Q: I need to prune an arborvitae hedge because it is too tall. I’d like to remove 3 or 4 feet off the top of these shrubs. When is the best time to prune them? A: Late winter or early spring is ...

If you don’t have an arborvitae tree or shrub in your yard, chances are your neighbor does. Arborvitaes are among the most commonly planted evergreens in Chicago-area landscapes. Many yards and ...

If conditions are too dry, plant roots are still unable to nourish the plant. You will have crispy brown foliage everywhere (that may perk up once watered) and will probably not survive. Here are a ...

Q: We're planning screening in our yard and could use a tall conifer in one corner. I've been reading about thujas. But any time I hear words that sound so expansively positive like what I read about ...

For those without the time or inclination to tend the garden year-round, low-maintenance privacy planting is the perfect ...

Dress up your porch or patio with gorgeous evergreen shrubs perfect for winter containers. The key to fabulous winter containers is evergreen foliage, but evergreen doesn't have to mean just green.

Five hydrangeas with new twists, a compact new native Virginia sweetspire, and a “baby brother” to the popular ‘Green Giant’ arborvitae are among the best new trees and shrubs hitting the market for ...

Love it or loathe it, pruning is usually a prerequisite for plants to ensure they remain neat, healthy, and put on the best display year after year. If you sit firmly on the loath-it side, or just ...

What did the tree do when it went on sabbatical? It took a leaf of absence, of course. Tree humor is fun, but what’s happened to trees this winter is certainly no laughing matter. Wet heavy snow, ...

Q: Our son in the Twin Cities planted arborvitae last summer, watered them well, gave them good care and they looked great in the fall. When the snow melted this spring, the lower half of every shrub ...

Rabbits have a good thing going. They distract us by masquerading as the cute candy-toting Easter Bunny or Bambi’s buddy Thumper, while behind our backs their kinfolks are devouring everything in our ...

Editor’s note: Throughout the growing season, Mike Hogan, OSU Extension educator for Agriculture and Natural Resources in Franklin County, will answer gardening and home landscape questions submitted ...