Michigan Gardener - Your guide Great Lakes gardening: Garden Event Calendar / Expert Advice / Plant Profiles / Tree Care

PLEASE NOTE: In the autumn of 1995, we hatched the idea for a free, local gardening publication. The following spring, we published the first issue of Michigan Gardener magazine. Advertisers, readers, and distribution sites embraced our vision. Thus began an exciting journey of helping our local gardening community grow and prosper.
After 27 years, nearly 200 issues published, and millions of copies printed, we have decided it is time to end the publication of our Print Magazine and E-Newsletter.

We will continue to update our Website with articles and enter current gardening events in our website Event Calendar. All the best wishes for 2024 and beyond.

European Experts Don’t Agree On Risks of Glyphosate

November 24, 2015 • Leave a Comment

The Salt at NPR:

Glyphosate, widely known by its trade name, Roundup, probably gets more attention than any other herbicide. It’s one of world’s most-used weedkillers, and it is also closely linked to the growth of genetically modified crops.

Monsanto invented Roundup, and also invented crops that grow well when it’s used on them. Farmers find that combination almost irresistible.

So in March, when the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a probably carcinogen, it set off a furor. Monsanto was outraged, and vociferously questioned the IARC’s judgement. Opponents of GMOs welcomed the agency’s conclusion as a scientific validation of their cause.

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Longwood Gardens grows the largest mum outside of Asia

November 11, 2015 • Leave a Comment

Longwood Gardens, in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, has unveiled the largest mum ever grown outside of Asia: the Thousand Bloom Chrysanthemum. This amazing plant features 1,509 uniform blooms on ONE plant. The Thousand Bloom is a highlight of the annual Chrysanthemum Festival at Longwood Gardens.

Called the Thousand Bloom, the plant derives its name from the ambitious goal of cultivating a single plant to produce as many perfectly placed blooms as possible. This ancient technique, known in Japan as Ozukuri, originated hundreds of years ago in Asia and is the most exacting and challenging of all chrysanthemum training styles. Longwood’s Thousand Bloom measures an impressive 12 feet wide and nearly 8 feet tall and took 18 months of careful nurturing and training to grow into its final form.

MSU Extension publishes new guide to support and encourage pollinators

October 28, 2015 • Leave a Comment

MSU Extension:

Bees of the Great Lakes Region and Wildflowers to Support Them is a new Michigan State University Extension publication that provides an overview of the diverse community of wild and managed bees across the Great Lakes region. Packed with photos of the most common bee species and showing photographs and descriptions of wildflowers that are attractive to bees, the guide also provides a section on bee conservation with some practical steps to take.

Bees are essential for pollination of many crops and they also pollinate flowers in the garden and in wild areas, helping to support natural systems. Approaches to supporting these insects is generally similar for all habitats: provide them with some food (flowers), give them a place to nest (habitat or artificial cavities) and don’t kill them (use bee-safe insecticides or follow label restrictions to protect pollinators).

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