The Perfect Substitute for Boxwood – New Hollies
Boxwood is definitely one of the most iconic garden plants there is. Most people recognize it straight away, and those clipped hedges are a symbol of the organize, formal look for gardens. Start…
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Beautiful Trees for Wet Ground
It doesn’t take much looking for plants to meet the dreaded phrase – grow in ‘well-drained’ soil. It sometimes seems like every tree or bush needs these mythic conditions. Look at many gardens,…
Eastern Red Cedar – the toughest Juniper There Is
America was built on the Pioneer Spirit – the ability to persevere in difficult situations, and survive adversity, thriving in the toughest situation. If you want a plant for those situations, it makes…
Bushel & Berry® – a Fantastic New Way for Everyone to Grow Berries
Nothing beats a bowl of berries – fresh, juicy, tangy and sweet – delicious! If you are a berry lover, nothing truly beats the taste of berries fresh from the bush, perhaps still…
Why Does My Holly Tree Have No Berries?
There is no doubt that holly bushes are super-popular, not just for their dense, glossy foliage, but especially for their bright red berries, that brighten the holiday season. Yet in garden after garden…
America’s Very Own Holly Tree
Nothing says “Christmas” like holly. Those iconic deep-green spiny leaves and clusters of bright-red berries might be featured on almost every greetings-card, but their beauty never tires. In the garden too they are…
Why are So Many Trees Called ‘Cedar’?
You know how it goes – a quick trip to the garden center, real or online, for a few plants. You get there and ask for what you want. Now sometimes it’s no…
Everything You Need to Know About Wisteria
Instantly recognizable, the long, hanging blue flowers of the wisteria are a highlight of spring, sometimes blooming as early as March in the south, or May in the north. A good specimen in…
Miniature Roses Come to Town
Most gardeners have some idea of the main groups of rose – hybrid teas, floribunda, climbing roses, and so on – even if with new varieties those old borders have become a little…
How To Prune Your Wisteria
A Wisteria is a gorgeous plant when it is in bloom, a highlight of spring and a truly wonderful sight. But a lot of people buy one and within a few years become…
Growing Roses in Planters and Pots
Roses and summer go together perfectly, and the enduring beauty of these bushes makes them always desirable. They are mostly grown out in the garden, but they also make great container plants, to…
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…
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…