Spruce trees and shrubs are among the most versatile evergreens a landscape can hold. Their narrow, conical form makes them natural specimen plants, holiday trees, and privacy screens, and because they hold color all winter, they anchor a yard when deciduous plants go bare. Spruces are cone-bearing conifers in the genus Picea, which includes about […]
The pesticide aisle at the garden center offers an overwhelming row of bottles, sprays, granules, and pellets, but one of the most effective DIY repellents may already be sitting in your kitchen. Beer deters a specific set of garden pests without harsh chemicals, and it costs almost nothing to test. Before you stock an arsenal
Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are a patience crop: dig them too early and the roots come up small with tender skins that bruise at a touch, wait too long and a hard frost can ruin the whole bed in a single night. The harvest window sits between those two failure points, and timing it well,
Junipers make up roughly 60 species of trees and shrubs in the Juniperus genus, a group within the cypress family that has earned a place in landscapes from dry prairies to rocky hillsides. Some junipers carry the word cedar in their common names, but they are not members of the Cedrus genus, and the distinction
Delphiniums, also called larkspur, produce some of the boldest blooms of summer. The genus includes more than 300 species, with Delphinium elatum the most easily recognized: it towers 5 to 6 feet tall and 2 feet wide, and its flowers come in blue, pink, purple, and white, some with contrasting eyes and others with semi-double
A weed is not a botanical category. It is a judgment call about a plant growing where a gardener, homeowner, or landscaper does not want it. A dandelion in a pasture is forage for livestock; the same dandelion in the middle of a lawn is a weed. Most gardeners agree on a few points: weeds
The devil’s backbone plant (Euphorbia tithymaloides) is a succulent that earns its name from stems that change direction at every node, producing a zigzag silhouette. Pairs of ovate green leaves line the dark stems, and the architectural form makes the plant a natural centerpiece for a collection. It is an easy keeper indoors, tolerates a
A full hanging basket from the nursery costs $50 to $75 or more, but the same basket assembled at home runs $25 to $50 in materials and takes about an hour of work. The price gap is mostly labor and growing time, not plant quality. With a sturdy basket, the right liner, a lightweight potting
Summer and winter squashes such as zucchini, crookneck, butternut, and pumpkin are long-time garden favorites, but spaghetti squash stands apart. Ready to harvest from early fall through winter, roughly 50 days after the fruit sets, it turns into noodle-like strings when cooked. That transformation only works when the fruit comes off the vine at the
Landscape decisions last longer than most homeowners expect. A tree planted this spring will shade the yard for decades, and the wrong choice can cost thousands in removal later. That is why plant selection deserves the same planning as the rest of the home; for a growing family, the yard changes as fast as the
