Mushroom compost, also known as mushroom soil, is the leftover growth medium from commercial mushroom farming. After mushrooms are harvested, the spent substrate still holds nutrients and organic matter that improve garden soil, earning it the nickname black gold. It is ideal for calcium-loving plants like tomatoes but can harm salt-sensitive plants and seedlings if […]
Jasmine plants charm gardeners with shiny green leaves and fragrant white or yellow flowers. The Jasminum genus holds around 200 species of deciduous and evergreen shrubs and vines, giving you everything from ground-hugging spreaders to climbers that cover a pergola in a single season. Most true jasmines are easy to grow, bloom in spring or
Oregano is a perennial herb that comes back year after year once it is established, and it asks for almost nothing in return. The pungent, slightly bitter leaves improve pizza, pasta sauces, and the boldly flavored dishes of Greek and Mexican cooking. Spring is the standard planting window, when the soil warms and the plants
A north-facing wall receives the least direct sunlight of any surface on a typical house, yet it can support one of the most dependable plantings in the garden. Because the wall blocks the low arc of the sun, the soil beneath it stays cooler in summer and the air stays more humid, which suits a
Bougainvillea is a fast-growing flowering vine from South America that rewards warm-climate gardeners with months of dense, saturated color for very little water. The showy bracts come in pink, red, orange, purple, and white, and once established the plant shrugs off drought, poor soil, and neglect better than most ornamentals. The trade-offs are real: the
Terracotta pots are a staple of container gardening because the clay body breathes. The walls of an unglazed pot let air and water vapor pass through, which keeps roots cooler in summer and helps excess moisture escape. That same porosity is the reason terracotta fails when it is ignored: soil salts, minerals from tap water,
Gophers can ruin a lawn faster than almost any other yard pest, because they spend nearly their whole lives underground eating the parts of plants you cannot see. They chew through the roots of grass, the bulbs of tulips and daffodils, and the tubers of potatoes and carrots, and every feeding session leaves new soil
Rabbit’s foot ferns (Davallia spp.) earn their name from the fuzzy, fur-covered rhizomes that creep across the soil surface and spill over the rim of a pot like a tangle of paws. These epiphytic perennials grow naturally on tree trunks and rock faces across Asia, Africa, and Europe, and indoors they make forgiving houseplants for
Hostas (Hosta spp.) are shade-loving perennials grown for their eye-catching foliage, and they rank among the most reliable plants for dark corners of the yard where little else thrives. These clump-forming perennials spread from rhizomatous roots, produce leaves in greens, blues, and golds, and send up flower spikes in summer that range from white to
Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) sits at the center of monarch butterfly conservation. Monarchs lay eggs only on milkweed, and the caterpillars eat nothing but its leaves. This fast-growing native perennial reaches about four feet tall with fragrant pink-purple flowers from late spring to midsummer, which is why it anchors pollinator gardens across North America. Gardeners
