News Stories - Page 231

April brought plentiful spring showers to north Georgia but little rainfall to the southern half of the state, resulting in moderate drought conditions, delayed planting, and conditions conducive to wildfires near the Okefenokee Swamp.

Gardeners all over the country can enjoy the amaryllis, whether in the landscape or as one of the most-loved Christmas plants forced indoors. Outdoors they prefer fertile, well-drained soil. Ours get morning sun and late-afternoon shade. In the landscape, we treat them much like narcissi. We will deadhead flowers and leave foliage until it wants to go dormant.

Every year, Americans spend about $2 billion on fresh flowers for Mother’s Day. While fresh flowers are gorgeous, they have a short shelf life. This year, why not skip the bouquet and make Mom a living collection of flowers and plants that may last for years?

The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has tapped Allen Moore to lead the college's research efforts as the CAES associate dean for research.

University of Georgia Regents’ Professor Michael R. Strand has received one of the highest honors a scientist can receive — election to the National Academy of Sciences.

In Cobb County, Georgia, Terri Carter’s job with University of Georgia Cooperative Extension is to educate residents on proper nutrition. As a self-declared “proud woman of the South,” Carter, a UGA Extension Family and Consumer Sciences county program assistant, has found a unique way to teach nutrition and a history lesson at the same time. Carter’s love of the South and her heritage led her to develop the “Food History of the South” program.

Tift County, Georgia, elementary school students who are buzzing with excitement to attend the University of Georgia Bug Camp are encouraged to apply. Registration for the camp ends this Friday, May 5.

The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) is home to more than 500 graduate students. They provide much of the muscle behind the college’s research and teaching accomplishments and serve as the linchpin in many of the college’s most productive laboratories.

Last summer, seven seniors from Pike County High School (PCHS) in Zebulon, Georgia, with an aptitude for science made a commitment to work alongside University of Georgia Griffin campus scientists three days a week for the entire school year. This month, they will complete their yearlong partnership.

What has large, red eyes, translucent wings and an undulating, 7-kilohertz chirp that sounds like the background music to a horror movie? Georgians can find the answer over the next few weeks by traveling north into the state’s mountains to witness the emergence of the latest brood of 17-year periodical cicadas.