Plants Are you looking for some container gardening ideas to test out this season? There are plenty to try, depending on your climate! In this article, certified master gardener Laura Elsner takes a deeper look at her favorite container arrangements you can try this season! By Laura Elsner Last updated: December 22, 2022 | 19 min read Planning and planting your container garden can be one of the most fun exercises a gardener can experience....

Even if you aren’t trying to make a beautiful arrangement, thornless (or nearly prickle-free) roses are perfect for planting along walkways or in other high-traffic areas. I know, I know. The song says that “every rose has its thorn.” But does it really? Breeders have been working for a long time to make roses that don’t shred your arm to pieces when you walk by or go out to take a stem or two for an arrangement....

Clematis is an attractive deciduous vine that can be grown in home gardens and backyards. The genus includes evergreen and herbaceous varieties, with multiple colors, forms, and flowering seasons, though most of the plant flowers between early spring and fall. Here are some of the best Types of Clematis you should grow! Check out our article on growing Clematis in pots here Types of Clematis Clematis plants are divided into three basic groups....

They withstand heat, drought, and even salty air to thrive in USDA Hardiness Zones 8-10, or even 11, as outdoor plants – and bloom and bloom again while they’re doing it. You know the phrase, “an iron fist in the velvet glove”? Scholars like to quibble over who uttered it first, with Napoleon as the leading candidate. Me, I’d argue only that they could have been talking about oleander when they said it....

6 tips for attracting more bees and pollinators: Learn to identify native bees. North America is home to nearly 4,000 species of native bees, and they too are fast becoming victims of pesticide exposure, diseases, and habitat loss. Most native bees are solitary, rather than living in large colonies like European honeybees, and they are often more efficient pollinators. 250 female orchard mason bees can pollinate an acre of apple trees, a task that requires 15,000 to 20,000 European honeybees....

If you’ve ever been down the mulch aisle at your local garden center, you know that there’s an overwhelming amount of options to choose from. But did you know that many types of common landscaping mulches are not good to use in your vegetable plot? When it comes to mulching a vegetable garden, it’s very important to choose the right type of mulch. Don’t worry, there are tons of wonderful vegetable garden mulches to choose from....

When thinking of ways to improve your soil, most people wouldn’t think of planting additional crops, let alone one that you wouldn’t normally eat! However, planting a clover cover crop is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways of rehabilitating your soil. Table of Contents Clover is related to other legumes like peas, beans, and peanuts, and is most commonly found in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere but can also be seen in South America and Africa where it occurs in a wide variety of biomes ranging from high-altitude mountains down to the coastal plain....

By Erin Marissa Russell As you’re shopping for tomato seeds or reading about how to care for different types of tomatoes in your garden, you’ll often see different instructions in seed catalogs for determinate and indeterminate tomato varieties. As these terms aren’t defined every time they’re used, you may have been left wondering just what they mean. We’re ready to dive in and solve the mystery of the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes....

I’d like to encourage you to ask more from your lettuce in the cool months, but only after giving it what it needs to resist frost or survive light freezes. Growing lettuce is a lot like getting along with people. You want to be careful not to expect too much, without expecting too little, either. Some gardeners want this cool-season vegetable to keep producing in hot weather, for example, and that’s just not possible....

Pumpkins make a great beginner gardener crop as they’re easy to grow, and prolific producers when given enough space to sprawl. They make a great choice for a parkway or devil’s strip where you may want to suppress weeds, but not invest a lot of time tending to the landscape. They can also be planted on the edge of the garden or corner of a raised bed and allowed to trail over the side freely....

Did you know one tomato plant should yield between 20 to 30 pounds of fruit? So, how do your plants stack up against that figure? Often, your yields will drop but you just can’t put your finger on the cause. And it can be frustrating when your tomato plant simply won’t set fruit. We know the feeling. But, there are two paths you can take. Ignore the problem with your tomatoes and do nothing....

To make things worse, there are many different strains of Botrytis, and most of them are resistant to at least one fungicide, if not more. Botrytis cinerea Gray mold, also known as Botrytis fruit rot or Botrytis flower rot, is one of the most difficult strawberry pathogens to control if the environmental conditions are right for infection. Unfortunately, the fungus that causes this disease, Botrytis cinerea, is very common in strawberries throughout the world....

In this article, you will learn how to grow and care for columbine. Aquilegia Columbine, or Aquilegia, is an intriguing member of the Ranunculaceae family with exquisite petals that give it an ephemeral quality, like a briefly glimpsed hummingbird. It is an herbaceous perennial that blooms from spring to summer in USDA Hardiness Zones 3 to 9. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

by Jennifer Poindexter If you’re growing a shaded garden, you must consider how to grow astilbe. This is a gorgeous flower which comes in a variety of colors and sizes. Plus, it’s a perennial flower. Therefore, you plant it one time, and it can provide beauty for years to come. If you’re interested in adding unique beauty to your landscape, you’ve come to the right place. I’m going to walk you through all you must know to grow astilbe around your home....

This shrubby, upright, sprawly, succulent-like plant has as many aliases as it does forms: You may know it as upright myrtle spurge, silver spurge, gopher spurge, or even milkweed. Euphorbia biglandulosa Unlike its rather dull brown rodent namesake, gopher plant is beautifully colored, impressing with distinctive gray-blue, lance-shaped leaves, chartreuse bracts, and bright yellow springtime flowers. Gopher plant (Euphorbia rigida) is native to the Mediterranean and the Middle East, where it is considered a weed....

Some species produce sticky, sweet honeydew which can further lead to sooty mold and ant infestations, causing additional harm in the garden. Scale is an umbrella term used to identify nearly 8,000 varieties of wingless, sucking insect species in the order Hemiptera. One of the more common garden pests, these minute organisms feed on the bark, fruit, and leaves of perennial trees and shrubs using their tiny, straw-like mouthparts. Different species suck different fluids from the plant, ultimately resulting in the slow depletion of vital plant nutrients....

I’ve seen more fuchsias killed by inappropriate watering than anything else, so if you want to succeed at growing these gorgeous plants, the most important thing to nail is irrigation. There’s no denying it: fuchsias are fussy when it comes to water. Too little and they’ll wilt in a heap. Too much and they’ll drown. There isn’t a lot of wiggle room in between. If you happen to live in a mild climate with lots of rain, raising fuchsias will be relatively easy for you, since that’s the kind of environment these plants thrive in natively....

by Jennifer Poindexter Have you recently started growing succulents? They’re becoming quite trendy. Yet, one of the things gardeners want to know is how much sunlight do succulents really need? There’s a fine balance when applying sunlight to succulents. Lighting needs also vary by the type of succulent. If you’d like to learn more about caring for your succulent plants, you’ve come to the right place. I’m going to walk you through what you need to know to ensure your succulents receive enough sunlight without overdoing it....

Mushroom compost is a wonderful addition to your gardening efforts. A great soil builder, it’s also really useful for keeping the soil moist, and it helps to break down dense clay. Table of Contents But what is mushroom compost? How do you use it? Can you make it yourself? Let’s answer these questions and more! What Is Mushroom Compost? When you buy a bag of mushroom compost to use in the garden, it just identifies it as mushroom compost, or sometimes mushroom soil....

Are you interested in growing a tropical fruit tree, but you can’t commit to 20 years of care? Well, look no further than the papaya tree. Papaya trees produce nutritious papaya fruit and have a relatively short lifespan. They’re easy to grow in containers, too! We recommend Air Pots for growing trees. Table of Contents I don’t know about you, but I adore papaya fruit. It’s something I spring for when it comes to improving digestion, and it’s so good fresh....