Viburnums are the workhorses of the shrub border: dependable, low-maintenance, and handsome in every season. The Viburnaceae family holds more than 200 species suited to temperate regions, and the fourteen most popular ones deliver clusters of white or pink-tinged flowers in spring, red and orange foliage in fall, and colorful berries that carry interest into […]
Few plants carry a name as misleading as the bird of paradise, because the name covers two unrelated genera that happen to produce similar flowers. The Strelitzia genus supplies the familiar orange and blue blooms that florists use, while the Caesalpinia genus delivers evergreen trees and shrubs with feathery flowers in yellow, red, and orange.
Left in the ground, a tree stump becomes a tripping hazard, a sprout factory, and a magnet for insects. Removal also frees the yard for new planting, a lawn repair, or a play area. Professional stump grinding can cost up to $800 for difficult stumps, which pushes many homeowners toward DIY methods that cost $10
Growing tomatoes in pots turns a small deck, patio, or balcony into a productive vegetable patch without a large garden plot. With a big enough container, loose soil, and steady sunlight and water, anyone can harvest ripe fruit from midsummer through fall. Small-space gardeners have refined this routine, and the same basics apply whether you
Spider mites are among the smallest and most destructive garden pests. Adults measure under a millimeter, yet a colony can drain the color from a plant, cover it in fine webbing, and explode from a few dozen to thousands in a couple of warm, dry weeks. They attack houseplants, vegetables, fruit trees, and ornamentals, and
Yellow leaves on a tomato plant are a warning signal, not a disease in themselves. Overwatering, too little sunlight, nutrient shortages, viruses, and plain old age can all turn foliage yellow, and the right fix depends on reading the pattern correctly. Treat every yellow leaf as a watering problem and you will fix almost nothing;
Elephant ear plants are tropical perennials grown for their oversized, lush leaves. The name covers four closely related genera: Colocasia, Alocasia, Xanthosoma, and Remusatia. They are botanically distinct, yet they share similar growing conditions, and all of them grow fast enough to reach full size within a single season. That combination of speed and scale
Yucca plants belong to a genus of more than 40 perennial species native to the Americas. Their sword-shaped leaves, upright habit, and dramatic flower spikes make them popular both as houseplants and as outdoor specimens, and their drought tolerance suits busy owners and dry climates. Growth speed varies widely: some species add 2 feet of
Hoya plants, often called wax plants, are tropical flowering climbers from the Apocynaceae family, the same family as milkweed. More than 500 species and countless cultivars exist, and their thick, waxy leaves and star-shaped flower clusters have made them favorites among houseplant collectors. Native to Asia and parts of Australia, hoyas tolerate average indoor conditions
Daisies are the workhorses of the sunny border. Their cheerful flower heads, built from a yellow center of disc florets ringed by petal-like ray florets, show up in cottage gardens, prairie plantings, and formal beds alike. The common name covers thousands of species within the huge Asteraceae family, and the color range extends far beyond
