(For Release On Or After 08/03/07) Our yards and gardens generally look a little frayed around the edges by this time of the year. On top of heat stress, plants also are more vulnerable to insect and disease problems now.

(For Release On Or After 07/27/07) If you haven’t paid a lot of attention to sunflowers for your garden lately, you may think only of the gigantic sunflowers that reach for their namesake in the sky – towering to heights of 8 feet or more. You also may think they only come in yellow. But the truth is that today’s gardeners have a lot of choices when selecting sunflowers.

(For Release On Or After 07/20/07) When it comes to vegetable gardening in Louisiana, gardeners should take advantage of our year-round growing season. Yes, even in the torrid depths of summer there are delicious, heat-tolerant vegetables you can plant now to keep your garden productive.

(For Release On Or After 07/13/07) I recently came across some poison ivy as I was working in an out-of-the-way area of my landscape. I keep a sharp eye out for this plant, since I’m quite allergic, and I promptly and ruthlessly deal with any as soon as I see it.

(For Release On Or After 07/06/07) One of the great joys of gardening is discovering new and attractive plants that thrive in our climate. An outstanding summer bedding plant called angelonia (Angelonia angustifolia) falls precisely into this category.