Crape myrtles have been favorites with southern gardeners for a very long time. Their resistance to heat and drought, combined with vibrant flowers produced over a long period, have made sure of that. But with changes in gardening styles they were increasingly seen as lacking something – colored foliage. The growth in the use of colored foliage in gardens has been enormous in recent decades.…

The layout of your garden is as important as how you decorate inside, but it often doesn’t get the same attention, or budget. Yet the garden is often the main focus of life for months of the year, with barbequing, parties, and just general lazy around outdoors. As well, every estate agent will tell you that an attractive and inviting garden adds dollars to the…

Peaches are such luscious fruits, and so delicious to eat, that it seems hard to believe they are also among the easiest of fruit trees to grow, and ideal for smaller gardens, since several will fruit well when grown alone – none of that need for a pollinator that means growing at least two of everything. They can also be planted at the foot of…

Spring and flowering trees go together – it wouldn’t be spring without them. But the classic flowering trees like cherry trees and magnolias are hard to grow in colder climates, below zone 5 – although there are some hardy spring-flowering magnolias trees that make a spectacular display. So gardeners in cold areas can feel deprived of all that beauty – even though they do have…

If you live outside the South, the chances are your grape-eating experience is limited to the green, seedless grapes sold in supermarkets. If that is so, then you have been missing out on a sensual pleasure that is very, very different. Imagine a large, round grape with a black skin. Pop one into your mouth, bite into it and the flesh melts like ice cream,…

Figs hold a special place among the many kinds of fruits we eat. They have a unique quality that goes well with savory foods, especially ham and soft cheeses, or added to salads. Until recently, outside fig-growing areas, only dried figs were available, and these have absolutely no resemblance to the fresh version of this wonderful fruit. But fresh figs are always expensive, because their…