My name is Ginny McNally, I’m from Hatboro, Pennsylvania. I’d been gardening on a small scale for about 40 years. At first I had a vegetable garden, grew all sorts of things. Then our trees started to take a lot of the sunshine away, so the vegetable garden was filled in. My husband and I
Garden Design
Today we’re in North Carolina visiting with Bob and Linda Hatcher, sharing scenes of their beautiful, naturalistic garden. We have a small pond (3/4 acre) and a stone patio on the edge with a boat whose job is just to look like a boat for pictures. The purple iris was probably brought in by birds.
Right about now you might be asking yourself, “What exactly is a workhorse plant?” In our minds it is a plant that asks little from us, but delivers a whole lot to the garden. These are tough plants, capable of fitting into an array of spots, and have multiple seasons of interest. They aren’t the
Today’s photos are from Joyce Laubach. I am a Florida Master Gardener, gardening at my own home and as an active community volunteer in Punta Gorda, located on the Gulf Coast in southwestern Florida. My last submission to the GPOD (Planting a Public Garden in Florida) described the creation of a succulent bed in our
Today we’re looking at photos of Alana’s garden. I bought my house in Columbus, Ohio, a little less than five years ago. Before that, I gardened as a teenager at the house I grew up in and later in rental properties. The photos show my yard, which is now starting to come into its own.
Today we’re headed all the way to Singapore, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, to visit a garden that provides beauty and solace to a community. We find our gardening hobby very enjoyable, and it helps to reduce our stress while also giving us opportunities to interact with nearby residents to
Today we’re looking at photos sent in by Reneé Clermont in Edgartown, Massachusetts, whose company Second Nature Designs does landscape design and gardening work. I love the over-the-top color of this container planting, with tall salvias that look like Salvia ‘Wendy’s Wish’ (Zones 9–11 or as an annual) and Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’ (Zones
When I think of black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia spp. and cvs., Zones 3–9), my mind conjures up images of the gold rush of the late 1800s, with covered wagons racing across the United States. When the prospectors reached the Great Plains, they must have been entranced upon seeing fields and meadows filled with these golden flowers.
If a flower were to bloom only once a year, shouldn’t it be unique, captivating, and groundbreaking in many ways? I would like to introduce you to an exciting breakthrough in flower breeding: an exceptional, fascinating lily developed in the Netherlands called ‘Zeba’. As each summer passes, I’m impressed by its vigor and hardiness and
Today’s photos are from Angela Jobe. I’ve got my 200th issue of Fine Gardening in front of me, looking at Garden Photo of the Day. I don’t know why I’ve never submitted anything before. I guess I just didn’t think you’d be interested. But things are different now. I’ve been collecting dirt under my nails
Elephant’s ear is known for its big, bold foliage. Newer cultivars tend to focus on darker colors or splashy patterns to grab attention. ‘Pharaoh’s Mask’ doesn’t need any of that to catch your eye. It merely sports huge, glossy, Hulk-green leaves with extremely prominent purple veins. Always a focal point, ‘Pharaoh’s Mask’ can add either
My name is Kathleen Shelman, and I have been gardening for more than 30 years on an acre outside of Portland, Oregon. We are in the foothills of the Cascades, so we get quite a bit of rain, which makes for many gray days. Also, many of the trees I planted years ago have (surprise)
Vegetables (and some fruits) are some of the easiest plants to start from seed. And that’s a good thing, since a lot of us want to grow veggies from seed before any other kind of plant. Many edibles can be sown directly into the garden without much fuss, but others need a bit more attention
If you’ve ever struggled through a dry summer with a hose in one hand and a watering can in the other, desperately trying to keep up so that your plants don’t wilt, you’ll be relieved to know that there are other options. A drip-irrigation system or soaker hoses will help you save both water and
Calling all hummingbirds! Indian pink (Spigelia marilandica, Zones 5–9), also called pinkroot, blooms all across the Southern Plains in late spring and early summer. Perhaps one of our showiest native perennials, Indian pink produces scores of vivid red and yellow blooms in late spring right after the ephemerals have finished blooming. The tubular flowers open
Today Jay Sifford, an award-winning landscape designer in North Carolina, is sharing his home garden. For the past two years, I’ve been realizing a dream that I’ve had since childhood: a mountain home and garden. I fell in love with western North Carolina and bought property at 3,300 feet, just two hours from my weekday
Do you ever find yourself recommending the same handful of plants to friends and neighbors? We do. These might not being the splashiest of plants, or even the ones that you’d base an entire design around. But, these are fantastic herbaceous perennials—the meat and potatoes of the garden. To make things even more interesting, we
Some of us veggie gardeners are blessed with several acres, but some of us have smaller yards to work with. Some of us may even be limited to just a tiny patio or balcony. There’s no need to despair, though; there are many fabulous veggie varieties that will produce bountifully even in the smallest of
My name is Kerry and I live in Portland, Oregon. When I moved into my home eight years ago, the small side yards consisted of concrete and a chain-link fence. Over time, my husband and I replaced the fence and added green. We love our small garden! A world of difference in this small space!
I am Rich from Philadelphia. I am sharing some images from the gardens of our 1812 Federal-style townhouse. There is a front yard, which is located in the middle of a 10-plus block business district, and a “backyard,” most of which runs parallel to our home. I have endeavored to create a series of garden