Garden Gate

A long, fun road My earliest memories of gardening are days spent in my grandma’s and mother’s gardens. I remember standing next to towering hollyhocks and walking along borders filled with delphiniums, daylilies and phlox that Grandma and I cut for

If you’ve ever dug up your corms, bulbs or tubers in fall and saved them in a box of peat moss over winter, you might know the frustration of digging through the box to find them again in spring. Louisa found this process to be messy, so when she spo

Tulips don’t deserve to be put in solitary confinement. These beloved bloomers merit the company of others, neighborly companions in contrasting colors and shapes that accentuate the bold forms and colors of tulips. Just be sure to select plants that

Maybe you’ve admired jaw-dropping hanging baskets on Pinterest or Instagram or hanging from the light posts along Main Street. But that’s not always the reality in my garden—how about yours? If you’ve been wishing for great baskets instead of growing

To be honest, I’m the kind of guy who is always trying to convince people to eat their daylilies. Really. And redbud blossoms and sweet violets and nasturtiums. Even as a kid: My brothers and I used to suck on purple clover blossoms, snack on the dai

Imagine rounding the bend of a garden path to the shocking sight of shrubs billowing with blooms, luminescent as clouds—did you just drift off into dream land? This exhilarating shrub doesn’t fit the typical fair-and-dainty-spring-bloom mold. No—azal

Temperatures are rising, the days are getting longer and there’s the unmistakable smell of fresh earth on a rainy day. That can mean only one thing—spring is here! There’s nothing quite like working outdoors at this time of year. And what’s every gar

When Donna and Richard Priester decided to dress up the view from their kitchen window with a simple backyard bed, they had no idea how it would change their lives. Now, 20 years later, their backyard garden reflects a passion for gardening and a tru

Too many different plants in a small space can sometimes look chaotic. Here we’ve started with a limited palette of 10 plants but grouped and repeated them to keep your eye moving through the space. Combining different shapes, colors and textures pre

The word alone stirs fear into the hearts of spring gardeners everywhere: frost. Just when you thought you were free to plant, the weather changes and you get surprised by a late cold snap. By definition, a frost is when air temperatures dip down eno

So you didn’t catch the forecast and were surprised by a frost. Whether your plants survive depends on how hard the freeze was and how hardy the plants are. TENDER PLANTS Annual flowers and vegetable crops sustain permanent damage even with a light

Sounds like you may have arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum). If you need to prune, do so immediately after viburnums flower in spring. But most viburnums do not need regular pruning. Q An oak tree (Quercus spp. and hybrids) fell across my wildf

It is unbelievable, but this small machine turns most food scraps into compost in just 3 hours. The end result is a dried, crumbly product that can be added to the garden to improve soil drainage and nutrients. Scrape your scraps into the bucket, clo

This is one unusual columbine. Green columbine is a sweet-scented heirloom introduced in 1902 with curious nodding, chocolate-purple petals and bright chartreuse anthers held within yellow-green sepals that look like skirts. It’s a dwarf plant that r

What are the reasons you love to garden? Relaxation and meditation are probably high on the list. After all, does anything else melt away stress like stepping out into the yard for a few hours? Whether you’re deadheading and watering or just sitting