One of the most important outdoor activities I save for the dormant months is to limb up my trees. I have a lot of them, and left unchecked, they could […]
Articles on Landscaping
Fall Lawn Renovation
Summer’s end is often a welcome time for many, especially if you enjoy gardening and working on your home landscape. The cooler post-summer weather is just what many of us […]
Feeding and Care of Birds in Winter
Millions of people put bird food in feeders or plant their yard to attract birds each year. Unfortunately, far less continue supplying food through the winter months when natural food […]
Creating Winter Interest
I relish the opportunity to study a garden in the winter. When trees and shrubs are void of leaves and groundcovers have died back until spring, we are able to […]
To Mow, or not to Mow
What have I gotten myself into this time? While I painstakingly redo my lawn for the second time in a year, my wise Master Gardener friend tilled hers up for […]
Groundcovers: Low-Growing Options
Spring is an opportune time to plant groundcovers. Although multiple varieties of delightful groundcovers abound, looking closely at specific low-growing, evergreen, and blooming options is quite worthwhile. Selections should be […]
Pulmonaria, a Great Plant for Shade
In my zone 7 garden, I’m always rewarded in very early spring with a neon display of petite flower blooms from my lungwort (Pulmonaria) plants, scattered throughout the garden. One […]
Why Good Design is Important
As a landscape designer, the most common request I hear from my clients is for “low maintenance” (although I sometimes think that actually means NO maintenance!). Most homeowners want to […]
Enjoy your Garden After Dark, Not in the Dark
As our work days get longer, and daylight hours get shorter this time of year, the only time we might have to enjoy our gardens is after the sun goes […]
Soil Test – Your First Step to Success
Whenever I’m diagnosing a plant problem on the radio or face-to-face, my first question is usually, have you done a soil test? The answer is almost always “no”, which is […]
Keep the “G” in HGTV” please!
There have been quite a few lively discussions going on in the gardening blogosphere about the lack of quality garden-related programs on HGTV, DIY and others anymore. My blog (Compost […]
Using Terraces or Retaining Walls to Control Erosion
One of the most effective actions you can take to mitigate the problem of an eroding slope is to break up the rate of water decent by constructing terraces or […]
Using Focal Points to Make a Good Garden Great
As a gardening television host and writer, I have the good fortune of seeing a lot of incredible gardens around the country. Wherever I go, just about every memorable garden […]
Lifestyle Trends in the Garden
Piddling (verb): the art and certainly not science of spending random amounts of time in your garden, aimlessly doing nothing of significance and without any specific agenda or purpose. Once […]