recently, I marveled at the beauty of the redbuds growing in absolute full sun.

Cercis canadenis, redbuds are in bloom in South Carolina and what a distinctive and lovely understory tree they are.

Like many birds, they also enjoy fruits and berries, in season, which are a consistent part of their diet.

Male sapsuckers spend several weeks drilling out a nesting cavity, preferring trees with heart-rot fungus if possible as they are softer to drill into.

If you are worried about a tree used by sapsuckers, you can wrap small gauge chicken wire or such around the trunk.

Amazingly migratory, this bird nests in our part of the country as well as in Alaska and Canada and drills sap wells into trees, over years they are lined up perfectly above the depressions of earlier drilling.

This is the only woodpecker that doesn’t actively drill in tree trunks looking for insects to eat

Well, the poor yellow-bellied sapsucker gets a bad rap, as it sounds like these are cowardly birds when really their name comes from their attractive, light yellow breast.

It is a day of joy when my puppy Blue and I walk with my friend Ann Nolte. She and her husband Hank Stallworth live on a portion of what was his family farm.

In my home county of Calhoun, a heavily irrigated farming area, the aquifer is dropping, and many people are having to redrill their wells, so this is not just a west coast problem.

If trash is not removed from the LA river culvert, it goes straight into the Pacific Ocean.

We know from our storm water experts, that when water flows over soil, many of the pollutants can be removed and microbes in the ground can safely decompose them. In the case of the Los Angeles River, everything goes right into the Pacific Ocean.

There is now a movement to enhance any space on the LA river that could be considered an urban park where people could get a glimpse of nature in a profoundly densely-packed city.

"Amaryllis" have hollow stems and you need to take certain steps if using them as cut flowers.

There are a zillion different amaryllis cultivars out there – a plethora of colors and flower shapes – singles or doubles, extra large or some smaller options. They make the best show in a garden if grouped and need about a foot of space between each large-sized bulb.

In mid-spring when all danger of frost is over, you can move your potted amaryllis plants outside to a partly shaded area.

In most parts of South Carolina, holiday amaryllis bulbs can be added to your garden or the front of shrub beds when all chance of frost is over. For successful transplanting, keep the indoor plant healthy and growing after it flowers to replenish or build back that bulb.

If you have amaryllis bulbs (actually the genus is Hippeastrum but we’re never going to call them that) blooming in your house over the holidays, you can take some steps to keep them healthy.

The magnificent flowering plants we call amaryllis, so popular as indoor plants during the holidays, really aren’t in the genus Amaryllis but rather Hippeastrum.