Photo: Avenue (CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: Luvs2Garden (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Clematis, often called the queen of climbing plants, is beloved for its plate-sized, star-shaped flowers that bloom in nearly every color of the rainbow. It transforms fences, pergolas, and house walls into flowering works of art. The key to abundant blooms…
Photo: Acabashi (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: Bene16 (CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: Juan de Vojníkov (CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons) Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) has been a staple of European garden design for centuries. Whether shaped into a neat sphere, clipped into a precise hedge, or sculpted into an ornamental topiary, this evergreen…
Photo: Chrumps (CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: Agnes Monkelbaan (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma. (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) With its magnificent flower clusters in white, pink, red, purple, or yellow, rhododendron is one of the most spectacular flowering shrubs you can grow. For this Asian beauty to bloom abundantly…
Photo: Uoaei1 (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: Uoaei1 (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: Uoaei1 (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Ivy (Hedera helix) is perhaps the most versatile and toughest climbing plant for the home garden. With its evergreen leaves, it offers year-round privacy screening, provides valuable habitat for birds and insects, and thrives…
Photo: Photo (c)2007 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man) (GFDL 1.2, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: Photo by and (c)2007 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man) (GFDL 1.2, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: Basile Morin (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Hydrangeas (Hydrangea) are the undisputed queens of the summer garden. With their lush, mophead or lacecap flower clusters in white, pink, blue, purple, or green,…
Photo: C. E. Price (Public domain, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: David Howard (CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: Acabashi (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) The forsythia, often called golden bells, is one of the first heralds of spring in the garden with its bright yellow flowers. Before a single leaf appears, the shrub covers its branches…
Photo: Didier Descouens (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: Anna.Massini (CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus), also known as shrub hibiscus, brings a touch of tropical flair to the garden with its large, exotic-looking flowers. From July to October, new blooms open every day in white, pink, blue, or violet, often…
Photo: USDAgov (Public domain, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: USDAgov (Public domain, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: USDAgov (Public domain, Wikimedia Commons) Why Raised Beds Work Well for Lettuce Raised beds warm up faster than ground-level soil in spring, letting you sow lettuce earlier in the season, and their improved drainage suits lettuce’s shallow, easily waterlogged root system. Raised…
Photo: Shuvaev (CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: MtBotany (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: Dguendel (CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Nothing delivers pure blue quite like larkspur and delphinium, whose tall spires of densely packed flowers form the backbone of the classic English cottage border. The two names are often used loosely, but botanically…
Photo: GT1976 (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: GT1976 (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Photo: GT1976 (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) An Unfussy Shrub for Year-Round Interest Cotoneaster is a large and varied genus of shrubs ranging from prostrate, ground-hugging forms like Cotoneaster horizontalis to upright hedging types and small trees, making it one of…
