Featured Articles

Planting Basics 101

article written for www.patch.com Far too often plant material is set into the ground either too high or below grade. Compound this problem with burying your plants in mulch, in some cases, of 8-10 inches. Now that the weather is breaking, I thought it would be...

20 May, 2011
A TRIFECTA FOR MAY

Published May 10, 2011 | By Robert LaHoff, Halls Garden Center & Florist Years ago, when I first started to learn horticultural vocabulary; I had two bosses who gave me a new plant to learn everyday. Starting out in this business over twenty years ago, I worked a summer job...

10 May, 2011
“CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’”

Published April 10, 2011 | By Robert LaHoff, Halls Garden Center & Florist I never thought I would be so excited to just see green grass. After the brutal winter we have all just endured that is exactly what helped sooth my soul as I touched down in California on...

10 April, 2011
Time is Running Out to Transplant, But Not To Plant

article written for www.patch.com One of the most popular questions I field during the spring is, “when is a good time to plant?” My answer… you can plant anytime, as long as you can break ground! The truth is there is a huge difference between transplanting...

06 April, 2011
A BRILLIANT HARBINGER OF SPRING

Published March 10, 2011 | By Robert LaHoff, Halls Garden Center & Florist Most gardeners are chomping at the bit this time of year, pent up with cabin fever. Eager to get their hands in the dirt and create new garden experiences there is one tree, this time of year,...

10 March, 2011
A Winter That Just Won’t Let Go

article written for www.patch.com I have lived in New Jersey my whole life and barely remember a winter as treacherous as this past one. January just kept dumping snow on us every week and February gave us the frigid cold. Now into March we have a...

03 March, 2011
TO CUT, OR NOT TO CUT, THAT IS THE QUESTION:

Published February 10, 2011 | By Robert LaHoff, Halls Garden Center & Florist Perhaps the most famous line in English literature, Hamlet’s greatest soliloquy, inspired a sort of play on words for this title. Often asked when is the proper time to cut back ornamental grasses in the garden, I...

22 February, 2011
A Handful of Flowering Trees to Wet our Appetites

article written for www.patch.com I think by now we are all experiencing the doldrums of winter and are eagerly awaiting the explosion of color that spring provides. While bark appeal, bud formations and winter skeletal outlines are impressive; there is no denying that the emergence of...

03 February, 2011
DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?

  Published January 10, 2011 | By Robert LaHoff, Halls Garden Center & Florist My good friend and horticultural demigod, John Stella, inspired the title of this article. Several months ago we were talking about characteristics of plants and how a trained eye can see them so clearly. Just as a...

22 January, 2011
‘Gingerbread’ Is Not Just For The Holidays!

‘Gingerbread’ Is Not Just For The Holidays! Social medias are growing on me. Once apprehensive and skeptical about these viral outlets, I have grown to like them and find them purposeful and educational at times. I still feel that they are used as a popularity contest,...

17 December, 2010