Ornamental Gardening

Around the world, hydrangeas are one of the most widely grown ornamental plants. They make great cut flowers and handle shade well, suitable for many conditions. They are also considered …

Tell me if this story sounds familiar. You love perennials, so you court them assiduously. In return, they reward your efforts with an abundance of beautiful flowers.  You think your …

Back when I first started gardening and had no idea what a biennial plant meant, I was foolish enough to trust the information on the garden center plant tags without …

The quiet. The crunch of snow underfoot. The barren frosted trees. The stillness. All of winter’s enticing beauty. In the stillness, color and movement of visiting wildlife bring incomparable excitement. …

My stubborn attempt to overfill my garden with more plants on a shoestring budget continues throughout the rest of fall. Or at least for as long as the weather allows …

What if I told you that you could plant something in your garden that’s worth its weight in gold? No, I haven’t yet found the seeds of the mythical money …

Winter is a difficult time to find interest and color in containers. Most plants are either dormant or don’t perform as well in cold climates, making our containers appear dull …

Swaying and dancing in the breeze, ornamental grasses steal the show with their feathery seed heads and autumnal hues. Paying homage to the cascading brilliant fall leaves, the motion of …

If you’ve ever thought that cooking and gardening have a few things in common – mainly using “ingredients” and following a “recipe” to create something out of nothing – you’re …

We are elbow-deep in the bulb-planting season and my friends are starting to doubt my honesty when I say “sorry, I can’t this weekend; I’m planting bulbs.” But that’s October …

The thrill I get when browsing online bulb catalogs is the closest feeling I’ll ever get to that of stepping into a candy shop when I was a child. Then, …

There are so many lilies to love. Lilies grow from bulbs and are a beautiful and complicated genus of herbaceous flowering plants. There are spectacular variations in their flower forms. …

When I first got the gardening bug, I used to despair over the end of the warm summer season. Fall, in spite of its color and richness, brought a bittersweet …

If there’s ever a plant that embodies the feeling of hopefulness, it’s the tulip. As a history buff, I’m fascinated by how the Dutch Tulip Mania unfolded in the seventeenth …

When I was growing up, my relatives and acquaintances who had a garden grew red tulips. Maybe yellow. Occasionally white. I would spend hours browsing through gardening catalogs that hardly had …

When I moved into my current home, I became the accidental step-parent of a majestic Camellia japonica bush. The woman who was moving out estimated the camellia was about seven …

If you prefer more blooms than foliage, a showy display of flowers that lasts for weeks, and a vine that doesn’t destroy the structures that it climbs on, then clematis …

Daylilies (Hemerocallis) have been working hard for our gardens all summer long, putting out stunning displays of blooms day after day. But with the advent of fall, when temperatures start …

Preparing roses for the winter season during fall can be a tedious job, so it’s no wonder that it sometimes becomes the object of procrastination even for experienced gardeners. After …

Ever since its release in 1988, the children’s book Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert has been one of the favorite means for green-thumbed parents to instill a love of …

Dahlias are the darlings of the flower garden and for good reason. They put out gorgeous boisterous blooms every year, but there sure is a price to pay in exchange …

As a gardener, growing annual geraniums feels very much like I’m gaming the system. I get a low-maintenance plant with attractive foliage and blooms that last for almost three full …

Tropical décor is incomplete without at least one Monstera plant dotted around the home. Appreciated for their large and fenestrated leaves, it’s easy to see why these houseplant favorites are …

Create extravagantly lush shady spaces with climbing plants and flowering vines. It is the season for lounging in the shade! Increase your relief by growing shade-loving climbers and blooming vines. …