Great Design Plant: Dodecatheon Meadia

Specialty nurseries, whether online or at a local farmer’s market, offer opportunities to discover unique native plants. Take shooting star (Dodecatheon meadia), whose arching stems bear gorgeous, dangling bloom

Great Design Plant: Cordia Boissieri

The large white flowers of Texas wild olive (Cordia boissieri), borne on attractive dark green foliage, herald spring’s arrival. This beautiful Texas native is tough and easily handles what nature brings its way

Top 10 Native Plants for the Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest might just have the most accommodating gardening climate in North America. From coastal British Columbia to Northern California, it is possible to grow a wide variety of plants, from tropic

Great Design Plant: Iris Versicolor

Of the 26 distinct native iris species in the U.S., I have found northern blueflag (Iris versicolor) to be particularly versatile. I first obtained this plant for use in a swale that channels runoff from the yar

Great Design Plant: Osmunda Regalis

Adjectives such as “diminutive,” “cute” and “dainty” are as common in the vocabulary of understory plants as crabgrass is in the summer lawn. Occasionally, however, around the bend of a woodland path, something

See Winning Gardens From the 2015 Chelsea Flower Show

The 2015 RHS Chelsea Flower Show opened Tuesday on the grounds of London’s Royal Hospital Chelsea, where more than 160,000 horticultural fans are expected to view the world-class gardens on display through Satur

4 Ways Gardens Can Go Beyond Aesthetic Beauty

“In the past, we have asked one thing of our gardens: that they be pretty. Now they [also] have to support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators and manage water,” said author and biologist Doug Tallamy in hi

Support Bumblebees by Providing Forage in 3 Seasons

It’s easy to provide the right ingredients to attract bumblebees to our gardens or landscapes. They visit flowers with a wide variety of colors and forms but do demonstrate a preference for certain nectar-rich p

Learn the Secret to Bigger and Better Roses

I’ve had a love affair with roses since I was a little girl, when I used to help my dad take care of the rosebushes in our Southern California front yard. Now that I have my own garden with more than 40 rosebush

Great Design Plant: Asclepias Sullivantii

Milkweed (Asclepias spp) is an essential native plant that many insects need to reproduce, including monarch butterflies. Prairie milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii) is not an aggressive plant and will only slowly

12 Japanese Maples for a Sunny Garden

Plant a Japanese maple (Acer spp and cvs, USDA zones 5 to 8; find your zone) in your garden, then stand back and see all it brings to your space. Colorful foliage, texture, year-round interest, sculptural presen

Great Design Plant: Osmorhiza Longistylis Provides Texture and Form

The subtle white flowers of longstyle sweetroot (Osmorhiza longistylis) brighten dark corners in the spring shade garden. Use this easy-to-grow, reliable native plant in any shady garden, whether under trees, in

Great Garden Ideas From the 2015 Chelsea Flower Show

Last month, while proudly wearing press credentials that gave me insider access to the Royal Horticultural Society’s legendary Chelsea Flower Show, I spent a day touring the 15 major show gardens, nine smaller f

Great Design Plant: Russelia Equisetiformis

Coral fountain (Russelia equisetiformis), with its drought tolerance, unique natural shape and coral-red blooms that attract hummingbirds from spring through fall, is quickly growing more popular in landscapes,

Great Design Plant: Liatris Squarrosa

We should certainly see scaly blazing star (Liatris squarrosa) in the garden more often. This shorter, almost-ground-cover Liatris species grows to about 2 feet tall and wide, and is native to much of the middle

Great Design Plant: Rosa Californica

California’s most widespread wild rose, Rosa californica, has no less romantic lore surrounding it than its foreign relatives. Franciscan padres in California often referred to California wild rose in their diar

Great Design Plant: Sambucus Nigra

I have started using common elderberry (Sambucus nigra ssp canadensis) in my landscapes to enhance their wildlife value. I removed large quantities of berry-producing invasive plants, like autumn olive, multifl

Great Design Plant: Phegopteris Decursive-Pinnata

In the shade garden, ferns are as close to perfection as plants come. Their exuberant upright growth, deer resistance and fortitude make them a pleasure to grow. Their texture is unparalleled on the woodland flo

Boxwood: Still Shape-Shifting After 350 Years

Boxwood, labeled the oldest garden ornamental by the American Boxwood Association, came to the U.S. in the mid-1600s, but it is hardly showing its age. The evergreen shrub has been called ubiquitous, traditional

Yes, You Can Grow an Edible Garden on a Hot, Dry Site

Conventional wisdom about food gardens is to locate them in a sheltered position with deep, moist topsoil. But what if your only available gardening space is a windy, sun-baked hillside? There are still edible o