Deer Resistant Trees and Shrubs
As winter turns to spring, many gardeners are out inspecting their gardens, and all too often they are finding plants damaged by winter. Cold and ice is one thing, but when animal damage…
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American Wisteria
With the first hints of spring already arriving in the warmer states, before long the wisteria will be in bloom. These plants must surely be among the most spectacular of all climbing plants,…
Growing Plants on Walls
Finding enough room in your garden for all the plants you want to grow can be a challenge. As well, many gardens have large blank walls of wood, brick or stone, or fences…
Flowering Trees and Shrubs for Early Spring
Spring is the great highlight of the gardening year, always with a profusion of color, scent and interest from all kinds of flowering plants. Just when exactly that great moment arrives depends on…
Best Plants for the Coast
Gardening in sight of the sea presents special challenges. Most plants are sensitive to salt, which draws water from the leaves and roots by the process of osmosis. However, as the saying goes,…
Privet – the Good, the Bad and the Beautiful
Let’s face it – Privet has a bad reputation. Mention it to the average gardener and they picture a big, boring plant with green leaves that must be constantly battled with to stop…
Thuja Green Giant Guide
Introduction There are many evergreen trees to choose from for the garden, but one of the most useful is the Arborvitae, or Thuja. These soft-leaved, upright trees grow in a wide range of…
The Paradise Garden
Developing and laying-out a garden can be difficult, and the results may not always be what you were looking for. Part of the job involves choosing different varieties of plants, but that can…
What Does “Needs Acidic Soil” Mean?
If you are a beginning gardener, the words ‘needs acidic soil’ in the description of some plants can be confusing. Perhaps you have a hazy knowledge of acids as being things like vinegar,…
Encore Azaleas – The Flowers that Keep on Giving
Evergreen azaleas are real beauties of the spring garden, and wherever they can be grown they are immensely popular. There are hundreds if not thousands of varieties available, in all the colors of…
The Fiddle Leaf Fig – the Latest Indoor Hit
Flip through the pages of any interior décor magazine these days, and the chances are you will see a tall plant, with large leaves, being used as an accessory to the latest furniture…
Choosing the Right Boxwood for Your Garden
Boxwood is undoubtedly the most functional plant in garden history, as well as being attractive and easy to grow in sun or shade, and in a range of soil types. It has endless…
Plant in Winter for Summer Flowers
In winter, most gardeners put up their feet and dream of the coming year. Experienced gardeners do more than dream. They plan ahead so that when the glorious seasons of spring and summer…
Growing Citrus Trees in Pots
Citrus fruits are among the healthiest and most popular fruits around. Besides being great to eat, naturally or juiced, they have all sorts of uses in the kitchen, from salads and desserts to…
Some Unusual Evergreens for Your Garden
Evergreen trees make the structure of most gardens, giving permanence to what designers call the ‘bones’ of your garden, while flowering plants come and go through the seasons. Many are used for neutral…
Tough Trees for Tough Places
In a perfect world, every garden would have that perfect, loamy, well-drained soil, with just the right amount of sunshine, never too cold in winter or too hot and dry in summer……. Meanwhile,…
Get to Know the Hollies
There are a handful of trees and shrubs that most people – even non-gardeners – feel they know immediately. Holly, that popular plant for the festive season, is probably one of them. Everyone…
Welcome Back to the American Chestnut
We hear a lot today about the loss of species, and mass extinctions. Yet less than a hundred years ago there was a mass extinction on a huge scale right here in North…
Planting for Winter Interest and Color
When summer is in full swing, and even in the excitement of fall, it is easy to forget about winter. This may be a long or a shorter season for you, depending on…
Protecting Your Hedges In Winter
If you live in colder parts of the country, where winter is a time of snow and ice, fall and early winter are good times to be thinking about protecting your hedges from…
Right Tree, Right Location
When we consider that most trees have much longer lives than we do and that the tree we plant could easily still be here when we are long gone, the apparently simple fun…
Apple Tree Diseases
Apples are one of the best fruit-tree choices for gardeners in cooler areas. The give a good yield of the most versatile and the most popular fruit there is, and they thrive in…
How To Stake A Tree
To stake or not to stake, that indeed is the question. Once upon a time everyone carefully staked every tree when it was planted, but today the experts tell us that often it…
Maple Tree Diseases
Maples are among the most popular trees for the garden, especially as shade trees. No wonder! With their iconic leaves and spectacular fall colors, these hardy trees will grow in many climate zones…