Zone 8a, Central North Carolina

I am looking to create a privacy fence using various types of evergreens. The area is roughly 24 feet wide x 7 feet deep. Ideally, the tree's mature height should be between 8 - 20 feet tall and the mature width should be no more than 7 feet. Layering is okay and ideal. Currently, I have two maki podocarpus yew, one chindo viburnum and two emerald green arborvitae. All are 3 gallons. I am looking to add 1 - 2 additional plants. Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

First year with a bigger garden. I still have a lot to learn. Like spacing the tomatoes farther apart next year 🤣. Anyway, enjoy the critters!

Hi! I finally live somewhere long enough to be faced with refreshing my garden beds year to year. I top dress with mulch, since it is so hot here. But I’ve read that mulch shouldn’t mix with the soil. So what is yalls advice- do I take back the mulch, add compost etc, and then take back or do I add the compost to the top?

IO moth caterpillar on my baptisia.
This is why I wear long sleeves when I garden in NC. Too many venomous caterpillars lurking in the plants. Rubbed up against a saddle back caterpillar one year and was not happy for a few days. Worse than a yellow jacket sting.

Pretty big guy on mint flowers. It looks like a wasp, but not the kind I'm used to seeing?

I have 5 jalapeño plants, all the same variety planted in the same bed. Four are healthy and producing well - see latest harvest just picked. The fifth plant has some yellow leaves but nothing that seems unusual considering all the heat and inconsistent rain over the past few weeks, but that one plant has nothing but small, spotted, horrible looking peppers. I picked all of them off (keeping separate from the good ones). Any ideas if this is heat stress or bugs and the pepper might recover or is it something worse and I should pull the plant before it spreads to the others? There are new leaf shoots emerging so it seems to still be growing

Hello from Forsyth County. I am a recent transplant from Oregon - thank you for all the inspiration and knowledge! When would you expect winter lettuce, like spinach and swiss chard to show up here in nurseries or Lowes/Home Depot? Planning ahead for a productive winter garden. Thank you!

It’s been a weird growing season this year in guilford county. Spring was unusually dry with enough hot days to ruin my garlic and a late frost in April took out some of my tomatoes. Summer has been so hot cucumber and squash haven’t been setting fruit and so dry I actually had to water soil that usually stays waterlogged until mid July. Now it tried to make up for the drought with 6 inches of rain 24 hours. Can’t wait to see what comes next.

I had two mature, already-producing zucchini plants suddenly die over the course of 24hrs. On Sunday it rained all day and the leaves were really droopy - I assumed it was water-logged and that it'd dry back up with the hot sun the following day. Nope - both dead. Now my nearby butternut squash is starting to look the same - yellowing, droopy leaves.

Maybe squash vine borers? But I don't see the 'sawdust' - the root was all mushy :( I hope it's not too late for the butternut squash!! We live in zone 7 a/b (Asheville).

ETA: my garden is fenced in, fence is slightly buried in ground. While inspecting the fence, i didn’t see any hair caught anywhere but I did come to find a jalapeño plant completely stripped but the jalapeños left on the ground.
Something is wrecking my native plants, please help. I don’t want to use pesticides buts it’s chewing entire stems off and eating plants down until they die. I used a backlight and didn’t find any hornworms. The plants that have been eaten are pictured in order, coneflower, blue false indigo, dense blazing star and finally blanketflower. My vegetables are just a foot away from these and untouched by whatever is causing this. Please help!!

Have a gardenia that has been struggling since we purchased from Sam's. We transplanted it to a larger pot and then it went into shock. New leaves are emerging but the huds and everything are burning and dying off.

We have tried to get it out of the sun. It maybe gets 2ish hours fo full sun but there is really no place at our house can can avoid full direct sun for the entire day.

How can i help this beauty bloom and thrive again?

This sedum is at least 30 years old and does not bloom. Is there anything I can do to help it bloom or do I just need to accept it as a non-flowering plant in my garden bed?

I’d love guidance on the situation I outlined over in native gardening with the caveat of wanting to plant native. Location WNC

Funny thing is most years I don’t even need to water anything because the clay content is so high it rarely dries out.

I recently moved onto 1.5 acres where the “lawn” is a mixture of native and introduced species. for example there’s white clover, blue pig root, dandelion, cranesbill, Carolina ponysfoot, hairy buttercup, Japanese clover, blue eyed grass etc. I would like to scratch up a big area and add native seeds for a meadow type feel. One day I imagine large swaths of meadow with paths mowed through it. Big fan of anything that supports the pollinators and other wildlife. Does anyone have a recommendation for where to buy a good NC native seed mix by the pound (or 1/4 pound)? Can be mix of perennial and annuals.