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However, sometimes we wind up with a yard full of vegetation not well suited to our locale, that performs poorly and does little to support local wildlife. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. The Advice of Experts I’m a sucker for a beautifully illustrated gardening book, so after an inviting cover lures me to browse inside, I go straight to the authors’ credentials....

But they’re also time consuming to create. And you need to practice your technique first before you’ll get a symmetrical shape suitable for display. So, if you don’t have the spare time for extensive craft sessions, try a swag instead. Loosely structured with a free form, a swag can be completed in well under 30 minutes! We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

Stout stands of tightly clustered flowers bloom in bright shades of blue, purple, white, and even yellow and have a delicious, fruity fragrance. These little plants make a reliable addition to beds, borders, and containers and naturalize readily in meadows, woodlands, or just about anywhere they’re scattered. And they’re delightful for forcing indoors as well! Wonderfully low maintenance and easily cultivated, propagation is also easy. On their own, your collection will increase yearly from natural bulb multiplication and a ready habit of self-seeding....

For me, this means months spent curled up by the wood stove with a book and a cat on my lap. It also means the creation of a lot of ash – which always leads me back to the question of whether or not I can compost ashes. As it turns out, the answer is yes, with a couple of crucial caveats. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....

You lean in closer, and see that some of the flower stems and buds are covered in small, pear-shaped insects, typically green or pink but they may appear in other colors as well. What are they? Aphids. The pesky creatures are feasting on your dazzling plants and you must get them off – but how exactly do you control aphids on roses? We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....

So, with a bit of planning, and a large enough garden, you can enjoy those delicious blooms for up to eight months! Some are attractively fragrant, with a spicy or sweet, fruity aroma. And the foliage provides pretty fall colors as well. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. And with over 10,000 registered cultivars, there’s a wide selection to choose from....

The flowers are notable for their hues of yellow or white, but many garden varieties also come in shades of pink, coral, and orange. The central corona is trumpet or cup-shaped, and is surrounded by six petals (technically, tepals). Petals can be the same shade as the corona, have the same color but of a different intensity, or be strikingly two-toned. Of the genus Narcissus in the Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis) family, other common names for these spring favorites are narcissus and jonquils....

It takes the second half of its name from its fragrant flowers, which – under ideal conditions – perfume the air in springtime. This fast-growing evergreen vine is appreciated for its ability to quickly cover a patch of land with a thick carpet of twining vines, even in shady areas. It’s also heralded for its tolerance of both heat and cold. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....

It’s one of those flavors I find so essential in my cooking. No matter where I’m living, from a tiny loft in the middle of a city to a sprawling ranch in the mountains, I always have a potted bay plant with me. As much as I love to cook with it, I admit that I’ve been caught more than once nabbing a leaf from my plant as I walk by, just so I can crush it between my fingers and lose myself in its scent....

This evergreen perennial member of the Asteraceae family has a low, round, bushy form and produces an abundance of one-inch, white, daisy-like flowers from early spring through late fall. The dark green foliage consists of 2-inch-long, narrow, oblong leaves. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. “Blackfoot” refers to the bract that surrounds each seed that is shaped like a foot, and turns black as it matures....

That elegant arch and gracefully sweeping trunk evoke images of an old, wind-battered survivor clinging to the edge of a cliff. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. In this guide, we’ll help you towards that end. Here’s what’s to come: This isn’t a process that can be completed in a week, so the sooner you start, the better....

I walked into the raised garden beds of a property where I would be working and was delighted by the array of ground cover flowers, prolifically growing vegetables, and leafy herbs. Out of the two dozen or so plants that were growing, one stood above all of the others. A line of beautiful white flowers, two feet tall and smelling like sweet apples, grew between the onions and the cabbage....

Back when I was a child, I had severe emetophobia. Fear of tossing my cookies, if you’ve never heard the term before. I read somewhere that garlic could help prevent the stomach flu, so when I was twelve years old, I pretty much became a walking garlic clove. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

In some parts of the world, it’s considered the definitive scent of summer. The fragrant blooms beckon to pollinators in the summer months, with the intoxicating, vanilla-like aroma drifting on the warm breeze. The first experience I had with Japanese honeysuckle was on a warm spring afternoon in Maryland. I had stumbled upon an abandoned farm while hiking, and observed a vine that had overtaken the entire length of a wooden perimeter fence....

However, I’ve watched my six kids eagerly devour theirs at every meal, and I can tell you with certainty that this is one vegetable you need to be growing fresh in your garden. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. When and Where to Grow I love growing this vitamin packed veggie because it does so well in many soil types and growing zones....

Though this blooming beauty is available with lavender, pink, or white flowers, it’s the varieties with the striking blue daisy-like flowers that really catch our attention, especially when massed groundcover-style. While generally classified as an annual, this drought-tolerant, fragrant jewel may function as an herbaceous perennial in Zones 8-10. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

From their intense flavors and fragrances to their uses in the garden attracting pollinators and repelling pests, these plants are beloved by cooks, gardeners, and herbalists alike. Kitchen herbs like parsley, oregano, rosemary, sage, and thyme are commonly grown in the home garden, but many enthusiasts miss out on the delights of winter savory. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

While zucchini is prolific and leafy greens don’t take much effort, broccoli makes you work for it. But when you get it right, you’re rewarded with big, beautiful heads that taste all the better for having grown them yourself. I think that’s why it can be extra frustrating when things go wrong. And when broccoli pests are invading your garden, things can go terribly, terribly wrong. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....

These tender perennials are easy to cultivate, and they put on a fantastic display of glorious blooms from early summer until they are felled by a hard frost. And after cold weather settles in, it’s time to dig up and remove the tubers for winter storage, to plant out again in spring. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

It’s my husband, making his nightly popcorn. He loves it so much that he panics if we run out. If we go camping, he’s got to bring his special popping pan along. And yes, he always makes it in a pan – to him, there is no other way. So maybe it will come to you as no surprise that every summer, I grow my own popcorn for him to enjoy....