Smoke Trees for Smaller Gardens
Tough, vigorous and beautiful, the Smoke Tree – Cotinus coggygria – has been a reliable garden shrub for a very long time. Whether you go for the original green-leaf version, or the very…
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Meet the Maidens – Supremely Beautiful Grasses for All Gardens
Ornamental grasses are hugely popular, but also avoided by some gardeners, who probably have memories of one invasive grass or another that they planted – and came to regret. It is true that…
Double-Acts – Flowering Shrubs with Good Fall Color
Creating a rich and fulfilling garden can be tricky and it takes some thought and planning. There is a basic principle, though, that can really help you build a garden that is interesting…
Growing Peonies – the Belles of the Northern Garden
Southern gardeners have their azaleas, magnolias and camellias, and if you garden in the north you might feel deprived. Don’t, because you too have a plant that rivals and even beats those favorites….
April in the Garden
By April, wherever in the country you live, spring has arrived in some form. In the north it is still tentative, and there may even be persistent patches of snow lying in deep,…
March in the Garden
What happens in your garden in March depends on where you live. In colder zones the answer will probably be, “Broken promises,” with warmer, sunny days that turn cold at night and then…
Using Ornamental Grasses in Your Garden
Older gardeners will remember a time when ‘grass’ was just that green stuff you had to mow every week, but for today’s gardens it means so much more. With their unique look, their…
Choose the Right Red Maple for Your Garden
There was a time when our streets were lined with elm trees, but those days are gone. Much more likely today is to find streets lined with Red Maple, Acer rubrum, a native…
How to Choose a Flowering Dogwood Tree
Flowering Dogwood Trees are among the most spectacular flowering trees there are, and they are top choices for any garden. Grown as a lawn specimen, planted as background trees for your garden, or…
The Basics of Tree Trimming
In our previous blog, Should I Trim My Trees? we talked about how to look at a mature tree and decide if the time has come for some trimming. On a larger tree…
Dark Foliage in the Garden – Use it Effectively
Everyone is using colored leaves in the garden these days – colored something other than green that is. Perhaps it is precisely because green is so ubiquitous that there is an eternal fascination…
Rebloom or Encore Azaleas – Which Should I Grow?
Evergreen azaleas are among the most attractive and colorful flowers we can grow in our gardens. It used to be that spring was the season for them, and they brighten our beds and…
Eastern Arborvitae – the Tree for Cold Seasons
North America is a vast land, and the seasons are very different, depending on what climate zones you are. This seems obvious, but when it comes to gardening, that variation means making different…
Trees and Shrubs for Winter Bloom and Berries
Most gardens look their best in spring and early summer. That is when the majority of plants flower, so is easy to have flowers then, and if you don’t plan your planting, you…
Everything You Need to Know about Cityline® Hydrangeas
As more and more of us live in towns and cities, gardens get smaller. For many, a balcony or terrace is all the outdoor space we have available to grow plants and get…
Fringe Flowers – Everything You Need to Know About Loropetalum
I remember well the first time I saw a red Fringe Flower bush. Even as a pretty knowledgeable gardener I was blown away, so I understand why this plant has become such a…
How to Choose the Right Boxwood for Your Garden
Boxwood bushes are garden standards – evergreen bushes with many uses, from the traditional boxwood hedge to less formal shrubs in modern gardens. Because they have such a well-known name, new gardeners can…
Which Spruce Tree Should I Plant?
For most people, a ‘spruce tree’ is a silvery-blue pyramidal tree on a lawn in front of your house, that is also good for a Christmas tree. Very true, but there is a…
Understand the Many Types of Roses
About one billion rose blossoms find their way into florist shops around the world, and in America alone about 30 million are sold on just one day – February 14. These specialized blooms…
The Garden In August
The peak month of summer is also the pivotal month in the gardening year. Although a tradition has developed that puts spring as the time to get your garden going, a far better…
July in the Garden
When July rolls around, that first flush of spring flowers is over, and even some of the early summer plants are finished too. If you haven’t planned ahead you may be looking at…
Grow Your Own Nuts
When we think of ‘home grown’, it is usually vegetables, or fruit, that most people think of. Yet there is a valuable food – nuts – that is often overlooked. Yet nut growing…
Junipers – Tough and Rugged Evergreens
Junipers can be confusing plants when you first start gardening. Someone will casually say, “It’s a juniper” when pointing at almost anything from a tall tree or a narrow, upright shrub, to something…
Understanding the Cypress Trees
In everyday talk around our gardens, we often talk about cypress trees, but that name seems to cover many trees that look very different from each other. So what is going on with…