Garden Design

How you manage garden pests and diseases is a personal choice, and there are many management philosophies. Two of the most common methodologies are integrated pest management (IPM) and organic pest management. IPM was developed in the 1970s as a response to conventional gardening practices that relied heavily on pesticides. In contrast to those practices,

It’s that time of year again! The much-anticipated listener question and answer episode. Carol and Danielle look forward to this special episode (sometimes TWO episodes) because it allows them to offer real-life advice for the plant and garden design issues that are troubling all of you out there in the podcast universe. This time, we

Today we’re visiting Carla Z. Mudry in Malvern, Pennsylvania. Carla is sharing the profusion of flowers she enjoyed in her garden in July. July means even more flowers! And I must admit that I am loving the flowers this year, even if everything is on its own weird schedule thanks to the weather. It’s all

We’re visiting with Lilli Hazard today in southern Indiana. This past May we moved to a little cottage nestled in the hills of the Hoosier National Forest (Zone 6a). Our home is surrounded by huge native trees and is built into a slope where the driveway is higher than the house. The prior owner/builder landscaped

Vicki is sharing her garden with us today. I have been gardening in this location in Illinois for 10 years. I have a variety of flowers, dragonwing begonias, bee balm, hostas, phlox, and balloon flowers. I have had trouble this year with deer eating hostas. I do all the planting, and my husband does the

My name is Stephanie Stewart, and I live in Averill Park, New York. Lately I’ve seen a lot about coneflowers (Echinacea species and hybrids, Zones 4–9) and I’m not surprised! They add color and texture and height to my gardens—and they are so easy to care for. Mine range in color from whites, to pinks,

Today we’re off to the Mohawk Valley in central New York State to visit Lee’s beautiful garden. It’s midsummer, and I do believe we have a “bloomfest”! At times I’ve seen easily over 300 blooms at once. We’re heading toward the peak, with many buds remaining and the phlox and Maximilian sunflowers yet to start

Our names are Jonny and April, and we are from Barnsley in the north of England. We recently moved into a brand-new property with a rectangle of grass for a garden. Over the last five months we have transformed the garden into the beginnings of a tropical paradise, the main feature being the pondless waterfall.

We’re in Rotterdam, New York, visiting with Maxine Brisport today. My daily walk through the garden has become a ritual. I absolutely enjoy gazing at the colors and softly inhaling the aroma from the varied flowers. However, the most pleasing and enjoyable moments are derived from watching the variety of butterflies, bees, birds and other

Gardeners are observant, and when a favorite plant is struggling, we tend to take notice. Knowing how to respond, however, is another matter entirely. Some folks head to the garden center looking for a cure-all, determined to spray first and ask questions later. But a gardener who invests just a little time to observe the

My name is Rajini. I am from Bangalore, India. I have a terrace garden and would like to share these pictures. These plants are called rain lilies (Zephyranthes, Zones 7–10) because they tend to bloom throughout the summer, putting out a new flush of blooms after each rainstorm. This corner of Rajini’s terrace garden contains

Today we’re in Springfield, Ohio, visiting with Bryan Bailey. I bought a new house five years ago, and all the garden beds were covered in 20-year-old ivy (Hedera helix, Zones 4–9). I had never gardened before, so I took to the library, YouTube, and garden center employees to make it happen. Over the past four

My name is John Rohde. My garden is located 15 miles north of Baltimore in Towson, Maryland, in Zone 7b. This is the second full year for this pandemic garden. I enjoy mixing annuals and perennials with trees and tropicals in containers. There is a water feature, tubs of lotus, a patio, and a vegetable

This three-pointed trowel doubles as a garden fork Tested by Marti Neely, FAPLD A tough trowel is a valued friend for every gardener. I was delighted to discover the DeWit tulip trowel and add it to my collection of favorites. The 4½-inch-long head is made from boron steel that has been heat-treated for strength, and

Each morning my partner, Steve, and I head up to our rooftop to greet the bees as they begin their days’ work. After all, time is honey. While I sometimes struggle to spend 15 minutes saying my morning hello before heading off to work, the pollinators are always up there, rain or shine, all day

We’re visiting Kristen Rembold’s beautiful garden today. Hello! It’s 90°F here in Virginia, and the gardens are lush and brilliant. Three of my grandchildren are spending July with us, and they delight in looking for insects, harvesting vegetables, and cutting flowers for table centerpieces. Afterward, we cool down in the pool. I garden on an

Quirky, collectible, and water-wise, succulents will add eye-catching texture to any garden bed or container display. There are some succulents that are cold hardy, while others will need to be brought indoors for the winter in colder regions. Join Danielle, Carol and guest Amanda Thomsen as they share some of their favorite succulents, including a

These seven tough pollinator plants can take wind, heat, full sun, and extremely well-drained soil without much supplemental water. In An Urban Rooftop Garden for Pollinators, Hayden Regina writes: “Standouts such as calamint (Calamintha nepeta subsp. nepeta, Zones 5–7), ‘Onyx and Pearls’ penstemon (Penstemon digitalis ‘Onyx and Pearls’, Zones 3–8), and ‘Drops of Jupiter’ oregano (Origanum ‘Drops of Jupiter’, Zones

My name is Heather, and my husband and I garden in Macon, Georgia. We moved into our historic home 13 years ago, and we set to work creating a cottage-style landscape that would allow us to grow vegetables, enjoy cut flowers, and still provide plenty of space for our young children. About five years ago,

Until recently, if you wanted to add a little fire to your food, you didn’t have many choices. You could grind black peppercorns over your plate or shake on some dried red chile flakes. If you were really adventurous, you could give your food a couple of squirts of Tabasco. But the pickings were pretty