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By Erin Marissa Russell Are you looking for outdoor plants with the prettiest, most unique foliage? Get ready to be inspired by this list of the best outdoor foliage plants to grow. We’ve combed through all the options to present you with the plants that will beautify your garden with their striking foliage. With these plants, blossoms take a back seat to the eye-catching foliage. You won’t miss the flowers with the stunning foliage of these plants to admire....

But what happens if springtime comes and your bleeding hearts don’t bloom, or they produce just a few flowers? As a child, I was entranced by heart-shaped lockets. While I still think they’re neat as an adult, I tend to prefer plants over necklaces. One of my favorite types of flowers resembles a lady’s locket: bleeding hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis). These members of the poppy family, Papaveraceae, bear heart-shaped flowers on fleshy stems....

Once the vegetable growing season is officially over, it’s time to start getting your garden ready for winter. Cleaning out your vegetable garden in the fall will help to prevent disease and pest issues next season. Fall is also a great time to test and amend the soil, and to add winter mulch to your vegetable garden. Preparing Your Vegetable Garden For Winter Step-By-Step First I will give you the high-level steps for preparing your vegetable garden for winter....

Information Are the leaves on your camellia turning yellow this season? Unfortunately, there are a number of different reasons this can happen. In this article, gardening expert Melissa Strauss walks through why the leaves on your camellia may be turning yellow, and how to fix it! By Melissa Strauss Last updated: September 2, 2022 | 7 min read Camellias are a stunning fixture in many of the most noteworthy southern gardens....

Whether you are looking for inexpensive DIY help or something luxe for your manicured front lawn or intricate design, these Brick Pathway Ideas for Garden Design will help you add style to your space. Check out some eye-catching landscaping ideas here Brick Pathway Ideas for Garden Design 1. Brick Paving Down This is a classic idea to create a bricked pathway for you to choose from. You can add more style if you can experiment with different materials....

I did a little reading and discovered that all those seed pods that appear at the end of the summer open up and drop their seeds to the grass or garden below. If you want to start a rose of Sharon nursery, you’re in business. If you don’t, you’re going to be spending some time pulling up all those earnest little seedlings. (I mentioned this in a piece the Savvy Gardening team wrote about our garden blunders....

QUESTION: Do potato plants need a lot of sun? I want to make sure I have enough light to plant them in my garden. – Tom E ANSWER: The green parts of potato plants that grow above the ground need six hours of sunlight each day to thrive, but the tubers of the potato themselves (the part that we eat) needs to be protected from the sun’s rays. Potato tubers that are exposed to sunlight develop dangerous amounts of the toxic alkaloid solanine when they develop “eyes” and start to sprout....

QUESTION: Does pampas grass come back every year? -Frank L. ANSWER: Yes, pampas grass is a perennial plant. In the right conditions, pampas grass will grow from spring through fall and go dormant during the winter. Many people aren’t fond of this plant (as we’ll discuss a little later), but it brings back many great memories for me. When I was growing up in South Carolina, part of my driveway was lined with pampas grass....

Winter Gardening Tips Many people see the fall and winter as a time to close down the garden and wait until the spring to start up gardening activities again. However, there are plenty of things you can be done through the fall and winter months to continue enjoying the pleasures of gardening. Winter is an important period in the gardening season, more so than you’d think. While winter is in full swing, compost is continuing to decompose and get ready for use for the spring....

The herb savory is exactly as its name suggests, full of flavor, delicious, and tasty. This salty, spicy herb has been used in cooking and medicine since Roman times when it was used as a salt substitute to flavor food. It was also believed to be a potent aphrodisiac! Known by the Romans as the ‘Herb of Love’, its powers were believed to be so strong that monasteries in Europe banned growing savory, for fear the monks would become bewitched by its pungent aroma....

Question: How can I encourage my herbs to grow? Should I be pruning them? -David W. Answer: If your herb plants are healthy and thriving, and you want to encourage them to grow larger, there are two easy ways to go about it. (If your plants aren’t healthy, adjust their care requirements like sun, water, and soil needs first to get your herbs in good health before enacting either of these plants....

by Ruth Gulley Want to fight cabbage loopers? Fun Fact: Cabbage loopers are called “loopers” because they move like inchworms, making a “loop” as they bring their back body to meet the front. Loop loop loop. Not-So-Fun Fact: These little green caterpillars (soon to be egg-laying moths) will eat all the things in your garden if you aren’t careful. Well, nearly so. Yes, they are called “cabbage” loopers, and they do prefer plants in the cabbage family (broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts, collard greens, and other brassicas)....

If you’ve ever had a fruit fly problem, you know how frustrating it can be. Drosophila spp. Have you ever left a banana peel in the garbage or a kitchen cloth unwashed for a little too long, and clouds of irritating flies appear, seemingly out of nowhere? Or, have you been all excited for a fall raspberry harvest only to find the once perfect rubies damaged and turning sour on the canes?...

by Erin Marissa Russell When you raise hellebores, the last thing you want is to lose your carefully tended plants to disease midway through the growing season. That’s why we’ve prepared this guide that will arm you with the knowledge you need to recognize hellebore flower diseases early and take action to fight against them—and keep them out of your garden for good. Defend Your Hellebores Against Downy Mildew Fungus...

Gardeners, if you have not learned to compost for fertilization, fall is a perfect time to start. Why? To take advantage of all those fallen leaves, of course! Why Compost? Composting is an economical and environmentally-sound way to fertilize your soil. It makes for the richest growing soil available, as it is high in potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen. You are basically duplicating Mother Nature’s plan for the lushest forests and natural gardens....

by Jennifer Poindexter Houseplants are a great way to add natural beauty to your home. If you’re in the market for an indoor or outdoor plant, you should consider the peperomia obtusifolia. If the name is intimidating, it shouldn’t be. It’s the scientific name for the baby rubber plant. This plant is native to Southern Africa and thrives in the rainforest. It’s similar to a succulent and has vibrant foliage which can range from green to marbled with white and yellow....

This herb may be a heat loving annual, but it turns out that with a few simple considerations in mind, growing it is very doable – even at my home in Vermont! Cuminum cyminum Cumin, Cuminum cyminum, is probably my all time favorite culinary spice. Since I use it in just about everything that I cook, I am careful to make sure cumin seed is always in stock in my kitchen....

Herbs are just as easy to grow in containers as they are in the garden. So you can enjoy them growing near the kitchen for convenience, or placed around decks and patios. Container herb gardens are among the easiest and most rewarding of garden projects. A must-have for cooks, herbs add wonderful flavor and fragrance to cooked foods and salads. But they provide many more benefits that go beyond their use in cooking....

Nasturtiums are rich in many vitamins and minerals. Many people consider them weed, as they tend to be somewhat over-enthusiastic and spread quickly. If you plant them in a container you will have them fresh for culinary use. This way, you’ll be able to spare your garden from its notorious spread as well, by containing them in pots. Let’s see How to Grow Nasturtium in a Container! Botanical Name: Tropaeolum majus...

By Matt Gibson Okra, also known by the botanical name Abelmoschus esculentus or Hibiscus esculentus, and the nicknames lady fingers, or gumbo. Okra is a member of the Malvaceae, or mallow plant family, which also includes hibiscus, hollyhocks, and cotton. Okra plants can be traced back to ancient Egypt and Ethiopia, arriving in America in the 1600’s. Okra can be cultivated as an annual in all USDA zones, but it really thrives in climates where corn is grown, in the southern US states....