Plants

There is something undeniably compelling about a large flower. Where small blooms create texture and mood, a large flower commands attention — stopping the eye, drawing the visitor closer, and making a statement in the border that smaller plants simply cannot replicate. The perennials that produce truly large flowers are among the most celebrated and … Read more

Clay soil has a well-earned reputation for being one of the most challenging growing mediums a gardener or landscaper can encounter. It drains poorly, compacts easily, bakes hard in summer heat, and turns into a sticky, waterlogged morass after heavy rain. Roots struggle to penetrate it, and many plants simply drown in the anaerobic conditions … Read more

June is one of the finest months in the gardening calendar for planting flowers. The soil is warm, the days are long, and the conditions are ideal for a wide variety of annuals, perennials, and bulbs to take root and flourish. Whether you are filling a formal flower bed, adding color to a cottage garden, … Read more

Purple is the colour of dusk and dawn, of wildflower meadows and ancient walled gardens. It carries a quality of richness that is difficult to achieve with any other colour in the garden — and yet, paradoxically, many of the plants that produce it most abundantly are modest, ground-hugging species that ask for little in … Read more

Few gardening problems are as persistent — or as soul-draining — as weeds. They muscle their way into every bare patch of soil, robbing your cultivated plants of water, nutrients, and light. But there is a smarter strategy than perpetual hand-pulling: let plants fight plants. Ground covers are low-growing plants that spread deliberately, creating a … Read more

Shade is one of the most common challenges in garden design, and one of the most frequently misunderstood. Many gardeners treat shaded areas as problem spaces — awkward corners beneath mature trees, the north-facing side of a house, the strip of ground between a fence and an overhanging boundary hedge — as though the absence … Read more

May is the most important planting month of the year for vegetable and flower gardeners across a large portion of the United States. It is the month when winter’s grip has finally released in most regions, soil temperatures have risen enough to support strong germination and root development, and the growing season stretches ahead with … Read more

May is one of the most productive and satisfying months in the entire gardening calendar for getting plants into the ground. The soil has warmed after winter, the days are long and full of light, and the risk of damaging late frosts — while not entirely gone in the first weeks of the month — … Read more

May is one of the most exciting months in the kitchen garden. After the slow, careful work of early spring — the seed sowing, the waiting, the anxiety over late frosts — the garden suddenly begins to deliver on its promises. Growth accelerates, beds fill out, and the first proper harvests of the year begin … Read more

May is one of the most anticipatory months in the fruit grower’s calendar. The trees are in blossom, the canes and bushes are leafing out with fresh green growth, and the first tentative fruits of the year are beginning to form from the flowers that have been steadily opening through the warm days of late … Read more