Great Design Plant: Skylands Oriental Spruce, a Favorite Conifer

Conifer addiction can be a terrible thing. Just ask anyone who knows me. Visitors to my garden frequently ask me which of my 100 conifers is my favorite. Without hesitation, I answer the Skylands Oriental spruce

Great Design Plant: Evergreen Huckleberry Appeals All Year

Evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) is surely one of the most versatile, attractive and wildlife friendly of all the Pacific Northwest natives. Factor in the delicious berries that are adored by wildlife an

Great Design Plant: Canadian Milkvetch Draws Bees and Birds

I’ve been walking my local prairies and meadows looking for plants that seem to be thriving in various conditions. My hope is that if they do well out in diverse natural settings, they ought to do fine in my gar

How to Fix Bare and Yellow Lawn Spots

When it comes to status symbols, one feature in many neighborhoods still can outweigh the size of the home or the type of car driven, and that’s the green. And by “green,” I mean the lawn. To many people a healt

10 Top California Native Plants, Trees and Grasses

These plants provide an important habitat to critters large and small, stunning seasonal colors, textures and interest in any-size garden, and are climate appropriate in dry California summers. They were chosen

10 Perennials to Extend Your Gardens Summer Color

When the dog days of summer get the best of your garden blooms, there’s still time to create a fetching landscape. Sure, you could head to the local garden center for mums, but if you want something less predict

Great Design Plant: Butterfly Milkweed, a Beacon in the Prairie

Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is a magnet for bees and butterflies in early spring — often providing an important source of nectar when other sources are scarce. What other perennial can rival its brig

Great Design Plant: Little-Leaf Cordia Handles Desert Extremes

Little-leaf cordia (Cordia parvifolia) is the perfect addition to the desert landscape, where it adds beauty with its distinctive white flowers while also handling hot, reflected sun and temperatures into the te

Top 12 Summer-Blooming Perennials for Deer-Resistant Drama

Trying to outwit the deer is a lifelong challenge for those of us who live in deer country. Just when we think we understand their fickle tastes, they develop a liking for something new. The phrase “deer will ea

Great Design Plant: Meadow Blazing Star (Liatris Ligulistylis)

One morning several years ago, before the monarch butterfly populations crashed in 2012 and 2013, I was looking out of my window at the garden, admiring the splendor I’d created. Suddenly a far corner lifted off

9 Ways to Change Up Your Vegetable Garden for the Coming Season

Late summer is a good time to think about cool-season vegetable plantings, but in addition to testing new crops, consider updating your garden’s bones and structure too. These creative edible gardens from our My

Great Design Plant: Spotted Beebalm (Monarda punctata)

Spotted beebalm (Monarda punctata) is a magnet for pollinators, particularly bees and wasps, and can be an integral part of a native planting around a vegetable garden. This Eastern native requires little maint

Great Design Plant: Hibiscus Syriacus ‘Sugar Tip’

I’ve never been especially fond of hibiscus. The flowers are impressive, but when it’s not in bloom, hibiscus is just another green-leaved shrub that contributes little to the garden and certainly doesn’t merit

Best Cutting-Garden Beauties for Late Summer

Late summer is prime time for casual potluck dinner parties on the patio or screened porch. When guests are coming over, I like to make decorative arrangements using whatevers blooming in my garden. When were in

Ferns: A Shade Gardener’s Best Friend

Shade gardeners seem to have more garden envy than any group of gardeners I know. They drool over dahlias, linger over lantana and swoon over salvias, knowing deep down that these plants would soon meet their de

11 Design Solutions for Sloping Backyards

We are not all blessed with an open, flat garden. Many of us live in hilly towns or the rolling countryside, and gardens on slopes are the only kinds of gardens we can get. Terraces cut into the incline are prob

Great Design Plant: Verbena Stricta Tolerates Tough Spots

Thriving in unimproved places such as pastures, railway edges and compacted hiking trails, hoary vervain (Verbena stricta) is a fantastic native perennial to try where “nothing else will grow.” This medium-size,

Great Design Plant: Broadleaf Stonecrop (Sedum Spathulifolium)

Pacific Northwest native plants are generally thought of as lush, leafy and green, but in fact, there is a wide world of underutilized succulent plants — even cacti — that are native to our region. Sedum spathul

Gardening Solutions for Heavy Clay Soils

Gardening with clay soils can be backbreaking work. I know because I’ve gardened in heavy clay soils before. I will spare you my stories of sore muscles and instead discuss ways to work with clay soil that will

Great Design Plant: Parry Manzanita Stands Out in Low-Water Gardens

The magnificent stature, sculptural branching and sensual, deep cinnamon bark of Parry manzanita (Arctostaphylos manzanita) make a bold architectural statement. The smooth, dark red bark and sinuous branching ar