Plants

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

Cypress trees in Florida hold a level of ecological and historical significance that few other trees in the state can match, having formed some of the oldest and most iconic wetland forests found anywhere in the southeastern United States. Until 2012, Florida was home to The Senator, a bald cypress tree in Longwood estimated to … Read more

Most people picture a cherry tree the same way: white or pink blossoms floating above bright green leaves in early spring. Cherry trees with dark red leaves flip that image on its head, holding onto deep maroon, plum, and near-black foliage from the moment the leaves unfurl until they drop in autumn. Nurseries report that … Read more

A cherry tree with flowers is one of the most reliable ways to bring a dramatic, short-lived burst of color into a landscape, and the sheer variety available goes far beyond the handful of famous cultivars most people can name. Japan alone has cultivated and named several hundred distinct flowering cherry varieties over the centuries, … Read more

Cherry trees with low chill hours have opened up cherry growing to gardeners in places that were written off as impossible just a generation ago. Standard sweet cherries need between 700 and 1,200 hours of winter temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit to break dormancy and bloom properly, a threshold that rules out most of California’s … Read more