Nov 01
November is a transition month in the garden. In colder regions, frost has already ended much of the growing season, leaves are falling rapidly, and gardeners are preparing beds, tools, trees, and perennial plants for winter. In milder climates, November can still be an active planting month, with cool-season vegetables growing strongly and trees, shrubs, …
Oct 01
October is one of the most rewarding months in the garden. Summer heat is fading, leaves are changing color, cool-season vegetables are enjoying milder temperatures, and many gardeners finally have comfortable weather for planting, transplanting, dividing, harvesting, and preparing for winter. It is also a month of transition. Depending on where you live, your first …
Jun 16
Black-eyed Susans are among the most recognizable flowers in a North American summer garden. Their golden-yellow petals and dark central cones bring warm color to perennial borders, cottage gardens, prairie-style plantings, cutting gardens, and pollinator beds from summer into fall. They are also refreshingly uncomplicated plants. Once established in a suitable location, black-eyed Susans generally …
Apr 14
Starting a garden can feel surprisingly complicated. Walk through a garden center in spring and you may encounter hundreds of flowers, vegetables, herbs, shrubs, seeds, and fruit plants, all accompanied by labels describing sunlight, soil, spacing, watering, fertilizer, pruning, and hardiness. For a new gardener, the easiest approach is usually not to grow everything. Start …
Apr 12
Healthy plants begin below the surface. Gardeners spend a great deal of time thinking about flowers, vegetables, sunlight, watering, fertilizer, and pests, but soil quietly affects nearly everything those plants experience. It stores water, supplies mineral nutrients, holds roots in place, provides air spaces, supports enormous communities of organisms, and determines how easily excess rainfall …
Jan 24
Snowflake flowers are graceful spring bulbs with nodding white bells tipped or spotted with green. They have the delicate appearance of woodland wildflowers, yet established plants can be surprisingly durable, gradually forming larger clumps and returning year after year with relatively little attention. These bulbs belong to the genus Leucojum. Two species are especially important …
Jan 24
Paperbush is one of those shrubs that can make a winter garden feel unexpectedly alive. While many deciduous plants are bare and dormant, Edgeworthia chrysantha produces rounded clusters of silky buds that open into fragrant cream-and-yellow flowers on leafless stems. The flowers are only part of the appeal. Once blooming finishes, large blue-green leaves emerge …
Jan 24
Mahonia is an evergreen shrub that earns its place in the garden during seasons when many other plants are quiet. Depending on the species, glossy or finely textured foliage remains attractive throughout winter, clusters of bright yellow flowers appear from fall through spring, and blue-purple berries can follow later in the season. The name Mahonia …
Jan 24
Glory of the snow is one of the earliest bulbs to bring real color back to the garden. Its small star-shaped flowers can appear while patches of snow still linger, creating carpets of blue, lavender, pink, or white close to the ground. These hardy little bulbs are best known under the traditional genus name Chionodoxa, …
Jan 23
Lenten rose is one of the most valuable perennials for bringing flowers into the garden when winter has barely finished. While many plants are still dormant, mature hellebores can produce clusters of nodding flowers in white, cream, pink, rose, burgundy, purple, green, yellow, and almost-black shades. Despite its common name, Lenten rose is not a …
