Greatest Cutting-Garden Beauties for Summer
Late summer is prime time for casual potluck dinner parties around the patio or screened porch. When guests are coming over, I love to create decorative arrangements using whatever’s blooming in my backyard. After we’re invited to other people’s houses, […]
Cool-Season Vegetables: How to Boost Cabbage
The expression “Chinese cabbage” describes two different kinds of brassicas. One, the Napa type, is distinguished by its closely packed, crisp, light green leaves. The other, pak choi or bok choy, has heads that are more loosely shaped, with white […]
Weirdly Wonderful Planters Give Stuffy Design the Boot
Freshman gardeners sometimes think they need to do everything “properly” — like buying new tools that are innovative, soil and planters. The key that veteran gardeners understand is that creative gardening could be done with just a little humor, a […]
What's ideal for an NFT System: Lettuce or Tomatoes?
Versatile nutrient film process systems, or NFT systems, develop just about any kind of vegetable, including lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum). The system permits a thin film of hydroponic growing solution to flow steadily over the plant roots. […]
How to Prune Cane-Like Begonias
Beguiling begonias (Begonia spp.) Are a large family of plants typically grouped by growth habit or look. Cane-like begonias have tough, bamboo-like stems and are prized for their strikingly patterned leaves, and lots of feature attractive and fragrant flowers as […]
Great Garden Combo: 6 Beautiful Plants to Get a Shady, Wet Site
Planting for shade can be hard enough; combine shade with soil that remains moist or moist year-round, and it is enough to make even an experienced gardener shudder. Yet there are some stunning perennials, shrubs and even trees which revel […]
Wonderful Design Plant: Golden Currant
Found naturally across much of the USA and Canada, golden currant (Ribes aureum) happens in several varied habitats: prairies, stream banks borders, foothills, ponderosa pine forests and shrublands of sagebrush. Historically, many Native American tribes combined the dried fruits of […]
Summer Crop: How to Grow Blueberries
Ornamental, versatile, edible, and highly healthy — blueberries tick all of the must-have boxes for a high landscape plant. Using their pink-white spring blossoms, blue berries throughout the summer, and red or yellow fall color, they make a three-season splash […]