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Even with good variety selection, bunch grapes still require more effort to produce healthy fruit than muscadines do.
Fall is one of the best times to plant most types of trees and shrubs in Louisiana.
Mulching is one of the best tools in the toolbox for managing weeds in landscape beds.
Many of our cool-season vegetables can be planted in September and October.
Giant plume ginger and pink velvet banana have a tropical appearance, are cold hardy throughout Louisiana, and provide pink color in the garden.
Birds need food, water, and shelter. Gardens can provide all of these.
Muscadines aren’t the only grapes that we see growing in the wild.
Raised beds are helpful where drainage is poor and can be useful even where it isn't, but they're not always without problems.
How to amend garden soil to improve soil fertility and plant health.
Understanding what nutrients are essential for plant growth and how these nutrients can be added to the soil.
This article addresses excessive drainage, low nutrients, and herbicide residues.
How to use sunlight to help kill soil pathogen and weed seeds in your garden beds.
Scare tactics may deter birds for a limited amount of time, but birds get used to them.
If a person is paid a fee for doing landscape work beyond general yard work, Louisiana generally requires a license.
Our growing season is long enough that we can prune blueberries soon after harvest, and the plants will have time to set flower buds for the next year.
Blossom end rot and buckeye rot are common problems with tomatoes.
A relatively way to kill many types of unwanted woody vines, shrubs, and trees is to make a “cut stump” treatment with a triclopyr-containing herbicide.
There are a variety of ways that trees can be damaged during construction.
Roughly 99% of insects are not “pests.”
A lot of vegetables don’t produce as well when temperatures are very hot, but eggplants can handle our summers.
We can take steps in the landscape to reduce the chances of termite infestations.
Bermudagrass tolerates foot traffic and drought but does not grow well in shade.
Information on the history of gardenias and how to care for them in the landscape.
Zoysiagrass is more drought- and wear-tolerant than centipedegrass and St. Augustinegrass and more shade-tolerant than bermudagrass.
Most vegetables that we grow are annuals in our climate, but there are some exceptions.
How and where to use magnolia trees that are native to Louisiana and the southeastern United States in your landscape.
Ornamental plants that bloom in late winter and early spring generally bloom on shoots that grew in a previous season. These should be pruned after flowering.
Tips on staking plants, removing suckers, and avoiding blossom end rot, leaf diseases, and caterpillar damage.
The snap bean is another warm-season vegetable that can be planted relatively early in the year.
April is late enough to avoid most frosts and early enough that plants are unlikely to experience excessively warm temperatures.
Late winter and early spring, as the aboveground parts of plants start growing again, are good times to fertilize perennial plants in landscape beds.
Late winter or early spring, around the time plants begin to put out new growth, is one of the best times of year to fertilize fruit trees.
Good bed preparation is important, especially when planting trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennials that we want to live for many years.
One of the main perks of growing transplants is that you can choose from a more diverse range of vegetable varieties than those offered locally as transplants.
Yield data was collected from 31 blueberry varieties at the Hammond Research Station in 2024.
For woody plants and palms, waiting is advised.
If you’re going to use an herbicide, it’s important to do it while weeds are small.
Here are some gift ideas for gardeners.
Muscadines fruit on shoots that come from the previous season’s growth.
In 2024, we harvested from the end of April till early July.
Rabbiteye blueberries can produce for many years and with relatively little care if a good site is chosen and the soil is prepared well.
Twelve individuals recently completed the LSU AgCenter’s Louisiana Master Gardener course in Tangipahoa Parish.
The sweet potato production cycle begins when sweet potatoes from the previous harvest season are planted in the spring, to produce slips for transplanting.
Each year, we face situations in which some of our plants could be injured by cold weather.
The LSU AgCenter is offering six classes covering a variety of garden- and landscape-related topics in early 2025.
Hawthorns and crabapples native to Louisiana tend to grow into small trees, have thorny branches, flower in spring, and have fruit that is consumed by wildlife.
Garlic and most types of bulb-forming onions need to be exposed to cool temperatures followed by longer days to form bulbs of the desired sizes.
Lettuce is not a very demanding vegetable, but it needs to be grown at the right time of year, and some types are easier to grow in our climate than others.
Tawny crazy ant colonies grow to contain very large numbers of ants with multiple queens, and people often find piles of dead ants
Composting is a way to take yard, garden, and kitchen “waste” and turn it into something useful.
If you want long-term control of fire ants but also need to get rid of them quickly in one or more spots, you can take a two-step approach.
Sooty mold grows where insects have secreted a sugary substance called honeydew.
The best option will depend on several factors.
Besides the amount of rainfall that we get and the intensity of rainstorms, a number of other factors affect how much erosion occurs on a site.
Leaves and roots of plants play major roles in reducing erosion.
Figs are one of our more easy-to-grow fruit plants, although at this time of year, leaf diseases are often observed.
Most of our blackberry and blueberry plants have finished fruiting, so it’s time to think about pruning them and making a final fertilizer application.
The LSU AgCenter has a lot of resources that address a variety of topics.
History and care of figs trees for Louisiana.
Plants injured by synthetic auxin herbicides often exhibit distortion of leaves and other plant parts.
History of southern peas, and information for growing them in your garden.
Several types of insects make highly noticeable webs in trees.
Information on use of native hibiscus plants in the landscape.
Fall webworm control methods for landscape and fruit trees.
While tropical milkweed is most readily available in garden centers, a number of milkweed species are native to Louisiana.
There are vegetables that tolerate hot weather.
It’s helpful to know what poison ivy looks like.
It’s important to start spraying for Virginia buttonweed during the spring, since this is when the weed is more tender and susceptible to herbicides.
Easter lilies are perennials in the landscape in most parts of Louisiana.
Growing magnolia trees in the home landscape.
Annuals can quickly provide a splash of color – due to their flowers, foliage, or both – in the landscape.
It's recommended that the warm-season turfgrasses commonly grown in Louisiana be fertilized between April and August.
Individuals in the Louisiana Master Gardener program help the LSU AgCenter provide education about gardening and lawn care.
Kirilow’s or Chinese indigo is sometimes cultivated under tree canopies in Louisiana. There are also wild or false indigos that are grown as ornamental plants.
Alternatives to the more invasive wisterias include American wisteria and evergreen wisteria.
Sweet corn can be planted earlier than many other warm-season vegetables.
Apple trees are usually trained in the central leader form.
Apple varieties recommended for the Florida Parishes area of Louisiana include Anna, Dorsett Golden, and Ein Shemer.
Black flies, or buffalo gnats, are a major nusiance in the Feliciana parishes in spring.
Late January to mid-February is the primary time of year to prune everblooming roses in Louisiana.
If you wait until March or April to plant a vegetable garden, you will have missed the window for planting some of our cool-season veggies.
Chinese privet is, unfortunately, a common plant in the southeastern US.
A primary criterion for choosing pecan varieties for yards and home orchards is resistance to pecan scab.
Despite having ornamental qualities, tung oil trees are not the best choice for all locations.
Several yucca species and at least one agave are considered native to Louisiana.
Dwarf palmetto, saw palmetto, and several species of prickly pear cacti round out the discussion of prickly plants native to Louisiana.
Distyliums are evergreen, tolerate Louisiana's climate, and can be used as hedge or foundation plants.
While they’re sometimes thrown out after their fall flower display, garden mums are perennials and can be planted in the landscape.
Viburnums, as a group, have long been a bit nebulous to me.
Some of the plants most closely associated with the holidays are daylength sensitive. Exposure to long periods of darkness is a key to getting them to bloom.
