Using Organic Material When Planting Trees & Shrubs
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…
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Winter Protection for Rose Trees
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,…
The Peach Comes to America
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…
Everything You Need to Know About Gardening – A Guide to Our Blogs
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…
How to Grow Magnolia Trees
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…
The Fabulous Tale of Figs
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…
Overwintering Potted Plants
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…
Garden Design 101 for Home Gardens
So you want to design your own garden? You don’t need a degree, or years of study to do a good job of it – just a grasp of some basic principles and…
Choosing Screening Trees and Shrubs
Most of us want privacy in our gardens, so we can relax and enjoy ourselves, free from the noise and dust of a highway, the curiosity of passersby, or the scrutiny of neighbors….
How to Create a Garden in the Japanese Style
For many people, the Japanese are the greatest garden-makers in the world. So for many gardeners, creating a Japanese garden is their greatest ambition. Some study the different types of Japanese gardens for…
Some Harmless (but interesting) Garden Pests
I’m sticking with it, but looking back at the title I just wrote for this blog, I see right away a classic oxymoron – if they are ‘harmless’ they can’t be ‘pests’. But…
The New American Garden: A Home-Grown Garden Style
Without realizing it, many of us create gardens in styles that we bring from other countries. This is obvious when you are inspired by Japan or Asia to emulate their beautiful gardens, but…
The English Flower Garden
After our last ‘Garden Styles’ blog on the Classic American Garden, we are going to step outside the US for a moment to look at the most influential garden style of the last…
Garden Styles – the Classic American Garden
For the first style in our series, we will start with a garden look that is seen almost everywhere in the country, but perhaps especially in the east. Houses that are now around…
Garden Styles – How to Get the Garden Look You Crave
In this era of computers, there is an app for everything. When it comes to doing your own design for the garden around your new home, or making improvements to an existing garden,…
Franklin’s Tree – The Amazing Story of a Plant Snatched from Extinction
We hear so much today about extinction and ecosystem collapse, but sometimes, by luck, a plant can be saved – if not in the wild, at least in garden collections, and its gene…
How to Water Your Plants – Part 2, Watering Planters, Pots, Boxes and Indoor Plants
Last week we starting this topic off with some basic principles of water and plants, and some tips on watering in your garden. If you stumbled on this blog without seeing that one,…
How to Water Your Plants – Part 1, Basic Principles and Watering Outdoors
Some of the most common gardening questions revolve around watering. We might think nothing could be easier that pouring some water on your plants, but it doesn’t work out that way. In the…
Meet the Belles of the Bowl – a New Range of Ornamental Strawberries to Enjoy
Growing edible plants in your flower garden is a hot trend right now, and everyone is planting everything from zucchini to potatoes in their beds. We have been doing this for years with…
Ring the Bell for Coral Bells
When they come into our gardens, some plants stay pretty much the same as they are in the wild, but others are changed dramatically by keen growers, who see some potential and go…
Catmints – Great Plants for More than Just Cats
If you have ever seen a cat lost in the ecstasy of rolling around in a plant of catmint, you will know just how attractive these plants are to them. You might then…
Lavandin or Lavender – What’s the Difference?
So you want to grow some lavender, but when you Google for some more information you start seeing this word ‘Lavandin’. Ah, you think, maybe it’s the French name for it? Hm, nice…
Daylilies – the Best Summer Flower for Your Garden
The old-fashioned orange daylily, with its tall stems and narrow orange trumpets, has been grown in gardens for many, many, years. It is often seen in old, neglected ones, or growing along roadsides,…
Grow a Flow of Seasonal Color with Perennial Plants
When you first start gardening, one of the most difficult things is to keep your garden interesting all year round. For most of us that means blooms, although of course fruits, fall color…