Michigan Gardener

SIGN UP to stay in touch!
We will send you occasional e-mails with gardening tips and information!


Digital Editions

Click on the cover to read now!

  • Home
  • Departments
    • Ask MG
    • Books
    • Clippings
    • Garden Snapshots
    • MG in the News
    • Janet’s Journal
    • Plant Focus
    • Profile
    • Raising Roses
    • Thyme for Herbs
    • Tools and Techniques
    • Tree Tips
  • Garden Event Calendar
  • Resources
    • Alternatives to Impatiens
    • Garden Help
    • Soil and Mulch Calculator
    • Public Gardens
  • Web Extras
  • About
    • About Us
    • Editorial Content
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us

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.

The story behind tasteless tomatoes

July 8, 2012   •   Leave a Comment

So, why do store-bought tomatoes lack the taste that many of us remember as kids? Blame aesthetics according to a recent report in Science Magazine:

The next time you bite into a supermarket tomato and are less than impressed with the taste, blame aesthetics. A new study reveals that decades of breeding the fruits for uniform color have robbed them of a gene that boosts their sugar content.

The finding is “a massive advance in our understanding of tomato fruit development and ripening,” says Alisdair Fernie, who studies the chemical composition of tomatoes at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam, Germany.

Read the full story here…

Filed Under: Clippings Tagged With: genetics, taste, tomatoes

In Memoriam: Bill Saxton 1926-2012

July 6, 2012   •   Leave a Comment

William Saxton, the second generation owner of Saxton’s Garden Center in Plymouth, passed away on June 4, 2012 at the age of 86.

Born in Hazel Park, Michigan on March 14, 1926 to Dean and Margaret Saxton, Bill graduated from Plymouth High School, where he met his future wife Valerie, in 1944. He served honorably in the U.S. Navy during World War II and went on to study business management and engineering at the University of Michigan, graduating in the late 1940’s. Bill and Valerie married in the summer of 1947.

Taking the reins from his father, Bill became the owner and operator of Saxton’s Garden Center, an 83-year-old family business in Plymouth, Michigan. A cornerstone of Plymouth’s downtown, the former Saxton’s Feed Company once served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Under Bill’s leadership, Saxton’s Feed Company transitioned from farm-supply and livestock feed to Saxton’s Garden Center as farms gave way to suburbs.

Bill is survived by his wife of nearly 65 years, Valerie and his children Alan, Craig and Christopher. Saxton will be remembered as a dedicated husband, father, grandfather, veteran, businessman, philanthropist, community leader and friend. Alan Saxton, third generation owner, operates Saxton’s Garden Center today.

Filed Under: Clippings Tagged With: Bill Saxton, memoriam

Website Extra: The Garden is a Classroom

June 29, 2012   •   4 Comments

To read the full story on Atwood Elementary, pick up a copy of Michigan Gardener (in stores now) or check out page 28 in our e-edition of the July Issue.

Some examples in the ABC garden at Atwood Elementary: A (aster), B (black-eyed Susan), C (cardinal flower), D (daisy), E (eggplant), H (hollyhock), and J (Jacob’s ladder).

 

”We have several chalkboard notes near the ABC plants to invite children, parents, teachers and visitors to a new plant or a new fact about a plant,” said garden coordinator Sandy Paratore.

 

The “A”maze garden has two entrances and lots of plants in the small maze.

 All photos by Sandie Parrott

Filed Under: Website Extras

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 128
  • 129
  • 130
  • 131
  • 132
  • …
  • 285
  • Next Page »

Copyright 1996-2025 Michigan Gardener. All rights reserved.