7 Evergreen Wonders of the Plant World

The importance of green space in our urban environments, as much as in our private lives, is at the forefront of our minds now more than ever. Street curbs are being turned into rain gardens; community plots are

Rediscover Your Inner Child With a Garden Wonderland

Rekindling pleasant memories of childhood can have a joyful, peaceful and stabilizing effect in todays world of upheavals and crises. Those hours of watching Beverly Hillbillies reruns after school with a big bo

Great Design Plant: Deer Grass

Plants should look good in the garden, but they should also do good too. Deer grass (Muhlenbergia rigens) is a no-brainer: native, adaptable, wildlife food source and shelter. It’s said that the successful sweep

Celebrate a Sunny Climate With the Right Leafy Palm for Your Site

No plant embodies the tropics better than the palm tree. While the majority of these palms are for gardeners in the subtropics (USDA zones 9 to 11), Ive also included some choices for those of you who get freeze

Great Design Plant: Rozanne Cranesbill

For those of us looking for lower-maintenance gardens, it is easy to dismiss this hardy geranium as just another perennial that will need fussing with. To discount it so readily would be to deny yourself one of

Try Slow Gardening for Some Unexpected Benefits

Are you a bit of a hippie in your garden? Relaxed and laid-back, rarely cutting the lawn or hedges while trying to grow a few organic vegetables? It might be that you are not a gardening throwback to the 60s but

The Weepers and the Creepers: 10 Intriguing Trees for Your Garden

Certain trees are an acquired taste, much like fine wine. I often joke with my clients that anyone can grow and appreciate a tree that grows straight up, but it takes a special person to grow and appreciate one

Great Design Plant: Coreopsis Tripteris

Sometimes a garden that is filled with plants of similar heights, especially those lower than 3 feet, can become drab. Add flair with tall tickseed (Coreopsis tripteris), a long-blooming, heat-loving, butterfly-

Great Design Plant: Senna Hebecarpa Puts on a Magical Show

American senna (Senna hebecarpa) always stops people in their tracks, primarily with its fanning oval leaves that resemble sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica). With flowers that go on and on for weeks, American senn

The Enticing Garden: How to Grow Bananas

Those bananas at the grocery store are nothing compared to the exciting and flavorful cultivars you can grow yourself — if your climate permits. Their flavors range from the vanilla notes of Blue Java to the tar

Great Design Plant: Paint the Summer Landscape With Desert Willow

When you first see a desert willow tree (Chilopsis linearis), you cant help but notice its beautiful flowers, which make it a popular choice for warm-climate gardeners. Whether you grow it as a tree or as a lar

3 Exotic Flowers From the South African Wild

About a decade ago, still fresh from college and newly empowered by a summer of hard gardening work, I set off for an internship at the famed Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, in Cape Town, South Africa. I

7 Tropical Bulbs for a Summer Garden That Wows

Traditional bulbs may wither in the heat of summer, but thats when bulbs from the subtropics really shine. Theyre useful for adding bold and dramatic colors and patterns to gardens anywhere; in temperate regions

Superstar Annuals for Containers and Baskets

I demand a lot of my container plants. I expect them to bloom prolifically with little or no deadheading or to have fabulous foliage — preferably both. I don’t want to pinch them back, prop them up or do much mo

Great Design Plant: Giant Coneflower, a True Exclamation Point

Yeah, yeah, yeah, theres regular old biennial Rudbeckia thats 2 feet tall and for sale in any nursery, but then theres the long-living giant coneflower. If you want to be the talk of your gardening friends, give

Get the Hang of Hanging Flower Baskets

Who doesnt love a hanging basket filled with a profusion of flowers or foliage? This type of container gardening is a charming addition to your porch, patio, arbor or deck — and its easy, provided you know a few

Unwind in Your Own Private Garden Escape

Most of us have a mental go-to place — somewhere weve been that gives us a sense of relaxation and security. Imagining ourselves there can help us regroup in the middle of a hectic day. Some of the most successf

See How a Practical Garden Can Be a Visual Treat, Too

Kitchen gardens, or potagers, are wondrous places where edible gardens are combined with flowering plants for beauty. For centuries these gardens have offered a readily available source of fruit, vegetables and

Great Garden Combo: 5 High-Intensity Plants for High-Intensity Sun

As the sunny days of spring give way to the more intense and direct summer sun, our gardens appear to change personality. The delicate pastel flowers of May and June that we enjoyed so much can suddenly seem was

How to Make a Window Garden Grow

Whats more quaint and charming than a window box filled with flowers? I love these boxes, but I admit it took me a while to include them in my gardening — probably because I was intimidated by their installation