Choosing a tree for a small garden can be surprisingly difficult. A young tree may look perfectly manageable when you bring it home from the nursery, but trees are long-term additions to the landscape, and their mature height, width, root space, and overall shape matter far more than their size on planting day. The right … Read more

Double daffodils have a way of making you stop and look twice. Instead of the familiar arrangement of six outer petals surrounding a single trumpet or cup, these flowers are packed with extra petals, folded segments, or doubled corona parts that give them a fuller, almost rose-like appearance. Some look neat and rounded, while others … Read more

Large-cupped daffodils are some of the flowers I find easiest to appreciate in a spring garden. They have the familiar six-petaled daffodil shape, but the central cup is noticeably larger than you see on small-cupped varieties, giving each flower a more substantial and almost perfectly balanced appearance. When several are planted together, the flowers create … Read more

There is something especially satisfying about seeing trumpet daffodils open in early spring. I have always thought they have a little more presence than many of the smaller daffodils. The flowers seem to stand up and announce themselves, with broad petals surrounding a long central trumpet that catches the light even from a distance. When … Read more

Cypress trees are easy to recognize once you have spent enough time around them, but identifying the different species is another matter entirely. I have always found it interesting how two cypress trees can share that familiar evergreen appearance while looking remarkably different up close. One may have a tall, narrow crown that seems almost … Read more

The first time you see a well-established weeping evergreen in a garden, it is hard not to stop and look at it. Instead of the familiar upright shape of most conifers, its branches spill downward, sweep toward the ground, or form a graceful curtain of foliage. Having seen how differently these trees develop as they … Read more

Gardening becomes much easier when you have the right tools for the job. Whether you are growing vegetables in a small backyard, maintaining flower beds, caring for fruit trees, or managing a large landscape, garden tools help you prepare the soil, plant seeds, control weeds, water plants, prune growth, and keep the garden tidy. Some … Read more

Mangoes are among the most diverse tropical fruits in the world. Although most mangoes belong to the same species, Mangifera indica, centuries of cultivation, natural variation, and selective breeding have produced hundreds of named varieties. These mangoes can differ considerably in size, shape, skin color, flesh texture, sweetness, aroma, fiber content, and ripening season. Some … Read more

The white poplar tree is one of the most visually striking members of the poplar family, instantly recognizable by the silvery-white undersides of its leaves that shimmer and flash whenever the wind moves through the canopy. Prized for over a century in North American landscapes for its fast growth and ornamental bark, the white poplar … Read more

Weeping hemlock is one of the most distinctive conifers available to American gardeners, prized less for size than for the way its branches spill and cascade in an irregular, almost liquid form. Unlike the stiff, upright silhouette most people associate with evergreens, weeping hemlock reads as something closer to a slow-motion waterfall frozen mid-fall, which … Read more