In The Greenhouse

Naturescaping With Regional Perennial Wildflowers

There’s no need to sacrifice beauty when designing or redesigning your yard or garden to be more nature-friendly. Naturescaping is an approach to garden and landscape design that will help save time, money and energy while providing an attractive and healthy habitat for wildlife and people.  Read More

Attracting Hummingbirds

It is an awesome sight to capture a glimpse of a ruby-throated hummingbird hovering over the flower garden on a sunny summer morning. One or two a year may be seen seeking food in the landscape, sampling everything in their path. Unfortunately, they leave as rapidly as they arrive. This season, attract more of these...  Read More

Hurry Up the Harvest — Ways to Extend the Growing Season

Have a hankering for homegrown tomatoes? Eager to see the signs of ripening in your garden without waiting weeks and weeks? Even though it’s early spring, you can extend the growing season and hurry up your harvest by trying some of these tips and products: Gain three weeks on the growing season by pre-warming the...  Read More

Tropical Outdoor Living Room

This year, discover the pleasure of tropical plants by transforming your courtyard, balcony, flat roof or deck into a wonderland oasis. If you haven’t experienced the hot colors and unusual textures of plants like mandevilla, dipladenia, stephanotis, passion vine, bouganvillea, oleander, hibiscus, lantana and Pandora’s vine, you’re in for a treat!  Read More

Perennials for the Cutting Garden

The classic gardener’s dilemma is whether to cut flowers for enjoyment or leave them to look nice in the garden. Often, removing flowers from the border can make it less attractive and leave an unsightly hole in the overall garden design.  Read More

Growing and Storing Herbs

Growing herbs, whether inside or out, may be one of gardening’s most gratifying experiences. Because of their beauty and versatility, herbs may be grown amid vegetables, ornamentals or in a garden dedicated strictly to their kind.  Read More

Long-Blooming Perennials for Summer

By choosing long-blooming perennial plants, you can capitalize on the best of both worlds - plants that come back from growing season to growing season, and those that bloom for an extended length of time.  Read More

Bringing Butterflies to the Backyard

In spring, female butterflies will be mostly concerned with finding their species’ specific host plants on which to lay fertilized eggs. Instinctively, they know they must find plants to ensure that their caterpillars will have appropriate food for survival after hatching. Both male and female butterflies will be looking for flowers with nectar for their own survival.   Read More

Crazy for Coneflowers

Beautiful and dependable, Echinacea purpurea, or purple coneflower, is the crowning glory of the summer perennial garden. A member of the Aster family, all Echinacea species are native to North America. The genus Echinacea is derived from the Greek ‘echino’ meaning hedgehog, a reference to the spiny center disc flowers.  Read More

Daylilies… Easy to Grow, Fun to Collect!

Few perennials can match the daylily (Hemerocallis) for versatility and durability. One of the most popular perennials, daylilies have become a collector plant for novice and experienced gardeners alike.  Read More

Shade Gardening With Perennials

Many gardeners with shady, low-light landscapes mistakenly believe they can't enjoy beautiful gardens and flowerbeds because of the lack of sunlight. In reality, however, many stunning perennials thrive in shady spots and can bring elegance, color and beauty to what was formerly a drab corner of the yard.  Read More

Vegetable Gardening Tidbits

Are you ready to make the most of your vegetable garden? Try these tips and tidbits for everything from easier weeding to stopping pests to enjoying a hearty harvest!  Read More

Think Outside the Window Box

Do you want to add more plants to your yard but think you're out of space for any more gardening? No matter how large or small your outdoor living area, no matter what types of plants you favor, you can always find the space for a new garden when it's housed in a container – and that container doesn't have to be the same old window box or boring planter  Read More

A Taste of the Tropics

It only takes a few plants to cast a tropical look upon a garden. Although our gardening zone here isn't strictly tropical, it's still possible to include some tropical and tropical-looking plants in our landscapes to create a lush summer oasis that hints at a vibrant paradise.  Read More

Goji Berry (Wolfberry)

Touted by some as the "fruit from the fountain of youth" because of its high antioxidant, carotene and essential amino acids content, the goji berry, also creates a large sensation in the garden.  Read More