Would you send me the free garden and pest information mentioned at the end of your Sun columns?
We have hundreds of publications and articles on topics ranging from termites and deer to vegetables, fruits, trees and shrubs. You can browse through the subject areas or in the Information Library on our website. Or call and we’ll help you get the ones that address your interests or problems. If we do not have your topic already written up, we will send a specific answer (click “Ask MD’s Gardening Experts” on our website) or answer it over the phone. If you’re looking for a general reference on every aspect of gardening, however, we also offer the 600-page “UME Master Gardener Handbook” for $69.
University of Maryland Extension’s Home and Garden Information Center offers free gardening and pest information. Call 800-342-2507 or send a question to the website at extension.umd.edu/hgic.
Plant of the week
Baldcypress
Taxodium distichum
If you have a sunny, damp area, lots of space and want a strong focal point, baldcypress could be the plant for you. This unusual native looks like a lofty needled evergreen in summer but drops its foliage in the fall, giving it the name “bald”. Foliage is soft and flowing — yellow-green in spring, sage in summer, changing to russet in fall. In winter, its stately trunk has coppery peeling bark. An adaptable tree, it withstands dry and city conditions and can be used as a street tree. Planted in water, knobby “knees” grow from the ground around the trunk to provide more oxygen. Growing about 21/2 feet a year to a mature height of 50 to 75 feet, not only is it long-lived, but it is a low-maintenance native. —Ginny Williams
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