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.

300-year-old Auburn Hills walnut tree threatened by road expansion

November 18, 2014 • Leave a Comment

The Detroit News:

The walnut tree on North Squirrel Road is older than just about anything you can think of to compare it to when you try to show how old it is.

When the Civil War started, the sprawling black walnut was 152. When quill pens scratched the first signatures onto the Declaration of Independence, it was 67. When George Washington was born in 1732, it was already old enough to vote.

Five years ago, an expert from the Michigan Botanical Club estimated that the tree was 300 years old.

Now some of its admirers are hoping it can survive 2015.

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Chrysanthemums are cornerstone for Japanese

November 13, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Associated Press—

TOKYO – When Americans think of flowers and Japan, we think of cherry blossoms. But to the Japanese, there’s a flower for every time of year, and right now, it’s the chrysanthemum, celebrated in festivals, shows and home displays.

Like the cherry blossom, the chrysanthemum, called “kiku” in Japanese, symbolizes the season, but more than that, it’s a symbol of the country itself. The monarchy is referred to as the Chrysanthemum Throne and the imperial crest is a stylized mum blossom. That seal is embossed on Japanese passports. The flower is also a common motif in art, and it’s seen in everyday life depicted on the 50-yen coin.

Originally introduced from China, this flower came with a legend about longevity, the story of a town whose residents all lived to more than 100 years old, where the water came from a mountain spring surrounded by chrysanthemums. Through selective breeding, the original simple flower was developed into many forms that most Americans wouldn’t recognize as a chrysanthemum, such as a type with long, thin, spidery petals, and another that’s said to look like a paintbrush.

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Scientists seeking help in search for Ash survivors

October 27, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Michigan Radio—

Researchers with the U.S. Forest Service are looking for ash trees that survived the attack of the emerald ash borer.

The invasive insect has been spreading across the Midwest and beyond since 2002 – killing millions of ash trees in its wake.

The Northern Research Station has launched a new online reporting tool. They want people in 10 counties in southeast Michigan and 7 counties in northwest Ohio to report the location of ash trees that have survived the infestation.

Read or listen to the rest of the story…

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