Plants

White orchids are some of the most elegant flowers in the plant world. Their pure, glowing blooms appear at weddings, in hotel lobbies and on windowsills, and many are also strongly fragrant. In the wild, white color often signals a flower that blooms or releases its scent at night to attract moths. They belong to … Read more

The best mulch for a vegetable garden keeps soil moist, smothers weeds, steadies soil temperature and keeps fruit clean. Mulch is any material spread over the soil around crops, from straw and shredded leaves to compost, paper and plastic film. In a vegetable garden it also stops rain from splashing soil, and the disease spores … Read more

Persimmons are sweet, honey-flavored fruits that ripen in fall, usually after most other tree fruits are finished. They range from small, wild American fruits the size of a cherry tomato to large Asian fruits as big as a softball. Botanically they are berries, and most have glossy orange skin and a leafy green cap called … Read more

The best mulch for flower beds keeps soil moist, holds down weeds, protects roots from heat and cold, and gives beds a neat, finished look. Mulch is any material spread over the soil surface, from shredded bark and pine straw to compost, leaves and stone. Organic mulches also break down over time and feed the … Read more

Kale is a leafy green in the cabbage family that never forms a head. It grows as a loose rosette of leaves on a central stalk, and those leaves can be curly, flat, frilly, bumpy, blue-green, deep purple or nearly black. It is closely related to cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and collards, which were … Read more

Bamboo is a giant, woody member of the grass family. The University of Florida counts about 1,400 bamboo species in 115 genera worldwide. They range from ankle-high groundcovers to tropical giants taller than a 10-story building. Bamboo is famous for its speed. It is often called the fastest-growing woody plant, and some large species can … Read more

Fruits with green flesh can be surprisingly diverse. Some have green skin and green flesh, while others have brown, yellow, red, or even purple skin that hides a vivid green interior. The green color may appear throughout the flesh or be concentrated around the seeds, core, or central cavity. Fruits such as kiwifruit, avocado, guava, … Read more

Shrubs with yellow berries are mostly accidents of nature that gardeners decided to keep. About 4 out of 5 of the plants on this list are yellow-fruited forms of shrubs that normally bear red berries. Each began as a single odd branch or seedling that lacked red pigment. That missing pigment turns out to be … Read more

Shrubs with red berries are the most common fruiting shrubs in American yards, hedgerows, and woodlands, and that is no accident. Birds spread most shrub seeds, and birds see red sharply against green leaves. Over time, red became the standard signal that fruit is ready. That signal was never meant for people. A red berry … Read more

Shrubs with pink berries are far harder to find than shrubs with red, black, or blue ones, which is exactly why they stand out in a fall garden. Pink is one of the rarest fruit colors in the plant world. A hedge or border that carries it draws attention from October well into winter. Part … Read more