Flowers & Ornamentals

Growing lavender means happy buzzing bees and patches of fragrant blossoms in dusky purple. Not to mention glasses of lavender lemonade. But if your lavender is looking lush and leafy …

Irises are often the first flower to kick off the summer perennial season. So it can be incredibly frustrating when that tall crop of sword-shaped leaves ends up being just …

Peonies always make me think of weddings. They’re such a romantic flower, so frilly and beautiful in shades of creamy white, soft pink or magenta. What bride wouldn’t want a …

June is a bit like coming up to the top of the first drop of a roller coaster ride. It’s that slow and steady rise above the daffodils and crocus, …

There comes a moment every spring when my garden threatens to run away from me. One minute, everything is barely waking up, and then I blink, and I’ve got a …

One of my plant-buying pet peeves is when plants come with labels that do more harm than good. Most of the time, it’s just confusing or incomplete information. (Such as …

I love gardening. But I like sitting on the porch admiring my garden a whole heck of a lot more, especially when the mercury starts to climb. As summer cranks …

Creating new garden beds doesn’t require you to dig up the turf and turn over the soil. That is, most certainly, the hardest way to do it. Cutting out the …

Don’t get me wrong, part of the appeal of Russian sage is the gorgeous color of the stems and leaves. That silvery green looks as though it belongs to another …

In “You’ve Got Mail,” Meg Ryan’s character notes that daisies are the friendliest flower. Ahem, really, Meg? How could you have discounted the sunflower so easily? It’s okay; we’ll forgive …

I was thinking recently about gardening expectations. About how, if certain plants don’t do so well one year, I’m ok with that. But when other plants fail to meet my …

Spring is in full glorious bloom in my garden which can only mean two things: Well, maybe a couple of months before we get full hydrangea blooms. But all the …

Wood chip mulch is an attractive ground cover that enhances the health of your soil and the plants you grow. For many gardeners, carpeting the landscape with organic mulches becomes …

I once again have lavender on my mind. My husband and I were walking through our residential neighborhood this past weekend, noticing how spring is well and truly here in …

As we are entering the season of spring celebrations, many hydrangeas will take their pride of place as the centerpieces of our Easter brunch table settings. Or as Mother’s Day …

I was having a good laugh with one of my gardening friends the other day at the expense of her beloved hostas. We were both chuckling at the (entirely made …

Whether you’re picking them from your backyard or buying them, nothing banishes the winter blues like the sunshine yellow of fresh daffodils. When their yellow heads nod in the March …

Are you growing ornamental grasses in your garden? If you are, congrats! You have officially elevated your gardening game to a whole new level. For the longest time, I didn’t …

I recently wrote an article in which I wondered why peonies are so expensive compared to other perennials. I have seen baby peonies going for anywhere between 35 to 80 …

I knew it was the right time to write about irises when someone in a local group posted a wheelbarrow full of them with the message: Hi, I’m lifting bearded …

If you had to guess how many hydrangeas were sold in the United States in a year, what would you go for? Maybe 100,000. Perhaps half a million. Shall we …

It is a truth universally acknowledged that once you learn a gardening “golden rule,” you’ll have to quickly unlearn it. Or at the very least, you might need to add …

If you still haven’t tried mycorrhizae, consider this your wake-up call – your plants are missing out! Your vegetables, your houseplants, the flowers you plant in the front flower bed, …

Which phrase rings more memorable to you? Old French climbing rough mountain oak.  or Old rough French climbing mountain oak.  No, it doesn’t make much sense. And no, I didn’t …