Latest Gardening News
Serviceberry is a sadly underused native tree that helps wildlife and is worth planting
Winters were brutal throughout most of New England in Colonial America. It snowed a lot, often into spring, and there were no radiators (or antibiotics). Many settlers didn’t survive the season, but because the ground was frozen solid, the colonists couldn’t bury their dead in real time....
There are flowers too? Some plants prized for foliage surprise gardeners with late-season blooms
I’ve been taking Miguel, my 12-year-old Havanese, for 3,500-step walks around the neighborhood lately (and telling myself he’s the only one who can’t handle longer strolls). And now that the weather is cooling, I’m noticing that some of the plants we encounter along the way look nothing...
How to help your tropical plants survive the winter blues
Dreaming of a beach vacation? My guess is you’re picturing a palm tree. Fantasizing about life on a remote island? You’re probably envisioning a walk among birds of paradise, cannas and bananas. Nothing conjures up the feeling of the tropics like giant, lush-leaved plants, and if you live in...
Mexico City’s floating gardens have fed people for hundreds of years. Now they’re threatened
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Cassandra Garduño squinted in the sunlight, her pink boots smudged by dirt as she gazed out over her family's chinampa — one of the islands first built up by the Aztecs with fertile mud from the bottom of a lake that, later drained, would one day become Mexico City. ...
Planting bulbs? Here's how to protect them from critters and the cold
I planted my garlic last week, and after tucking the 30 plump cloves into their bed, my thoughts turned to protecting them from freezing temperatures and stealth animals that dig them up every year and leave them on the soil surface to mock me. So, this year, I laid bird netting over...
Consider the 'minor bulbs' — crocuses, snowdrops and more — when planting for spring
As the summer garden winds down, it’s time to think about spring flowers, and the best way to ramp them up would be to plant bulbs now. We’re all familiar with tulips, daffodils and hyacinths, the popular, colorful -- and omnipresent – harbingers of spring. But there’s a...
Fall cleanup in the garden doesn't mean what it used to
Cleaning up the garden — or “putting the garden to bed” — has traditionally been a fall endeavor. In recent years, however, as information about the migrating or hibernating habits of birds, pollinators and other beneficial wildlife has seeped into the mainstream, many gardeners are...
Summer vacation is over for houseplants, too. Time to repot them?
The best time to repot a houseplant is in spring, when its root system is actively growing and can quickly establish itself in its new home. But a fall repotting could be warranted if a plant has spent the summer outgrowing its container outdoors. Most species we consider houseplants...
Fall's the time to renovate your lawn. Here's how
If you’re growing cool-season grasses, like Kentucky or Canada bluegrass, ryegrass, or tall or fine fescues, and your lawn has been thinning, patchy or discolored, now is the time to do something about it. Those hardy turfgrasses, commonly used in Canada and the northern two-thirds...
Got pruning remorse? How to fill in those bare spaces
After 20 years of growth, some of the ever-widening, 40-foot-tall Leyland cypress trees running along my backyard property line are blocking the walkway. A simple trim is not an option because only the outermost foot or two of each branch is needled, and more than that would have to...
