Get to Know Russian Sage
Never truly Russian, and until recently not a sage either, Russian Sage is that plant you see in a garden and go, “Wow! What is that?” A striking concoction of silver and blue,…
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Never truly Russian, and until recently not a sage either, Russian Sage is that plant you see in a garden and go, “Wow! What is that?” A striking concoction of silver and blue,…
Once upon a time, boys and girls, Coral Bells were simple plants with marbled leaves and sprays of tiny bright coral-pink flowers on tall stems that fluttered in the breeze. Sometimes you saw…
Grapes hold a fascination for many gardeners, who really like the idea of harvesting grapes from your own garden – there is something decadent and even Bacchanalian about it (Bacchus was the Roman…
Hosta are among the most popular of shade plants, and no wonder. With so many varieties, in so many different sizes and leaf colors, you could have a wonderful shade garden using nothing…
Once you start to look a little more closely at plants, and work with them in your garden, you start to notice all sorts of curious things. One that has always attracted a…
Ah, roses. Perhaps the most popular group of flowering plants, and yet a source of frustration for so many gardeners. Nothing makes a garden look the way roses do, and it’s a look…
Growing fruit in your own garden is always a thrill, but it does take some effort – more than just picking up a tree at random and planting it. On our site we…
The Christmas Cactus is also called Holiday Cactus and Thanksgiving Cactus. It’s a familiar sight in the holiday season and through the early part of each year. The unique flowers have whorls of…
Some plants are so packed with charisma that they can become cult items, admired and coveted by every gardener who encounters them. To achieve this status usually requires two things – at least…
Hydrangeas are among the very best of shrubs for late blooming. Not only do they flower when most other shrubs have finished for the season, but they stay in bloom for weeks and…
Most gardeners love hedges – formal or informal, they make the perfect background to a garden, defining it’s space, giving privacy and showing off your plants against a neutral background. But why is…
Back when I was a student of horticulture, the use of synthetic chemicals for gardening was widespread. Since then most home gardeners have moved away from them, and for many today they are…
Almost everyone loves roses, and with today’s easy-care modern varieties, it’s easy to care for the things you love. Besides the huge number of different varieties, divided into different types – landscape roses,…
Nothing says ‘summer’ like a ripe peach, but where did this delicious fruit come from, and how has it come to be so ‘American’, when it’s roots can be traced back to ancient…
The end of the year is always a time for reflection, and I am reflecting on my writing over 300 blogs on our site. No world-record, but enough to mean finding your way…
Magnolias are without doubt a highlight of the spring. There is something almost unworldly happening when we see those extraordinary blooms standing proudly on the bare gray stems of the tree. Larger than…
There is no question that crape myrtles are among the most colorful of summer-blooming plants – that’s something that has been agreed on for 250 years, since the first plants arrived in Charleston,…
There was a time when the arrival of a new plant was a great event. When that happened in Europe around 1600, when a new, remarkable bush began to appear in gardens, one…
Figs are the oldest fruit, certainly being eaten many thousands of years ago all around the Mediterranean and in the Middle East. Fresh figs are today the goal of home gardeners, who want…
Valuable solutions for shady parts of your garden, ferns offer us an enormous variety of forms. Large or small, bold or lacy, there are fern solutions to most gardening problems, and they add…
The clocks have changed, the nights are shorter, and much colder, and maybe there have already been flurries in the air. As winter comes our gardens go to sleep, but if you garden…
When it comes to privacy, it’s a shame that a small handful of plants have taken over, so most gardens use the same old plants, and we all end up looking the same….
There is nothing so much fun as planting something new in your garden. The planning and thinking about it’s suitability; the waiting for its arrival; unpacking that box; choosing the perfect spot for…
“Am I too late to plant?” Seems like a simple question, so what’s the answer? It’s complicated! Factors like the type of tree, where you live, if the tree is in a container…