Yellow leaves on a hibiscus are the plant’s way of raising a flag. In construction, yellow is the universal caution color, and the key facts about the yellow standard explain why equipment is painted to warn workers at a glance. A hibiscus sends the same kind of signal in reverse: when foliage shifts from deep […]
Deadheading keeps annuals and perennials blooming longer, but every flower reaches a point where the snips should go back in the drawer. Once a plant shifts energy from bloom production to seed development, cutting off spent flowers shortens the display and robs wildlife of winter food. Timing in the garden works like timing on a
Vinegar appears on almost every list of natural yard remedies because it is cheap, already in the pantry, and biodegradable. Gardeners use it as a weed killer, an ant deterrent, and a rust remover for tools, and all three uses work when the mixture is prepared correctly. The catch is that vinegar is not selective:
The dragon tree, Dracaena draco, is an evergreen succulent native to subtropical zones that grows outdoors in mild climates or indoors as a houseplant. In the landscape it develops a thick cylindrical trunk topped with rosettes of sword-shaped leaves, and the same silhouette carries over to container plants, which stay much shorter. The plant is
If you need shade for a patio, a play area, or the south side of a house, waiting a decade for a tree to fill in feels like forever. Fast-growing shade trees solve that problem by putting on a foot or more of height every year, so a bare yard can turn into a shaded
Brown leaves on a magnolia tree are one of the most common reasons gardeners reach for help, and the diagnosis usually takes less time than the worry suggests. The browning can come from frost, dry soil, nutrient shortages, or disease, and each cause leaves a slightly different pattern. Before any treatment, the tree’s type and
Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) is a deciduous shrub native to eastern North America that grows upright and fairly rounded. Its glossy, dark green leaves run 1 to 3 inches long and come in lanceolate or elliptical shapes. Clusters of small five-petaled white flowers open in spring, and purplish-black fruits about the size of blueberries appear
Korean spice viburnum (Viburnum carlesii) is a deciduous flowering shrub with a spreading, multi-stemmed habit and some of the most fragrant flowers in the spring garden. The oval leaves are dark green with serrated edges, and the blooms open from pink buds into rounded clusters of white flowers that carry a clove-like scent strong enough
Tomato transplants show up at garden centers every spring, but starting tomato seeds indoors opens up hundreds of varieties that nurseries never stock and costs a fraction of the price of ready-made six-packs. The project takes about five hours of hands-on time at an intermediate skill level, with roughly $40 in supplies for a modest
The last fertilization of the year does more than any single spring application. Cool-season grasses recover from summer stress, store carbohydrates in crowns, rhizomes, and stolons, and draw on those reserves for early green-up when soil temperatures rise. A late fall feeding also improves winter color, thickens rooting, and replenishes nutrients in depleted garden beds.
