Great Outdoor Living Ideas From the 2015 Chelsea Flower Show

There are many alluring garden destinations that comprise my horticultural bucket list. Last month I checked the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show off that list for the second time. (My husband s

Great Design Plant: Anemone Canadensis Adds Pizzazz to Water’s Edges

Canada anemone (Anemone canadensis) is a common water’s-edge perennial native to much of North America that provides bright white flowers in late spring. The flowers are held on long stalks above the dark green,

Great Design Plant: Aesculus Parviflora

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a pushover for large, textural, palmate foliage. In the woodland garden, large leaves stand prominently in contrast to the smaller foliage of ferns, astilbe and bugleweed. Lik

Great Design Plant: Gaura Lindheimeri

When observing gaura (Gaura lindheimeri) for the first time, people are immediately struck by the way that its flowers look like small butterflies floating on a cloud over dark green foliage. Don’t let its deli

Yes, You Can Grow Food in a Shady Yard

“My yard is too shady for a vegetable garden” is a common lament among homeowners with mature trees on their property, or tall buildings or other structures that darken the landscape. The statement is only parti

Great Design Plant: Penstemon Grandiflorus

Large beardtongue (Penstemon grandiflorus), also called shell-leaf penstemon, is the grandest penstemon of them all. With large flowers and bluish foliage, it brings a coolness to the garden just as the season r

8 Last-Minute Additions to a Summer Edible Garden

If that beautiful garden you dreamed of planting in January is still a bare patch of ground in the hot July sun, don’t despair. While gardening articles and books generally recommend spring planting for summer

Great Design Plant: Mahonia Aquifolium for Birds

You’d never guess from its name that Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium) is not a grape at all, that it is native to a number of states in the U.S. West (not just Oregon) and that it looks like holly, with large m

Garden Designer Chooses the Timeless Over the Trendy

When you need a retreat from the hustle and bustle of the outside world, a leafy garden oasis can be the perfect hideaway. This stunning design by Myles Broad of Eckersley Garden Architecture is the perfect exam

Solve Your Garden Border Dilemmas With Planted Pots

The idea of dressing up patios, porches and balconies with colorful container gardens is nothing new. Whether they’re just a simple pot of herbs and pansies or a wild extravaganza of bold flowers and foliage, co

High Life: 10 Ways to Transform Your Rooftop

If you live in the city, you may have access to some rooftop space — but are you making the most of it? If you’re ready to move beyond plastic lawn chairs, let these 10 rooftop spaces inspire you with what’s pos

Welcome Sweat Bees to Your Garden Throughout the Growing Season

Sweat bees get their common name from their behavior of landing on skin on hot summer days to feed on sweat. They can be very persistent when they have found a good source but are unlikely to sting you unless yo

English Country Garden With Its Own Writer’s Cabin

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the gold standard for garden design, and this year the M&G Garden, designed by Jo Thompson, created a real buzz among show visitors. It was designed as a quintessentially Brit

Windy English Plot Becomes a Kitchen Garden

When garden designer Sue Hayward first went to look at this exposed, wind-swept plot in northern England’s Peak District, it was a blank canvas, she says. It made the job all the nicer for Hayward, who was able

5 Reasons to Bring Shrubs Into the Flower Garden

There’s something special about a garden that mixes height, texture and form — whether that’s through the use of perennial flowers and grasses or the addition of small trees and shrubs. When you visit botanical

Houzz Survey: See What Homeowners Are Doing With Their Landscapes Now

Out with the lawn and in with a flagstone patio. Or so say homeowners surveyed in the 2015 Houzz Landscaping & Garden Trends survey. Respondents in the May survey said they want a beautiful, low-maintenance

10 Native Wildflowers With Unique Foliage

Native flowers are a celebration of living — they feed pollinators with nectar and pollen as well as other wildlife with seeds, and their leaves are used by caterpillars, bees and all sorts of other creatures. W

Create a Container Wildlife Habitat for Hummingbirds and Butterflies

The occasional glimpse of a hummingbird or butterfly stopping by for a drink is one of the many reasons people enjoy a garden in flower. But what if you have little or no room to plant a garden, let alone one th

Houzz Call: What’s Your Favorite Backyard Beauty?

“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” — Virginia Woolf, Mrs. DallowayThe first time I went grocery shopping after moving out on my own, my impulse buy was a bundle of daisies. When I was a litt

9 Ways to Be Water-Wise in the Edible Garden

Is there anything that feels more like summer than fresh fruit and vegetables from the garden? But with water consciousness on many people’s minds, particularly in California and other parts of the West, it may