The black walnut (Juglans nigra) is a native hardwood valued for its lumber, its edible nuts, and its size, but it is also one of the most misunderstood trees in the home landscape. It produces juglone, a chemical that suppresses the growth of many nearby plants, a trait that surprises gardeners who plant first and […]
The eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a slow-growing evergreen native to eastern North America, and despite the name it is a juniper, not a true cedar. It tolerates a wide range of soils, shrugs off heat and cold, and provides winter interest with blue berry-like cones and peeling bark. For homeowners who want a
Heliotropes (Heliotropium) are tender perennials in the borage family, Boraginaceae, a genus that holds roughly 325 species. The plant’s common name comes from the Greek words helios and tropos, meaning sun and to turn, because the flower clusters follow the sun across the sky during the day. Gardeners describe the scent differently depending on the
A home garden starts with decisions made before anything goes into the ground. Sun exposure, rainfall, soil quality, and the length of the growing season all determine which plants will thrive in a given yard. The quickest way to narrow those choices is to check the USDA plant hardiness zone map, which lists the average
Daylilies carry the garden through summer with a cascade of blooms, then turn ragged when the flowers fade. Blossoms dry into papery brown husks and stems stiffen into straw just in time for fall. Pruning changes how the garden looks and, to a smaller degree, how the plants perform next season. The fundamentals that guide
September feels like the end of the garden, but for fast-maturing vegetables it is a second opening day. Gardeners who missed the spring window can still sow carrots, radishes, lettuce, and beets and harvest before the hard freezes arrive. Cool nights actually improve flavor in many fall crops, and the pests that plague summer plantings
Companion planting arranges a garden so mutually beneficial plants grow next to one another, and it is the most common technique in edible gardens after basic crop rotation. Done well, it deters pests, balances soil nutrients, improves space efficiency, and raises yields. The question home gardeners ask every September is whether those benefits carry into
Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana) is a flowering succulent native to Madagascar that fills windowsills with clusters of red, pink, orange, yellow, or white blooms. The fleshy, scalloped leaves store water like any good succulent, which makes the plant forgiving between waterings. Its flowers appear in winter and early spring and hold their color for weeks, which
Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is one of the easiest houseplants to keep alive, which is why it shows up in offices, classrooms, and first apartments. This tropical vine from the Solomon Islands grows 12 to 18 inches each month, sending out trailing stems lined with heart-shaped leaves in green, white, yellow, or pale green variegation. It
September feels like the end of the garden year, but for spring color it is the starting line. Bulbs planted in early fall take root before the ground freezes, and that head start produces the first blooms of the season. Garden centers stock their shelves in the same weeks that Christmas displays appear in September,
