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Nothing could taste more like summer, and when you live in Alaska, summer is a glorious and highly anticipated, though short, season. I longed for these fresh delights in the muddy throes of spring. But alas, I couldn’t find any fresh basil at the supermarket, and the local plant nurseries and greenhouses hadn’t opened yet. That’s Alaska for you. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

For many, the thought of planting a native vine in their landscape or garden is preferential due to their easy maintenance. If you are considering a native vine, then these profiles should give you a few choices to pick from. Ampelaster carolinianus (Climbing Aster) This fragrant vine may get invasive, so take care to keep an eye on it as it grows. It will grow up to 12 feet long and needs a spacing of 4 feet across....

I have always loved this cruciferous veggie best when it’s eaten raw, or blended into a base for soup or vegan pasta sauce. As in the case of its close relative, broccoli, a head of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) is made up of tons of tiny, unopened flower buds. Most of us are familiar with white florets, but you can find purple, orange, and green cultivars as well. These varieties have the same deliciously smooth, nutty taste that the white ones have, and they’re all harvested in the same way....

These conditions replicate its natural setting beneath rainforest canopies in South America, where it grows as an epiphyte attached to trees and rocks. In our guide to growing Christmas cactus, we talk about how to cultivate this easy-care houseplant. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Here’s what’s in store: With an understanding of why the stem segments of a Christmas cactus may shade to yellow, you can evaluate it and take action....

But these houseplants are also cherished for the appearance of their stunning foliage. And thanks to the many different species and varieties available, there are a wide array of foliage patterns and color combinations to choose from. I made a list of some of the most gorgeous prayer plants out there, and then narrowed down my selection to 21 species and select cultivars that are also fairly easy to find as houseplants....

Well, probably not, but you get my point. What eventually turned me towards appreciating dracaena was the delightful discovery of the many species that were available. After all, variety is the spice of life, right? We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. A few Dracaena species are not demanding in their care requirements, and in addition to their lovely looks, that’s what makes them so appealing....

Of course, you can also bring the harvest indoors to store in the fridge and eat later as crudite, or toss in salads. In the case of the snow peas, they’re also delicious in stir fry. But these crisp, sweet snow or snap peas are essentially a simple pleasure, a nutritious legume best enjoyed fresh or cooked only briefly. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

That particularly applies to ornamentals that give you a dramatic display while being useful in the kitchen as well. Of all those wonderful edible flowers like fuchsias and roses, marigolds might be my favorite. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. They’re so good! And extremely versatile. So can you just pick the plants and start digging in?...

In our Christmas cactus growing guide, we talk about best practices for indoor cultivation. Additional articles address inducing dormancy to encourage blooming, as well as understanding aerial root development. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Let’s start with a glimpse at Schlumbergera in the wild. The Christmas Cactus in Nature The natural habitat of Schlumbergera species is the rainforests of South America....

We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. What Is Frost? When water vapor condenses and freezes instead of forming dew, we see ice crystals on outdoor surfaces. This is called hoar, light, or white frost. It forms when the air is moist and the ground temperature drops to 32°F or lower. And because the ground temperature can be cooler than the air temperature, it may form on the soil even when the thermometer reads above freezing....

World Naked Gardening Day rolls around every year on the first Saturday in May, and this international outdoor holiday is not for the bashful. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. From Mundane to Sublime Gardening, for most of us, is in large part utilitarian – we transplant and weed and water, trim and deadhead, mow and sow to create that perfect look....

A question of great controversy, everybody seems to have a different opinion on whether or not this is an acceptable practice. The truth is that the answer can go either way, depending on a few factors. Composting tomatoes is indeed risky, but it can be done so long as a few basic criteria are met. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

I’m quite a bit more careless then they are. I fold over the ends of the hoses when switching out sprinkler heads, drag them across the street where they can be run over by cars, coil them up on sawbucks, and leave them outside all winter long where they’ll freeze. It should come as no surprise then, that at our place, garden hoses last less than a couple of years before ending up in the trash can....

Suited to outdoor growing as a perennial in USDA Hardiness Zones 9 to 11, this showy flower is often forced to bloom indoors in other zones. An exceptional addition to winter holiday decor, the large flowers of amaryllis are trumpet-shaped and perch atop leafless, hollow stems that rise directly from a substantial bulb. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

When I think of summers there, I picture the wide brown river, warm sun on my back, and sweet, tart apricot juice dripping down my chin. We’d buy loads of apricots, Prunus armeniaca, from Gunkel Orchards in Maryhill, and cart them all the way back home to Montana. My mom made jars of apricot jam to remind us of those sweet summer days all winter long. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....

I find ways to add it to almost every flower bed or container I work on, and am consistently satisfied with the final result. More importantly, my clients are happy too! I’ll admit, at first it was hard for me to get excited about coral bells. I wasn’t a fan of plants with foliage as their main draw. But I’ve come around, and started to love the steady and reliable performance of these plants....

L. formosa can be grown as a vine or a shrub, and it produces sweet-smelling white flowers that descend from scarlet or purple bracts. These flowers bloom in the late spring through summer. In fall, plants produce berries with a noteworthy flavor similar to that of caramel or toffee. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

The paper-thin petals are incredibly elegant, in shades that range from eye-poppingly vibrant to soft and subtle. The blooms can be petite and simple or massive and full. There are species that do well in the heat, and those that thrive in cold weather. Some stay short and others tower above the rest of the flowers in the garden. They can be annuals or perennials, and they self-seed freely. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....

It’s impossible for me to pass on these flowers, even with other more exotic choices to pick from. They’ve got a perfect blend of color, form, and bubbly cheeriness without going over the top like other flowers… I’m looking at you, fuchsia! We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. I don’t think I’ve had any other flower requested year after year as much as the Cape daisy....

Native to temperate regions around the world, these cheery plants can be found nodding in mixed woodlands, meadows, prairies, alpine meadows, and rocky slopes. With a particularly heavy population in the regions of the eastern Mediterranean, it’s no surprise that its name comes from the Greek geranos for crane. And cranesbill is Old English for the appearance of the long, beak-like fruit capsule that forms on some varieties. A mounding plant, the dark green leaves have a light, citrusy fragrance and a broadly circular shape, with five-petaled flowers in shades of blue, pink, purple, and white....