Center for Plant Excellence announces grant award recipients

January 10, 2026

UNIVERSITY PARK — The Center for Plant Excellence, a new initiative supporting Pennsylvania’s plant industries, announced recipients of its 2025-26 grants, awarding $125,000 across seven projects. Launched in 2025, the center is a partnership among the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, Penn State Extension and industry leaders. It is aimed at strengthening research, industry collaboration and resources that drive sustainability and economic growth in forestry, specialty crops and horticulture. These sectors contribute more ...

Amid wildfire grief, an LA-area resident sowed sunflowers and hope where her home once stood

January 10, 2026

ALTADENA, Calif. (AP) — Missi Dowd-Figueroa brought life back to the fire-ravaged plot where her home once stood — one sunflower at a time. The registered nurse and mother of three lost her 1898 farm-style house in the Eaton Fire, one of two deadly wildfires that tore through the Los ...

‘Going strong:’ Small farms growing stronger roots in farm-to-table movement

January 10, 2026

Driving up a dirt road to the small produce stand at Bear Butte Gardens just outside Sturgis, one would never imagine the incredibly diverse ways that the organic farm is capitalizing on the rising consumer interest in healthy foods and the farm-to-table movement. The seasonal vegetables ...

Christmas is over, but what to do with the tree? Here’s some alternatives to the landfill

January 3, 2026

What to buy, what to serve, which events to attend — December is typically full of decisions. Here’s one more for you to contemplate: What are you going to do with your Christmas tree? According to the Nature Conservancy, some 10 million live Christmas trees end up in landfills every ...

A Christmas tree without needles?

December 27, 2025

Last month, this column focused on the desirable characteristics of Christmas trees, one of which is good needle retention. After all, branches without needles would be rather unattractive. Or would they? Two years ago, I tried something new — a needleless Christmas tree. It turned out to ...

Deck your garden with boughs of holly, a plant rich in symbolism and evergreen beauty

December 27, 2025

No doubt you’ve seen your share of hollies this month — in wreaths and boughs or perhaps on holiday cards and catalog covers. But are they growing in your garden? There are hundreds of holly species and hybrids hailing from China, Japan, South America, Europe and North Africa, and more than a dozen are native to the continental U.S. Lore holds that ancient pagans fashioned the evergreen’s branches into wearable crowns and believed that displaying it indoors would repel evil spirits and hasten the return of spring. Later, hollies were adapted by early Christians, their evergreen ...