Inspiration

5 Fabulous Reasons to Grow a Diverse Garden

June 1, 2023Backyard Habitat, Garden Planning & Design

Why do you grow a garden? Do you love creating beautiful, homegrown bouquets to enjoy on your kitchen table? Do you savor the delicious flavor of sun-warmed tomatoes in a BLT? Do you enjoy watching hummingbirds flit through the flowers? Or maybe you eagerly await the first, brilliant bloom of daffodils after a long, gray...

Create your own staycation in your own backyard

5 Tips to Create Your Own Tropical Oasis for a Relaxing Staycation

May 25, 2023Garden Planning & Design

Vacations soothe the soul. Leaving the stress of work behind for a week of rest and relaxation makes everyone more productive. But do you know that vacations can improve your health? In a June 2019 study published in Psychology and Health, researchers found that vacations lead to reduced blood pressure and increased energy levels. In...

The Best New Big Leaf Hydrangeas for Your Garden

May 18, 2023Garden Planning & Design, Planning and Design, Planting Tips

Are you disappointed with the flowers you are getting – or not getting – from your big leaf (macrophylla) hydrangeas? Do you think it might be time to get some of the newer, better versions? But there are so many these days. How can a gardener cut through the hype and make the right choice?...

The Ultimate Guide to Water-Wise Gardening

May 16, 2023Backyard Habitat, How-to, Planning and Design, Pollinator Gardening

The importance of making water-wise choices has become very apparent with the spread of climate change. It is becoming more difficult to grow certain crops, maintain landscapes, and enjoy various recreational activities as water availability wavers and heat threatens popular crop growing. Across the country, people continue to make garden choices that can help conserve...

Looking for some cool plants to add to your garden? Here are a dozen of the most interesting newly-available plants to keep an eye out for.

12 Cool Plants to Look for This Year

May 10, 2023Garden Planning & Design, Planning and Design, Planting

Looking for some cool plants to add to your garden? Here are a dozen of the most interesting newly-available plants to keep an eye out for. 1. Monstera Esqueleto Monstera Esqueleto is a gorgeous new houseplant known for its bold, unique foliage. Introduced in 2023 by NGB member Costa Farms, it has large, fenestrated leaves...

Surprising Facts about the Inner World of Bees, the Insect You Thought You Knew

April 27, 2023Pollinator Gardening

In What a Bee Knows: Exploring the Thoughts, Memories, and Personalities of Bees (Island Press, March 7, 2023), pollination ecologist Stephen Buchmann brings readers into the mysterious, fascinating minds of bees and introduces the scientists and researchers uncovering their alien ways of seeing the world. Although bee brains are incredibly small—just one million neurons compared...

Creating a Butterfly and Moth Garden with these tips

Creating a Butterfly & Moth Garden

April 19, 2023Backyard Habitat, Pollinator Gardening

Nature is a soothing place where one can find peace. I feel it when I’m in my garden which I designed specifically to attract butterflies and moths. It’s very relaxing being surrounded by these beautiful insects as they flutter around my yard, going about their business as I watch in awe. I’ve always had a...

Adaptive Gardening is Cool at Any Age

April 13, 2023Gardening as Therapy, How-to

When I began writing my blog in 2017, the reader I had in mind was the senior gardener who was rethinking their gardening future in view of health challenges. That decision was based on an article I had read in a recent landscaping trade magazine suggesting that landscape professionals learn about the special needs facing their...

Contemplating No Mow May?

April 11, 2023Backyard Habitat, Pollinator Gardening

Make an informed decision with the help of our experts before jumping on this social media craze! The concept behind No Mow May is to create a temporary habitat for early-season pollinators by not mowing your lawn. Founded in the UK, this trend may not be appropriate for all regions of North America in the...

5 Ways Gardening Enhances Lives

March 27, 2023Gardening as Therapy

5 ways to maximize the goodness of gardening Did you know gardening can have a significant, positive impact on people's lives? During the pandemic, 18 million new gardeners turned to their outdoor spaces to relieve the stress and anxiety caused by isolation. In addition to the calming effect that working in and visiting gardens can...