Garden Design

It has now been a full ten years since a mysterious disease affecting 10,000 containerized boxwood (Buxus spp. and cvs., Zones 5–9) shrubs in North Carolina and over 100,000 boxwoods in Connecticut was discovered. Since then, the disease has spread to all regions of the United States where boxwood is grown. Along the way, we

Today’s photos are from Cindi Jacobs. “Timing is everything” as the saying goes, and it was our time to release our home in Wayland, Massachusetts, after 24 wonderful years. While the home and gardens were beautiful and we raised our two children here, we decided to downsize and re-evaluate being full-time in New England. It’s

My name is Lynne Leslie, and I live on a hill (although my garden is on flat ground) in Wellington, New Zealand, which is termed the windiest city in the world, and for good reason. I have lived here for 43 years, taking on a new section consisting of rock, clay, and more rock! Thanks

My name is Angela O’Brien-Ruff, and I live in Seattle, Zone 8b. I have contributed to GPOD a couple of times over the last few years. (Check out her previous articles here, one and two.) We have thawed out from a nearly 8-inch snowfall that came at the end of December, and as I survey

Today Teresa Watkins is taking us to visit a very unusual garden. After Christmas, I was in Massachusetts to interview garden author Jana Milbocker for my radio show Better Lawns and Gardens. During the interview, Jana told us that we needed to visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum when we went into Boston. Despite the

Is there a better time of year than seed-ordering season? You may shop for seeds online, or perhaps you prefer the analog version (like us) of paper catalogs. Regardless, ordering and starting seeds is an act of defiance against the winter conditions outside. Starting seeds says, “Hey snow and ice–you don’t scare me! I know

Today we’re visiting with Yvonne Tsikata. My old garden was previously featured in GPOD. In 2017, we moved from that house to a new one. While sad to leave my old garden, I was excited at tripling my garden space and receiving the opportunity to start a new garden from scratch. Retiring a couple of

My name is James Rail, an American, who has been living in Gardaber, a suburb of Reykjavik, Iceland, for almost 60 years. Obviously, gardening conditions in Iceland are different with a short growing season, cool temperatures, and strong winds. Nevertheless, with the long daylight hours of summer, flowers and trees grow surprisingly well. As a

Today we’re visiting with Gail Bromer. For most of my life, I worked, renovated an antique farmhouse in Connecticut, and was a mom to our growing boys. I created small gardens that our neighbors could enjoy as they drove by, adding one or two shrubs a year and a smattering of perennials. I had neither

I’m Carol Verhake, and I garden in Berwyn, Pennsylvania (Zone 6b/7a). My 1.3-acre garden has evolved quite a bit in the over 20 years I’ve lived on the property. I’ve taken down many ash trees (Faxinus species) due to the ash borer threat and added many new beds. I have both shade and sun and

Is it snowing where you are? Here in the Northeast we’ve had a fairly mild winter so far. There has been snow, but not much of it. Temperatures have dropped into the single digits, but two days later we’ve been in the upper 40s. I know that might seem chilly to you Southerners, but for

Our readers have been asking for more regionally focused gardening content for decades, but the logistics and pressures of keeping our national magazine as applicable to as many readers as possible had long prevented us from providing as much regional content as we had wanted to for our subscribers. That all changed in 2019 when

Today we’re on the road with Colleen. We’ve visited her home garden before, but today she’s taking us along on a tropical vacation. I escaped my usual New York winter for a trip to South Florida and some glorious weather this month. I can’t help but think that I’ll go home and view my potted

My name is Kevin Kelly, and I have submitted photos of my 1/3-acre suburban garden in the past. It is now January, and we finally had our first snow. Over the years I have strived to create a four-season garden. I have added dwarf conifers to the garden beds as well as plants that have

Winter weather can be challenging for gardeners in the Northern Plains. However, we are still able to use cold-sensitive plants in our gardens if we take the necessary steps to protect them. Here are my techniques to ensuring my tender shrubs and perennials live to see another year. The tender buds and new growth of

Johanna Smith here in Aiken, South Carolina. (See a previous visit to Johanna’s garden here.) After weeks of rain and warm weather, winter has finally arrived. After checking our yard for damage after the latest wind and rain event, I realized again how much I love my winter garden. It always surprises, amazes, and almost

Today’s photos are from Barbara Owen in Wellesley, Massachusetts. I’ve been enjoying the submissions from many gardeners showing their “best in show” or “summer highlights.” As I reviewed my photos from the past gardening season, I was reminded of the surprises and lessons my garden had for me. Sargent cherry (Prunus sargentii, Zones 4–7) is

As Midwest gardeners look out onto our winter landscapes, thoughts of spring are constantly running through our heads. Splashes of color in winter gardens help keep us going until spring arrives. This color might be provided by colorful stems, ornamental bark, or perhaps colorful fruit on select woody plants. These fruits may prove essential as

What if you could have a garden that basically planted itself? The idea isn’t as far-fetched as you might think. Self-sowing plants are delightfully serendipitous plants that will happily disperse seed without any intervention from you. Yes, there are lots of plants out there that spread indiscriminately and obnoxiously–but those are not the ones we

A good friend of the GPOD, Cherry Ong, is taking us along on a visit to another public garden. It’s exciting to visit a new garden, and this one didn’t disappoint. The Gardens at HCP consists of 9 acres of demonstration gardens and 100 acres of a conservation park. The gardens were originally named the