Gardening
A dozen fresh-picked holiday gift ideas for gardeners
The best holiday gifts for gardeners will sow the seeds of anticipation for greener days ahead, and spread a little sunshine in the off season.
How to grow your cup of coffee, indoors
It takes the proper care and a heap of patience. But you can grow coffee inside, at home. Probably only enough for a cup or two.
Rose hips’ seedpods provide a pop of color in the fall and winter garden
The rose has long been revered for its fragrance and beauty. But less lauded are the orange and red hips, or seedpods, that form after the flowers fade.
Plan now for a dahlia garden next year, and don’t be intimidated
Dahlias have an intimidating reputation. Beautiful and cheerful, they do require a planting, staking, digging up and storing-over-the-winter routine.
How to help migrating hummingbirds and see their antics up close
Most of the hummingbirds that visited our gardens over the summer are now on their way to winter homes in Central America.
Easy houseplants for neglectful gardeners
The biggest hurdle in caring for a houseplant is often remembering not to neglect it. So, especially if you’re a houseplant novice, bring home a low-maintenance, happy-go-lucky variety.
The mutant tomatoes are here, and they come in peace
It’s that time of year, when some gardeners discover they have a tomato plant that produces mutants. Many look like Squidward. Others are horned.
It’s time to celebrate annuals, the type of loyal friend every gardener can use
Summer annuals are the champions of the late-season garden. True annuals, like zinnias and marigolds, are plants that complete their entire life cycles in one year.
Invasive and ubiquitous, English ivy can hurt trees and plants. Removing it isn’t easy
English ivy might look handsome with its heavy, woody vines and dark-green, waxy leaves. But it’s classified as an invasive species in many parts of the U.S.
Some plants are more flammable than others. How gardeners can reduce the risks
The deadly wildfires in Hawaii this month were fueled in part by plants, in particular invasive grasses.
Rabbits and deer and voles, oh my! What’s eating your garden?
Nature is a beautiful thing, but sometimes it can wreak havoc on a garden. Insects and wildlife have to eat, of course, and when we lay out a veritable buffet, who can blame them for gorging?
The right plants and some TLC can help your garden get through the heat
The record-breaking heat that’s striking many places around the country and the world is doing a number on gardens.
Where flooding has become more frequent, here’s how gardeners can respond
Atmospheric scientists say extreme rainfall is more frequent now, and many parts of the world have seen flooding this summer. What does that mean for plants and gardens?
In Ashland, a new house, an old watch and a mystery solved
ASHLAND, Va. (AP) — As work was getting underway at a new home site in Ashland, Hanover and King William Habitat for Humanity construction manager Jeff Ell thought to himself he ought to go over the property with his metal detector.
Are ants harmful to the garden? Usually not
Ants are common in the garden, possibly even swarms of them. But are the tiny little insects harmful to our plants? The general answer is no.
Catch garden pests and diseases early by keeping a close eye on your plants
Every day brings changes to the summer garden. Usually those are pleasant. But other times a plant that looked fine yesterday has pests or spots on it today.
The unsung pawpaw is a delicious, low-maintenance, native N. American fruit tree
Looking to plant something unusual, easy to grow and exotically delicious? Meet the pawpaw tree. This sadly underused fruit tree is sometimes known as Hoosier banana, poor man’s banana and false banana.
If you grow your own cutting garden, you’ll have beautiful flower bouquets all season long
If you grow your own cutting garden, you can have beautiful flower bouquets all season long. Almost every flower can be cut and enjoyed indoors.
How you water the garden can save you money, gallons and your plants, too
If you water your garden right, you can save water and money and make plants healthier. Watering with a hose allows you to direct water precisely where you need it, above the roots.
Your garden doesn’t like the wildfires, either. Here’s how to help plants handle smoke and ash
Smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada drove down air quality across swaths of the Eastern U.S. this week, a problem all too familiar in many Western states.
June is rhubarb picking time in the garden, so pucker up
Years ago, when my now-grown daughter Justine was a toddler, we visited a U-pick farm where she plucked plump, ripe strawberries from a field of sprawling plants.
Flower power and diplomacy: Versailles perfume gardens transport public back in time
VERSAILLES, France (AP) — The Versailles flower gardens were once a symbol of the French king’s expeditionary might and helped water-deprived courtiers perfume their skin.
How to plant a container like the pros do
Have you ever gone to the grocery store for, say, milk, and left with a cartful of impulse buys? Well, I visited a couple of nurseries last week in search of one specific plant and left with nearly everything except that plant, which both retailers had sold out.
Tips for growing herbs (you don’t even need a garden)
You don’t even need a garden.
Don’t stress your plants when transferring them from indoors to an outdoor garden
It’s prime planting time in many regions, and gardeners are flocking to garden centers for annuals, and herb and vegetablestarter plants.
When planting a meadow, heed conditions in your garden, yard
Wildflower meadows have been growing in popularity among gardeners, and for good reason. They’re low-maintenance and drought-tolerant, provide food for birds, wildlife, pollinators and other insects, and they’re pretty.
Gardening help in the palm of your hand: 5 apps, phone tips
You’re in your garden and notice a beautiful, new-to-you flower that has popped up somewhere unexpected — pull it or leave it?
Itching to start spring garden cleanup? Not so fast!
When the blare of the year’s first leaf blower awakened me one morning last week, I realized spring cleanup had commenced -- no matter that March could still roar like a lion here in my Long Island, New York, neighborhood.
At the Philadelphia Flower Show, display gardens bloom
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Upon entering the Philadelphia Flower Show space at the Pennsylvania Convention Center last week, I was entranced by a forest of stunning orchids suspended from the ceiling above the color-changing entrance garden.
For gardeners, botanical Latin is a language worth learning
If you’ve been thumbing through a gardening catalog or shopping at a nursery, you’ve likely noticed two names assigned to each plant, a common name and a botanical name, the latter of which might read like a sort of pretentious, unpronounceable gibberish.
Bigger, better, tougher? A look at 2023’s new garden plants
Most gardeners have favorite go-to plants that perform well in their climate and simply make them happy.