Garden Design

I’m Lizzi, and I live in Walla Walla, Washington. We moved here 2½ years ago from Portland, Oregon, where I had been gardening for 20 years. While my planting zone didn’t change too much, from 8b to 7a, it’s enough colder and drier here that many of my favorites wouldn’t make it. I made lots

Today Cherry Ong is taking us along to a garden she visited this spring. I had a serendipitous discovery when we visited Boundary Bay in Tsawassen, British Columbia, in a district called Southlands Tsawassen. There is a vibrant community garden there called Earthwise Gardens by Earthwise Society. Here’s more info on the farm and garden:

Today we’re visiting with Nicki Snoblin in Lake Bluff, Illinois. Greetings! Back in April you published an entry titled “Bob’s Japanese-Style Garden,” and I immediately thought of an area in my yard where I could use a similar approach. We had a wedge-shaped bed containing a large horse chestnut tree, bordered by a sidewalk and

Wayne Decker is inviting us into his railroad garden in Chubbuck, Idaho. We’ve visited before (Wayne’s Garden Railroad), and now he’e sharing how thing are looking as spring turns into summer. Here are my latest pictures for this year on my garden railroad. Things are starting to come back strong. My Irish moss lines the

Today we’re visiting John and Joanne’s garden in Abbotsford, British Columbia. In the 28 years we have owned our house we have chosen not to fence the back. It makes the yard look bigger and offers regular opportunities to chat with passersby on Stoney Creek Trail. The downside is that dogs that are supposed to

Today we’re in Maryland, visiting Mary Spencer’s garden. May is my favorite month of the year and is when my shade garden comes to life. I have lived here for 23 years and have taken out just a single rhododendron and added hundreds of plants. My love of hostas shows no evidence of waning. I

The grass is green, the birds are singing, and for our magazine editors that can only mean one thing: It’s time to plant our containers. This year the staff of Fine Gardening turned their favorite garden task into a friendly competition. They designed and planted up individual containers, filming the entire process for your viewing

The original title of this episode was, Big and Bold Plants for the Back of the Border. But between the length and the tongue-twister alliteration, we shorted it a bit for promotional purposes. However, on today’s program you’ll hear all about plants that really stand out in the last row of the garden choir. These

As we kiss spring goodbye and welcome in the new summer season, we want to take a moment to reflect on what has happened recently—and what is in the works—for Fine Gardening. While you might think now is the time when we kick back and enjoy a refreshing cocktail in our own gardens, you’d be

Today we’re visiting with Terry Karpen. My garden in Redding, Connecticut, is a study of interplay between the planned and the wild, the artistic and the practical, the ecologically sound and the aesthetically pleasing. Woodland shade perennial borders, in which the native trees and shrubs comprise the upper story, surround my log home, which is

Our 2,400-square-foot backyard vegetable garden is located in Los Angeles (Zone 10B). It is an edible garden of Eden that features over 100 heirloom varieties of vegetables, fruits, and herbs. We are growing many rare varieties that are listed in Slow Foods’ Ark of Taste living catalog of foods facing extinction. Additionally, we have planted

We visited Yvonne’s new Virginia garden (Yvonne’s New Garden in Virginia) on the GPOD before, and today she’s sharing more. I’m sending two sets of pictures—one for the woodland walk and the second for the Japanese-inspired garden. I’m especially proud of these sections, as I designed and planted them myself (with the exception of the

Barry Severn grows many wonderful plants in his garden outside Toronto. We’ve visited his garden before (Last Year in Barry’s Garden), and it is always a pleasure to see what he’s cultivating. The little annual Phacelia campanularia is native to California but thrives in gardens in many climates. I love the way Barry has zoomed in

As we gladly came to the end of a wild and wet winter, I was excited to see some of the best of the weird shade-loving plants coming up. The crazy thing about these plants is that they grow perfectly in our wet world. Most of these could never survive in the dry climates of

Spring’s arrival signifies new beginnings for gardeners. There’s a world of opportunity awaiting, and lots of work to be done as we race against the clock to finish all of our last-minute cutbacks and beat out the resurgence of weeds. Luckily, with these must-have garden tools by your side, you can accomplish all you set

Today Helen is taking us along on a visit to the beautiful J. C. Ralston Arboretum in Raleigh, North Carolina. There are absolutely stunning plantings there, and it is free. While crape myrtles are best known for their beautiful flowers, the cinnamon-colored bark on this Japanese crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia fauriei ‘Fantasy’, Zones 6–9) arguably is

Today we’re in southeastern Pennsylvania (Zone 6b) visiting Rhoda Molin’s beautiful spring garden. An arbor covered with the bright orange flowers of crossvine (Bignonia capreolata, Zones 5–9) welcomes you to explore the rest of the garden. Just visible in the foreground at the top is a single white bloom on a sweet bay magnolia (Magnolia

Eric Sternfels has shared pictures of Ned Wolf Park in Philadelphia before (A Garden Made by a Community), but he sent in these photos because he said it was clear that the May bloom bonanza needed documentation. He was clearly right! This park is lovingly maintained by local volunteer gardeners and is a marvelous space.

Today we’re visiting with Elaine Esposito. My love for gardening started over 60 years ago when my grandfather, who lived next door, had every variety of flower on his very small lot. He grew poppies, roses, irises, strawflowers, and so many perennials that I now I have in my gardens. My gardens started small but

We’ve visited Carla Zambelli Mudry’s garden in Malvern, Pennsylvania, several times, but today she’s sharing a focus on her container plants. It’s not all about what you put in your flower beds; it’s also about hanging baskets, planters, and pots. Often these are gardening alternatives that people with very little gardening space can do! I