Remake Your Backyard Into a Mini Farm

If you’ve been staring at the patch of grass in your backyard and wishing there was something else you could do with it, you’ve come to the right place. Whether you are just beginning your first vegetable garden

Bauhinia Lunarioides Perfumes the Garden With Its Fragrant Flowers

Texasplume (Bauhinia lunarioides), also called Anacacho orchid tree, may look delicate, but this drought-tolerant Texas native plant thrives in rocky, alkaline soil. It can handle sunny exposures and filtered sh

11 Essential Herbs for Your Edible Garden

This summer enhance your recipes, eliminate extra trips to the grocery store and cultivate a connection with nature with a few sprigs or leaves from an herb plant you’ve grown yourself. Herbs tie all gardeners t

20 Favorite Flowers for Butterflies and Bouquets

The 20 plants listed below are garden favorites that are guaranteed to draw butterflies to your garden. At the same time, they’re excellent cut flowers that can be used as a single signature stem or included in

American Lady Butterflies Add Delight to Summer Gardens

Monarch butterflies are well-known for their annual migration north from Mexico or California each spring, but other migratory butterfly species also visit our summer gardens, including the American lady butterf

Make Sure You Read This Before Buying New Plants

Spring and fall are the best planting times, but it can be all too easy to end up with an empty wallet and a garden filled with struggling, diseased or even dead plants. Thankfully, visits to the nursery can be

Nothocalais Cuspidata Isn’t That Kind of Dandelion

I know what you’re thinking — why would you ever purposely plant a dandelion? But this is not your everyday aggressive dandelion from half a world away that we see in lawns and driveway cracks. Prairie false dan

Backyard Birds: Orioles Return After Spending Winter in the Tropics

An oriole flyby is enough to distract anyone who longs to catch a glimpse of these brilliant birds flitting about. With tangerine-yellow bodies highlighted by striking black markings, orioles are one of our vibr

Packera Aurea Puts On a Springtime Show in Sun or Shade

My interest in golden ragwort (Packera aurea) as a landscape plant developed as I was looking for plants that could be used as traditional lawn alternatives. This eastern U.S. native looks good for most of the y

6 Steps to Creating Your Butterfly Garden

Butterflies are among the most beloved insects. Someone once called them flying flowers. They float, they flutter and they dazzle us with their colors. We relish their dance of spring. Then there’s the bad news:

Heat-Loving Duranta Erecta Blooms From Spring Into Early Fall

From its graceful, arching branches to its clusters of pretty purple flowers and yellow fruit, there is always something to admire about golden dewdrops (Duranta erecta). While its bright green foliage and small

Step Right Outside for Fresh Herbs and Vegetables

Growing food doesn’t necessarily require a big backyard. Even if you live in a high-rise apartment, homegrown vegetables and herbs can be yours. In many cases, a patio or deck can even offer big advantages. You

5 Ways to Use Trees to Create a Sensational Garden Space

Trees are essential to creating memorable spaces in a landscape design. Used singly or in groups, they play with light in different ways and can create new types of spaces that enclose, focus, divide or unite th

Garden Design for Wildlife and Less Work

There are three primary layers in a natural landscape: the ground cover, or matrix; plants with seasonal interest (spring bulbs, summer showstoppers, fall finales); and architectural specimens (a shrub, tree or

Mourning Cloak Butterflies Herald Spring

The mourning cloak butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa) emerges from its hibernaculum on the first warm day in April, when the landscape is still brown from winter and everyone is looking for signs of spring. It can be

Flowers of ‘Berlandiera Lyrata’ Surprise With a Subtle Chocolate Scent

Lyreleaf greeneyes (Berlandiera lyrata), also known as chocolate flower, wafts its earthy-sweet chocolaty fragrance all summer, brightening landscapes with its daisy-like yellow flowers and lime-green seed heads

5 Ideas for a More Earth-Friendly Garden

We can make an impact on wildlife and urban communities through our gardens. How much lawn we have, how much area is devoted to impermeable surfaces and whether we include plants that build good soil all contrib

8 Cactuses Bring Spring Flowers to Dry Gardens

Cactuses reveal another side in spring, when beautiful flowers in vibrant colors appear on these uniquely shaped plants with sharp spines. Flowers are as much a part of a cactus’ growth cycle as they are for a f

Seeds or Seedlings? How to Get Your Garden Started

Every spring, garden centers fill up with rack upon rack of baby plants. It can be tempting to buy these nursery-grown seedlings, especially if you’re new to gardening — but are they really the right choice for

Kalmia Latifolia’s Origami-Like Flowers Shine in the Shade

Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) is a delightful East Coast native plant for the woodland garden. It can be found in the wild on mountainsides throughout the Appalachians, where it grows lush and loose, painti