Posts

We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. And it’s a favorite of birds, bees, and butterflies! Ready to find out if it’s going to be one of your favorites too? We’re going to cover everything you’ll need to know to grow this resilient perennial. Here’s a sneak peek: Just to make sure we’re on the same page before we get started, in this article we’re talking about a flowering perennial, and not the succulent Kalanchoe daigremontiana, which is also sometimes called Mexican hat....

Gardeners love beautyberry’s large leaves, which are light green and slightly fuzzy. Its gracefully arching branches are also appealing. But, really, it’s the plant’s late-summer or early-fall clusters of small, bright purple fruit that draws the eye and has gardeners wanting more. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Propagation from Seed You may be able to find American beautyberry seeds at local garden centers or you can order them online....

The same is true in the botanical world, as the most gorgeous of specimens can sprout from small seeds. The Japanese maple is one such plant. Acer palmatum seeds, when properly cultivated, can transform into stunning, fully-grown trees in time. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. The ease and accessibility in doing so for the average green thumb can’t be understated....

We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Continue reading for instructions. Here’s what we’ll cover: Propagating ZZ plants from leaves is incredibly easy, and since it requires only a single leaf cutting per cloned start, this method makes it easy to avoid damaging the parent plant. The only downside is that this process can be slow, so patience is key!...

While I dreamt of each season’s bounty and Gram’s famous black walnut brownies, I didn’t know that these tasty nuts came with a price. It wasn’t until my husband and I were well into the landscaping plans of our own 4-acre homestead that we started to notice trouble. Several of our newly-planted apple trees weren’t doing well. While the cherries, pears, and plums thrived, these poor saplings were wilting, stunted, and sad....

It’s not just about trying to grow your favorite tree in miniature. Instead, it’s about capturing the beauty of nature in a living, breathing sculpture. Beginners are often surprised to learn that there’s a lot more to it than feeding and pruning a tree to keep it small. You’ll need to consider every aspect, from selecting the shape and color of the pot to deciding whether or not to wire a branch to create a new shape....

But beyond just looks, there is a lot more to raised bed gardening than simply meets the eye. Sure, you beautify and neaten up your growing space – but did you know that these structures also achieve tons for your plant health, soil health, and – drumroll – YOUR health? Not to mention, you can pinch a few pennies, too. When you get past just the aesthetic pleasures of these fabulous growing containers (though that’s not to say it’s not an amazing perk in and of itself), then that’s when things really get exciting!...

One of the flattened paddle-like stems, aka cladodes or nopales, had broken off and was lying on the ground. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. I can hear you laughing already. We didn’t realize at the time that the bristles are called glochids, or sometimes glochidia, and while not long and menacing, they are sharp, irritating, and difficult to remove....

Well, my friends, it is. Especially sweet corn, which is loaded with fiber, vitamin C, folate, thiamine, magnesium, and potassium, all of which are essential to human health. It’s the processed products you have to watch out for, not garden-grown deliciousness. Corn is, in fact, a whole grain! We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

But you can extend the season for fresh, crisp greens with a late planting of cool-season favorites like Swiss chard. Chard comes in a rainbow of brightly hued colors, with a highly attractive ornamental value for the fall garden, as well as outstanding nutrition and kitchen uses. It’s one of those easy and fast-growing veggies that can deliver multiple harvests per season. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....

Perhaps you once bit into an underripe fruit and it conjures up a memory of that tingly, cottony feeling you get on your tongue when you’ve eaten something full of tannins. Or maybe you think of the wild trees growing across the southeastern United States, and the wildlife that lines up to nibble the fruits as they fall to the ground. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....

Most of the types of common morning glory, or Ipomoea purpurea, that you’re going to find grow as annuals, unless you’re in USDA Hardiness Zone 10 or 11. However, they are happy (and eager) to self-seed for a repeat performance next year. If you want to avoid that sometimes aggressive self-seeding process, remove the plants entirely from an area in the late fall, before they become crispy and ready to shoot seeds everywhere....

There are numerous species and cultivated varieties with heights ranging from six inches to over six feet tall. Instead of large showy flowers, most have masses of tiny, daisy-like blossoms that measure between one-half and one inch in diameter. 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 article, we offer food for thought with 21 tips for how to manage perennial asters in your landscape....

By strategically planting thorny, spiky, dense bushes or hedging, you can create an effective barrier to deter intruders without compromising the look of your landscape. Many ornamental shrubs have vicious thorns or spiny foliage, and with careful placement, they can add a layer of security to your home without resorting to barbed wire or expensive fencing. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

You’ve seen a few unwanted sprouts popping up here and there, and you want to a little touch-up in some of the smaller areas, and in tight spaces around your plants. The weeds you want to remove aren’t all that large either – small, tender shoots that are easily popped out with just a few passes of the perfect tool. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....

Kohlrabi, Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes, is a brassica, and it’s one of the oddest-looking cole crops you can grow. It sports an above-ground bulb in purple or light green that sprouts stalks of the same color with green leaves. You’ll need to get a little creative in finding either vegetables or cool-season ornamentals that will look attractive growing or blooming alongside it. But you’ll want to be sensible, too, growing this vegetable next to plants that will deter the pests it’s prone to....

We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Cultivation and History Cardinal climber is a cultivated species that was never wild. It’s an easygoing plant that likes full sun but will tolerate part shade. Poor to average soil with a nearly neutral pH, an inch of water a week, and good drainage are all that’s needed for cultivation....

As I write these very words, I am taking a look around to count the houseplants I have on my writing desk and all around the room. Right now, I am fortunate to have a sunroom in my apartment, a safe place for houseplants to perk up and do their thing. But I wasn’t always so lucky. My last apartment had exactly four (that’s right, four) windows, and they all faced directly east....

As a dietitian, patients often ask me about taking vitamin supplements to address any potential deficiencies that they may have. Fortunately, we can get the majority of our nutrients from whole foods like fresh produce, rather than relying on pills and powders. Nutrients in the B-vitamin group play several vital roles in maintaining our bodily functions. Many of the vegetables that we eat every day – and may even have growing in our gardens – can supply an ample amount of B vitamins....

On the bright side, junipers don’t generally need much in the way of pruning, with a few exceptions. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Here is what’s ahead: If you’re ready to shape things up, get those pruners ready and let’s go! The Goal of Pruning Junipers First, let’s get the bad news out of the way....