August 3, 2019 - Issue #420

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Few gastronomical treats come close to the season's first bite into a peach: the faint tingle of fuzz on your lips, the flesh, softer and sweeter than you remembered, and the trickle of juice down your chin, warm, sticky, and wonderful.

These simple maintenance tasks keep your patio planters and window boxes looking their best throughout the growing season and help cold-climate gardeners prepare for winter.

There's never a time when onions aren't ready for harvesting. They can be picked and eaten at any stage. No matter how many onions you use during the season, though, it's nice to have a crop of big onions mature at the end of summer to store for the fall and winter months.

Hibiscus are deciduous shrubs with dark green leaves; the plants can grow to 15 feet tall in frost-free areas. Flowers may be up to 6 inches diameter, with colors ranging from yellow to peach to red. Hibiscus can be planted singly or grown as a hedge plant; they can also be pruned into a single-stemmed small tree. The flowers are attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds.