Great Design Plant: Columbine Grows Happily in Shade and Sun

When spring arrives with bursts of color and scent, one of my favorite perennials appears — star-shaped columbine. It grows in my woodland garden amid other delicate wildflowers, such as bloodroot (Sanguinaria c

7 Great Container Plants for Early-Spring Appeal

In cold climates early spring is still too early for planting containers with summer-blooming annuals. It’s best to wait until you are past your average last frost date. But that in-between time can seem like an

Great Design Plant: Try Blue Bells for Blooms in Dry Soil

Imagine what characteristics you would want in the perfect shrub. How about one that blooms throughout the year, loves hot temperatures but can handle cooler ones, all while needing no pruning? Would you add on

New Ways to Think About All That Mulch in the Garden

After four years my neighbor finally put in a modest foundation bed last summer. I watched her laboriously dig out a 3-foot-deep bed, tearing at the fescue imbedded in potter’s clay (that’s our soil). Eventually

Great Garden Combo: Rose + Clematis for Small-Space Impact

I love lush, abundant gardens, but in small spaces they can be difficult to achieve, due to narrow borders that don’t allow for multiple layers of trees and shrubs. The answer when you can’t go out is to go up,

Unleash Your Guerilla Gardener

Every fall I walk through my small garden and gather seeds from my region’s native perennials. I have a little paper lunch bag for each plant (nearly 100), labeled and dated, that I store the seeds in. Sometimes

6 Native Ground Covers for Tough, Dry Spots

In a recent ideabook on mulching, I suggested using ground covers in place of wood or other mulches — and that in fact, ground covers and short plants would lead to a lower-maintenance, more aesthetically pleasi

Great Design Plant: Little Heath Andromeda Brings 4-Season Color

I always look for interesting foliage when selecting shrubs for the landscape or a container, and Little Heath andromeda is a reliable favorite. The small green and white variegated leaves form a tidy mound, unl

Why Aggressive Plants Might Actually Be Your Friends

I’ve seen a trend in plant tags and online plant profiles: The words “aggressive” and “spreading” are being replaced with the seemingly more friendly “naturalizes.” Now I know our gut reaction to any of these wo

Great Design Plant: Pink Trumpet Vine Heralds Vibrant Color

It’s hard to find a more beautiful plant than pink trumpet vine. Whether you train it up a trellis or use it as a sprawling shrub, the lovely flowers will decorate your outdoor space in warm temperatures. This

Sweet Serendipity: Opening to Happy Garden Discoveries

Great gardeners are great planners. However, there is an unknown variable that occasionally interjects itself in our most logical equations, that unpredictable thing called serendipity. It’s defined as luck in t

9 Tips for Creating an Artful Container Garden

Whether you’re greening up your patio or creating interest in a flower bed, using planted containers is an easy way to to add texture and depth to your outdoor space. But creating a beautiful container garden is

7 New Plants to Grow for Beautiful Foliage

A garden based on flowers may be beautiful for short periods of time, but it is the foliage that holds a garden design together by spanning the seasons. Trees, shrubs and perennials all play an important role in

Great Design Plant: Axminster Gold Comfrey for Sun or Shade

There aren’t many plants that have good looks in both sun and shade, so when I discovered this boldly variegated perennial, I was excited to experiment with it in my garden. At first glance it could be mistaken

How to Switch to an Organic Landscape Plan

There are a variety of ways to switch to an organic landscape plan. First, survey the areas and plants that require the most chemicals and look at options for reducing in those domains. It’s likely that your law

Great Native Plant: Rattlesnake Master for Unique Interest

Looking like a yucca but a member of the parsley and carrot family, rattlesnake master is a unique plant not used nearly enough. While it’s in bloom, the flower heads are insect magnets, and it hosts the rare ra

Great Design Plant: Yellow Bells, a Screening Queen

If you love yellow, then this is a shrub for you. Masses of trumpet-shaped flowers cover yellow bells nonstop from spring through fall in garden zones 8 to 11. Its large size makes it perfect for covering up a

Boxwood Alternatives Bring the Chelsea Flower Show to You

With the end of May approaching, I’m looking forward to the Chelsea Flower Show, the highlight of the British gardening year, where top garden designers will once again wow us with the latest trends in their sho

6 Native Goldenrods Worth a Second Look

Do you know that line from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, when Han Solo is running toward the Millennium Falcon with C3PO trailing behind? Han yells back down an icy tunnel as it caves in, “Hurry up, Golden

6 Gift-Giving Gardens for Delights Beyond the Visual

Just imagine being able to keep the cupboards stocked with your own herbal blends, enjoy bountiful bouquets from your own cutting garden or draw yourself an aromatic bath with fresh herbs after a long day in the