As published in the Miami Herald Although most places across the country have four seasons complete with changing leaves, snow days and the first robins of spring, South Florida has only two real seasons – wet and dry. You should have noticed a change recently, a little coolness in the air and very little humidity. That is the signal that we are leaving our wet months – usually late May to late October – and entering into our dry season. This coincides with the rest of the…

If you have ever owned a garden, volunteered in one, or particpated in a volunteer work day, you may be an experienced weed-puller.  As you yanked weed after weed, did you wonder whether the sweat, sore muscles, and dirty jeans were all for nought?  Maybe you thought “This is impossible!!!”  Well the

As a kid, I loved digging a hole during the summer, filling it with water and jumping in. I suppose I was easily amused. If you, too, do this, but without the jumping in, you will have begun to attract amphibians like toads and frogs to your garden.

John Muir and Henry David Thoreau knew it. The Japanese call it “forest bathing,” using exposure to nature to heal physical and emotional ailments. Research is backing up what we’ve known intuitively all along: Nature heals.

There’s been some information floating around social media and the Internet about the health benefits of turmeric, including its ability to fight anxiety and depression. While I can’t support or deny these benefits, I think we should all take a look at turmeric. It may be known to many as a spice in curry or an ingredient in mustard, but what actually is turmeric?

As Published in the Miami Herald Palm trees are one of the most beloved landscape ornamentals in South Florida and are a relatively simple plant to grow in your yard. Despite the popularity and ease of growing palms, most homeowners know only scant truths about the palms residing in their backyards. Palm myths have run rampant and are becoming more widely accepted than the facts. For an ornamental that is so dear to our hearts and vital to our landscape, it is a shame that they are…

In my endless pursuit of doing less yardwork, I’ve realized our obsession with neatness and order causes a lot of work and wastes huge amounts of precious resources. Here’s one more task you can skip.

As published in The Miami Herald Tree ferns look just like their names describe – tree-sized ferns, with a caudex, or trunk. They're so iconically tropical in appearance, you can't help but feel like you're in a Hawaiian rainforest when standing in their presence. You might also expect to see a dinosaur devouring the delicate fronds, since ferns in general look “primitive,” and an arborescent example would certainly attract a large herbivorous reptile. The…

Star Apple (Chrysophyllum cainito) is a tropical fruit native to the lowlands of Central America and West India. The fruit has a star like design when it is sliced, hence its common name Star Apple. 

The start apple its mostly appreciated as a fruit tree in home landscapes. It is a beautiful tree, making a perfect tree for landscaping in South Florida. The canopy …

One of the serious growing threats to biodiversity of coastal species is sea level rise. Fortunately, many scientists are taking proactive measures to address this serious concern. Dr. Reed Noss of University of Central Florida and the Florida Institute for Conservation Science organized a cross-disciplinary Sea Level Rise Workshop from

As Published in the Miami Herald If you are a transplant from the north or simply a new gardener, you will quickly find out that the rules of growing plants in South Florida are different from just about everywhere else. There are four main factors that separate us from the rest of the plant growing world and also make growing things somewhat difficult: our soil, the threat of hurricanes, our climate and a plethora of pests. Soils To help combat our rocky soils, choose well adapted plants …