2024 Gardening in the Panhandle LIVE! New Year – New Format
Since 2020, we have delivered timely webinars using Zoom and Facebook Live to reach Gardening in the Panhandle LIVE! viewers. In 2024, we are changing things up just a bit. Due to changes in the way Zoom and Facebook interface we will only be transmitting live through...
Variegation, Viruses, and You
An interesting phenomenon turned up in my camellia this spring. What has, for years, been a perfectly normal bush – growing its glossy, dark green leaves year ‘round and its showy flowers in the fall – suddenly changed. Its leaves started becoming variegated!...
Citrus Scab
Citrus scab, caused by the fungal pathogen Elsinoë fawcettii, is a common disease affecting citrus trees in the home landscape such as satsuma mandarins, tangelos, grapefruit, and other tangerine hybrids. This disease affects the leaves, fruit, and twigs of citrus...
Spiders Everywhere
It seems like I'm always finding a unique spider in the house. Whether I've been summoned to remove it from the premises or by a chance encounter. It is no surprise to me that there are more than 250 species of spiders found in Florida. In fact, I figured there...
Elderberry: A Very Attractive and Useful Native Plant
If you are out and about this time of year you may notice an interesting flowering shrub putting on a show of white flower heads. As time goes on the flower will develop into dark purple almost black fruit. You often find this shrub in forests, the edge of fields and...
GIP Live Benefits of Turf Program Summary
The May Gardening in the Panhandle Live focused on the various aspects of turfgrass care and species characteristics. The panel included: Dr. Bryan Unruh, UF IFAS Extension Turfgrass Science Professor Sheila Dunning, UF IFAS Extension Commercial Horticulture Agent in...
Panhandle Watermelon Festival Big Melon Contest – Entries Accepted June 19 & 20
by Mark Mauldin Calling all watermelon producers; commercial growers to gardeners. It’s almost time to enter your finest melons in the Big Melon Contest at the Panhandle Watermelon Festival. The festival and the contest have been summer-time staples in the Central...
Creating Beautiful Summer Containers
For those of us that don’t have the best landscape conditions or the time, money, or inclination to invest into a vibrant yard display of annual flowers, growing our flowers in containers is a great option! Growing in containers has several advantages over growing...
The Season of the Loud Bugs
You may recognize the arrival of summer because of the intense buzzing sound coming from the trees. It can last all day long, with changes in the pitch and pattern of the screaming. Cicadas are large (3/4” – 2 ½”) winged insects with stocky bodies and bulging eyes....
The Physical Properties of Soil
Understanding soil composition is crucial for successful gardening. Soil is the slow interaction of parent material with regional climates, topography, and soil biota over millennia. The breakdown of parent materials results in layers of material called horizons. A...
The Hidden World of Unconventional Pollinators
Pollinators contribute to the reproduction of over 87 percent of the world’s flowering plants and are crucial for agriculture, with 75 percent of the different types of crops we grow for food relying on pollinators to some extent to achieve their yields. Perhaps most...