Add color and charm to your garden with easy-care flowers and decorative plants. Get ideas for cut flower beds, pollinator gardens, perennials, shade blooms, and year-round beauty.
Add color and charm to your garden with easy-care flowers and decorative plants. Get ideas for cut flower beds, pollinator gardens, perennials, shade blooms, and year-round beauty.
After fifty years of tending gardens through bone-chilling January ice storms and those sweltering August afternoons where even the weeds look tired, I can tell you that Zone 6 is one of the most rewarding places to grow flowers—if you know which ones to trust. The temperature swings here are no joke. We can see … Read more
After thirty years of gardening in Zone 4, I’ve learned that our short growing season isn’t a limitation—it’s an invitation to be strategic. When you have roughly one hundred days between your last spring frost and first fall freeze, every single bloom day matters. I remember my early years, watching half my perennials just get … Read more
I’ll never forget my first spring in a zone 3 garden. I had moved from a milder climate and stood there in late April, staring at frozen ground, absolutely convinced I’d never grow anything beautiful again. That was over thirty years ago, and I can tell you now—I was completely wrong. Some of the most … Read more
After fifty years of gardening, I’ve learned something important: the best gardens aren’t the ones that demand the most attention—they’re the ones that thrive despite our busy lives. I used to feel guilty about not having time to fuss over my patio plants every day, but then I discovered a secret. Some of the most … Read more
I spent years thinking I had to choose between a pretty front yard and a productive garden. The roses went in the flower beds where neighbors could admire them, and the blueberries got tucked behind the garage where nobody had to look at them. What a waste of time and space that was. It took … Read more
Thirty years ago, when my husband and I moved into a townhouse with nothing but a narrow balcony, I thought my gardening days were behind me. I’d always had proper beds, room to spread out, space for a compost pile. But that spring, I bought three terracotta pots on a whim, filled them with petunias … Read more
I can’t help but smile when I see young plant enthusiasts posting photos of Snake Plants and calling them “trendy.” I’ve been growing these beauties in my kitchen for forty-three years. The Weeping Fig in my living room is older than my youngest grandson. When I started keeping houseplants in the early 1970s, these were … Read more
I’ll never forget the spring I learned to really watch my houseplants. I’d been caring for indoor greenery for twenty years already, but I was still treating them the same way all year round—same watering schedule, same spot by the window, same everything. Then one March, I noticed my pothos putting out three new leaves … Read more
Every February, I walk through my sunroom and feel a little pang of guilt. My houseplants—those faithful companions that brightened the darkest December days—are looking decidedly tired. Yellowing leaves here, leggy growth there, and that beautiful monstera I was so proud of? Well, it’s looking a bit sorry for itself. After fifty years of growing … Read more
They’re calling it “plant maximalism” now, as if it’s some revolutionary new idea. I had to laugh when I read that article. I’ve been cramming plants into every corner of my home for forty-five years, long before anyone put a fancy name on it. My daughters used to joke that you couldn’t set down a … Read more