Coffee Grounds: Friend or Foe?

Common garden folklore has it that coffee grounds are a good fertilizer, especially for acid-loving plants, because of the acid in the coffee. However, coffee grounds contain many different chemicals, including caffeine, which is toxic to many organisms in large amounts. Last fall I decided to do a test, planting three identically sized pots with […]

Driggs Garden featured in “Utah Stories”

For many years, the Neighborhood Garden Club and Howard R. Driggs Elementary School have collaborated on a Junior Garden Club program. In spite of the pandemic and all the difficulties of the past year, they have kept the program alive and succeeded in growing several beds of flowers and vegetables last summer. You can read […]

Renowned Tree Expert to Speak

We are pleased to welcome Mark Malmstrom, professional arborist and competitive tree climber, to our Fall Meeting on Saturday, October 30. He will talk about “What you should know about trees.” This event will take place at 1 PM in the Sugar House Garden Center, 1602 E. 2100 S. It is free and open to […]

Butterfly Release

The Neighborhood Garden Club’s opening program this year centered on butterflies. Parker Buttner, a representative from Riverbottom Butterflies, came and spoke about their life cycles and the problems that the butterflies, and the Monarch in particular, have been facing. He also spoke about the symbolism of the butterfly. Following Parker’s presentation, we went outside and […]

Driggs Garden produces a bountiful harvest

April and May 2021 were busy times at Howard R. Driggs Elementary School in Holladay. Many of the children were back to face-to-face learning after the pandemic, and they and their teachers were in the process of planting their outdoor classroom. The children went home for the summer and returned to find a veritable jungle […]

Puncture Vine Control

Puncture vine (Tribulus terrestris) is one of the most annoying and destructive weeds in Utah. An invasive plant originally from the Mediterranean region, it produces the sharp four-pointed “goatheads” that stick in shoes and dog paws and puncture bicycle tires. It is a sprawling, prostrate plant that likes bare, open, sunny areas (such as roadsides). […]

Purge Your Spurge!

Myrtle spurge, also known as donkey’s tail or burro’s tail, is a drought-tolerant plant native to Europe and Asia Minor. It was brought to the western U.S. as an ornamental, but unfortunately it is highly invasive. When ripe, its seeds pop out of their capsules and can travel as far as 15 feet. A patch […]