A while ago you requested photos from those of us who include food in our gardens. I’ve submitted photos of my flower gardens before. This time, here are a few from the vegetable garden. I’ve had a vegetable garden since we moved here in 1968. It’s been in this location, the front yard next to the sidewalk, for 23 years.
‘Detroit Dark Red’ beet is an heirloom crop that remains one of the most popular varieties to grow for its tender flesh and sweet taste. Their vibrant greens also make them an ornamental addition to a vegetable garden.
A beautiful relative to the bright red beet above, chard comes in a variety of colors, but a brilliant green is just as enticing.
These ‘Early Girl’ tomatoes are still green but will ripen before most other tomatoes in the garden. This extra-large variety is great for stacking on a sandwich or simply slicing up on a plate.
Of course, there is much more to be admired in a kitchen garden then just the fruit. The flowers that precede your crop can be just as exciting and don’t get nearly enough attention for their understated beauty. This is one of Barbara’s small but mighty cucumber blossoms.
Cucumber tendrils always have a mind of their own, twisting and curling around whatever is nearby and creating wonderful swirls and spirals in the process.
Another big bloom that holds the potential of a delicious crop to follow: This one is a much larger yellow zucchini squash blossom, with another squash starting to mature alongside it.
Fall is here, and that means squash season! ‘Waltham’ butternut squash is one of the most well-liked winter squashes. It’s easy to see why—that bright orange flesh is delicious in a wide variety of recipes.
That is one hardy harvest! Lots of butternut and white acorn squashes along with one huge cucumber.
Of course, Barbara had to treat us to one fantastic flower. A couple of bumblebees are also here to enjoy this lovely bright red dahlia.
Thank you so much for sharing your incredible vegetable garden with us, Barbara! It’s clear that your green thumb extends far beyond the flowers that flourish in your garden.
Ornamental landscapes are the most frequently featured gardens on Garden Photo of the Day, but I want to remind everyone that all kinds of plants are welcome on the blog. From raised beds full of veggies to collections of exotic indoor plants and everything in between, we would love the opportunity to feature the plants that you love. Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.
We want to see YOUR garden!
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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Fine Gardening Recommended Products
The New Organic Grower, 3rd Edition: A Master’s Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener, 30th Anniversary Edition
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Since its original publication in 1989, The New Organic Grower has been one of the most important farming books available, with pioneer Eliot Coleman leading the charge in the organic movement in the United States. Now fully illustrated and updated, this 30th Anniversary Edition is a must-have for any agricultural library.
Chapin International 10509 Upside-Down Trigger Sprayer
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CLEAN & DISINFECT: made to handle disinfectants and mild bleach solutions. DESIGNED TO CLEAN: adjustable nozzle for fine to coarse spray. 32-OUNCE TANK: translucent, chemical-resistant poly. COMFORT: ergonomic handle and sprays upside down to reach awkward areas.
Lee Valley Large Gardener’s Wash Basket
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This basket was designed to be used by gardeners to wash freshly harvested vegetables before taking them inside. You can gather your vegetables and then hose them off right in the same basket. However, you can also use it for fruit or add a cloth liner for serving bread or other baked goods. Measuring 16″ long, 11″ wide and 4″ deep, it is made of chrome-plated steel to resist rust.
Red hot pokers grow best in moderate to warm temperatures in the range of 60 to 90°F and perform equally well in arid conditions or high humidity.
Fertilizing
Kniphofiaplants are moderate feeders and require little additional fertilizing if planted in organically-rich, fertile soil.
In spring after new growth emerges, established specimens benefit from a two-inch side dressing of compost, manure, or worm castings to the root zone, working it in gently with a hand fork.
If desired, you can also apply a slow-release fertilizer in spring to enhance flowering and promote vigor. Use a balanced, all-purpose feed with equal parts NPK such as 5-5-5.
With numerous cultivars to choose from, here’s a short list of some popular options.
Alcazar
Dramatic as a Moorish fortress, ‘Alcazar’ features sturdy bronze flower stems and large racemes of tubular apricot flowers – darkest when in bud then lightening in hue as the blooms open and mature.
Flowering from early to late summer, plants grow 36 to 48 inches tall with a spread of up to 36 inches.
A reliable choice for perennial borders, naturalized settings, or as a striking specimen in gravel, rock, and waterwise gardens. Hardy in Zones 6 to 9.
Glowing like hot coals, ‘Fire Dance’ is a compact variety that’s ideal for lighting up smaller spaces, producing an abundance of brightly colored flowers from early to late summer.
The eye-catching, bicolored blooms are lemon yellow at the base and transition to bright coral red from the mid-section to the top.
‘Fire Dance’ is a good choice for mixed borders, planters, and rockeries, growing in dense clumps of up to 20 inches tall with a spread of 24 inches. Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.
Cool and creamy, ‘Pineapple Popsicle’ is a delightful miniature cultivar boasting multitudes of chartreuse to lemon yellow buds that change to cream and butter yellow as the blooms open and age.
Flowering from midsummer to mid-autumn in mild climates, ‘Pineapple Popsicle’ makes an ideal choice for borders, containers, naturalized settings, and gravel or rock gardens.
Red hot poker plants are pretty independent once established, but some annual trimming and upkeep helps them to look their best.
Throughout the flowering season, deadhead spent blooms by cutting the flower spikes close to the base.
Deadheading maintains a tidy appearance, encourages reblooming, and curtails unwanted self-seeding.
In regions with mild winters, red hot poker plants are typically evergreen and benefit from a spring cleanup.
Use clean, sharp garden shears to remove dead or dry foliage then cut all stems to three or four inches above the ground to promote new growth.
At the cooler end of their hardness range, they are deciduous, losing their leaves over the winter months. In spring, use snips to clean away all dead foliage, cutting just above the soil line.
Conifers are the backbone of year-round garden design—offering structure, texture, and color in every season. But with so many species, shapes, and sizes to choose from, knowing which ones are right for your landscape can feel daunting. Join horticulturist and conifer expert Mark Dwyer for an in-depth live presentation and Q&A on how to successfully select, grow, and care for these versatile plants.
In this interactive session, Mark will share expert guidance on:
Choosing the right conifer for your space: Explore a wide range of sizes, shapes, and colors — from compact dwarfs perfect for small gardens to dramatic specimens that anchor a large landscape.
Matching plants to conditions: Learn which varieties tolerate dry or wet soils, full sun, or shade, and adapt well to challenging sites.
Planting and care tips: Discover best practices for site preparation, planting, watering, and pruning to keep your conifers healthy and beautiful for decades.
Whether you’re designing a modern mixed border, creating a four-season foundation planting, or simply adding a touch of evergreen interest, this Q&A is your chance to get trusted, practical advice directly from one of the field’s leading voices. Bring your questions — and get ready to see conifers in a whole new light.
About Mark
Mark Dwyer is the garden manager for the Edgerton Hospital Healing Garden in Edgerton, Wisconsin, and he operates Landscape Prescriptions by MD. He also worked in public horticulture at Fernwood Botanic Garden and Nature Preserve (Niles, Michigan) and as director of horticulture at Rotary Botanical Gardens (Janesville, Wisconsin) for 21 years.
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Decorative plant pot made of solid cast-iron material, painted in rustic white color, finished with anti-rust coating, that will last for years. Rustic design plus enough space to plant makes this a perfect outdoor and garden planter. A great way to add beauty to your small garden oasis.
Size: height: 10.2 inches; bottom diameter: 4.0 inches; opening diameter: 7.87 inches. Makes a great garden gift.
Corona® Multi-Purpose Metal Mini Garden Shovel
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Longer Service Life: The blade of this round small shovel is made of carbon steel, which can effectively improve the hardness by high temperature quenching, and the surface has anti-rust coating to avoid rusting. In the process of use when encountering hard objects will not bend and deformation.
Sturdy Structure: The small garden shovel with D-handle, ergonomically designed grip can increase the grip of the hand when using, the handle is made of strong fiberglass, will not bend and break under heavy pressure. Quick Digging: Well-made digging shovel has a sharp blade, and the round shovel head is designed to easily penetrate the soil and cut quickly while digging to enhance your work efficiency.
Razor-Back Potato/Refuse Hook
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My secret to gorgeous, dried flowers? Silica gel, of course! I love using these dried flowers for my resin creations, but you can also use them for all kinds of décor, from shadow boxes to potpourri. With some delicate handling and these tips for drying flowers with silica gel, preserve the beauty of this season’s blooms.
Ranunculus bloom dried by silica gel
I’m excited to share yet another way to dry flowers that many aren’t as familiar with. Unlike hanging flowers to dry or dehydrating the petals, this method retains the shape and colour of the flowers extremely well. Sometimes they look identical to their original flower!
You know all those little packets you get in your food containers and shoeboxes that read do not eat? That’s silica gel. In another form, this silica is actually marvelous at drying flowers.
Silica gel is a desiccant, meaning it absorbs and holds moisture. For crafting purposes, they come in hard small beads that are a white or light blue colour. You can likely find silica gel at your local Michaels craft store and on Amazon.
Using silica gel for drying flowers is fairly easy, but there’s definitely a technique to it that helps you achieve the best-dried flowers possible. Let me show you my tips!
This button mum retained its structure perfectly when dried in silica.
What Flowers Can I Preserve in Silica Gel?
Most flowers dry very well in silica when done properly. But some are easier to dry than others! Bright and colourful blooms always dry best, as their colour remains fairly consistent throughout the drying process.
These silica-dried hawthorn flowers look nearly identical to their fresh counterparts.
Fresh, locally grown flowers are also ideal. You want your flowers to be hydrated and in tip-top condition, since they will dry exactly as they are.
Here are some flowers that are known to dry exceptionally well in silica:
Silica dried flowers, including cherry blossoms, ranunculus, butterfly ranunculus, gerbera daisy, button mums, hawthorn, grape hyacinth, and lady’s mantle.
Flowers to Avoid
Flowers with lots of delicate petals are very difficult to dry in silica, as their petals are likely to fall off due to the weight of the gel. This includes mums, cosmos, and anemones.
You may also want to curb your expectations when it comes to white flowers and other light colours, as they’re very prone to bruising, especially if you plan to preserve your flowers in resin afterward. They’re also very likely to change colour, turning more into cream and yellow than white.
Wearing gloves when handling the flowers at all times will help prevent your oils from bruising the petals down the line.
Tropical flowers and anything with fleshy petals are also likely to develop some bruising and browning down the line. Most will change their colour during preservation. This includes orchids, classic lilies, and canna lilies.
Even if the flowers are listed here, it doesn’t hurt to try! Experiment, practice, and be delicate with your blooms, and you just might have some success.
This white hydrangea turned cream and browned in the areas it wasn’t completely covered in silica gel.
Drying Flowers With Silica Gel: Step by Step
Drying flowers in silica is one of the best preservation methods, and it is fairly easy to do. Once you have the silica, you can use it multiple times to dry flowers all season long.
Materials
I’ve used Ashland and Activa brand silica gel.
Preparing Your Materials and Flowers
Choose a container that’s deep enough to hold your flowers. You can also layer flowers if the container allows it. 2-4 inches is usually deep enough, since silica can be expensive, and I avoid using too much. A rectangular container is what I prefer to use, since it can hold more flowers. Your container should not be used for food storage after holding silica.
Make sure your flowers aren’t wet and use a paper towel to dab off any remaining moisture. I allow my flowers to fully hydrate in a vase while the dew dries from the petals. And I snip the stems and moisture right off when I’m ready to dry them.
When snipping the flowers for drying, leave a little bit of the stem behind. This will give you something to grab and hold onto besides the petals when removing the flowers from the silica.
If you’re concerned about bruising, wear gloves when working with the flowers before, during, and after drying.
Make sure flower petals aren’t wet before drying them in silica gel.
Drying Flowers With Silica Gel
Before working with the silica, make sure to wear a mask. When pouring the silica, it creates a dust that you don’t want to breathe in. Gloves can also help prevent your hands from drying out and getting irritated.
Add a base layer of silica gel to your container. You need enough to support the base of your flower stem. About ½ to 1 inch is enough.
Nestle in your flower’s face up in the silica. The flowers can be close, but they should not be overlapping.
Make sure the flowers aren’t touching.
Carefully pour in the silica (a Mason jar or pitcher can help give you more control). Flowers will dry exactly as they are buried in the silica, so you want to avoid dumping silica right into them, as they will get crushed. The goal is to bury each flower while maintaining its exact original shape.
Pour around the edges of the flowers first to support the petals.
I like to pour around the outside, shaking the silica into place until the outside is fully supported before adding silica to the center. Shaking helps to get the silica into all the grooves and crevices.
Fill in the center and all the gaps, but be careful not to dump and lose the flower’s structure.
Make sure to fully cover your flowers with silica, or you may end up with browning (see the cream hydrangea photo earlier). You can layer as many flowers as your container fits, as long as the flowers aren’t touching. Put heavier blooms on the bottom and more delicate blooms on top.
Fully cover flowers in silica.
Cover with an airtight lid, and label what flowers are inside as well as the date.
Seal with an airtight lid.
Removing the Silica Gel
Most instructions that come with your silica gel will say you only need a few days to a week for your flowers to fully dry. This is not long enough in almost any case.
I leave my flowers in silica for a minimum of three weeks, or longer if I’m working with larger flowers (such as roses), since they contain a lot of moisture. It’s impossible to leave flowers in silica for too long. Longer is better than not enough.
If there is any soft texture, your flowers aren’t ready. They should feel like paper and be extremely light.
Carefully pour out the silica rather and avoid pulling out the flowers.
To remove your flowers, gently pour your silica into another bowl or container slowly. Do not dump it all at once. Gently catch the flowers as they fall out, holding onto the stem rather than the petals.
Hold the flower upside down and gently tap to help get rid of the remaining silica. Use a soft paint brush or makeup brush to remove any stubborn silica pieces.
Grab flowers from the base and the stem to keep the petals intact.
Using Your Silica Gel Flowers
I dry flowers in silica to use for resin. They must be fully dry, or they will rot in the resin. If I don’t use them right away after removing them from the silica, I’ll place them back in the container with a thin layer of fresh silica at the bottom. The flowers don’t need to be fully covered in silica once they’re fully dry.
Other than resin, you can also use them for many other projects (they don’t have to be stored in silica once dried. That’s only for resin projects.)
Here are some project ideas for silica gel flowers!
My preserved cherry blossom in a resin globe.
Silica Gel Flowers FAQ
How long do silica gel flowers last?
While I wouldn’t say these flowers last forever, they do last for a very long time when done right. If they begin to change shape shortly after being removed from the silica, then they were not in there long enough.
Your flowers should last you a minimum of a year, and can go onwards to last for a decade. Like any dried flower, their colour will begin to fade. To prolong their life, keep them away from sunlight, heat, and moist areas.
How do I preserve a rose with silica gel?
Roses dry extremely well in silica gel. They do contain a lot of moisture, especially the center, so you need to leave them in the silica for at least 3 weeks to ensure they fully dry.
Some people will remove the center petals to prevent the flower from browning or rotting. Personally, I skip this step and just make sure to carefully fill all the nooks and crannies of the rose to ensure the silica absorbs all the moisture.
Can I reuse silica?
Yes! Fresh silica is the strongest and can be used a few times before it needs to be recharged. While each brand varies, usually the colour will change when it’s no longer able to absorb any more moisture.
To recharge your silica, it should be placed on a baking tray and left in the oven at 250°F for a minimum of five hours. However, check the instructions of your silica gel to see their recommendations.
Silica should be recharged after every use for best results.
Silica gel dried flowers.
Get creative with your flowers, experiment, and have fun! Let me know if you have any questions about using silica gel for drying flowers in the comments below.
More Tips for Drying Flowers
From Vancouver, BC, Holly is Garden Therapy’s Content Manager. She has a BFA in Writing from the University of Victoria as well as a diploma in Floristry Design from Burnaby CCE. At home, she loves to grow cut flowers and dried flowers for her business, Dirty Daisy Florals, and is an avid houseplant collector and lover of bees. You can find her at @dirtydaisyflorals and @hollyheuversocial.
Last month, the Garden Museum Literary Festival (a traveling event that visits a different historic garden each year in the U.K.) arrived at Iford Manor, just a few miles southeast of Bath in Somerset, England. Over two days, there were fascinating talks and conversations with designers, writers, and makers, including potters Edmund de Waal and Frances Palmer; photographers Tessa Traeger and Ngoc Minh Ngo; and landscape architects Jinny Blom and Tom Stuart-Smith.
But perhaps the most wonderful discovery was the location itself. Iford is a Palladian manor house (its Georgian façade conceals its older Elizabethan origins) with an extraordinary Italianate garden created by the architect-turned-landscape-architect, Harold Peto, who bought the property in 1899 and developed the gardens until his death in 1933.
Location is everything—and Iford Manor’s is spectacular. Although “challenging” might be the way some describe it. Accessible only via two narrow, twisting lanes which meet on a medieval stone bridge that crosses the River Frome, the property sits on a slope in a wooded valley on the cusp of Somerset and Wiltshire. The steep slope means that the garden has been cut into the hillside in a series of terraces and walks, many of which are designed to offer tantalizing views out to the bucolic landscape.
Although much of the garden had been created long before Peto’s arrival, his passion for the Italianate style, and for ancient architecture, statuary, and antiquities led him to reimagine it into a series of classical and often theatrical walks and rooms.
Its modern renovation begins with Elizabeth Cartwright, who bought the property from Peto’s nephew in 1965 and began a series of repairs. Along with her husband John Hignett she would continue to restore the house and garden until their son and daughter-in-law, William and Marianne Cartwright-Hignett, became the custodians in 2016. In 2022 head gardener Steve Lannin arrived to continue the estate’s development and preservation.
Join us for a tour.
Photography by Clare Coulson.
The Cloisters
Above: Arguably the jewel of the garden is the Grade II* listed Cloisters that were built by Peto in 1914 to house his remaining artifacts. The columns are cut from Pavonazzo marble. This magical space is made all the more exquisite by the play of light across the architecture and the plants, carefully placed by Lannin. Above: The perfect symmetry and elegant arches of the courtyard in the Cloisters were in part inspired by the Moorish architecture of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain.
We’re back in the garden of Lizzi Gualtieri in Walla Walla, Washington, today. Lizzi has shared her stunning designs on the blog several times over the years (check out her previous submissions: Lizzi’s Springtime in Walla Walla, Lizzi’s Front Yard Veggie Garden, Walla Walla Backyard, and Lizzi’s Walla Walla Garden), starting when her garden only had a couple of growing seasons under its belt. The landscape has filled in a lot since then, and, even with some time away this summer, all of her plants are absolutely thriving. Now that fall has arrived in Washington, she is reflecting on what needs to change next year while taking in the beauty that still remains as the growing season winds down.
Hi! The weather is turning here in Walla Walla, Washington (we plant for Zone 6 despite being told we are 7a), and I love the way the light is changing in my south-facing backyard. The grasses and the dried seed heads are really making a statement now. The garden is still looking surprisingly OK despite the fact we were traveling most of the summer. There is drip irrigation to keep everything watered, but I didn’t get around to deadheading anything for repeat blooms (sorry, echinacea!). This is the 3rd or 4th year for most of the plants, and things have filled in to the point where I have some editing to do now. The ‘Rozanne’ geranium(Geranium ‘Gerwat’, Zones 4–8) is repeated throughout the yard, and it is frighteningly vigorous; so is the ‘Helen Von Stein’ lambs’ ear(Stachys byzantina ‘Helen von Stein’, Zones 4–8), which I love and my husband hates. We’re having our first big crop off of the ‘Flying Dragon’ citrus tree(Citrus trifoliata ‘Flying Dragon’, Zones 5–9) and have been researching jelly and marmalade recipes. My favorite annuals this year are my hedge of ‘Carmencita’ red castor bean(Ricinus communis ‘Carmencita’, Zones 9–11 or as an annual), which reaches to the gutter of the house, and hyacinth bean vine(Lablab purpureus, Zones 10–11 or as an annual) with its beautiful purple pods.
‘Rozanne’ geranium and ‘Karl Foerster’ grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, Zones 5–9)
‘Flying Dragon’ citrus with fruit ready to harvest
A panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata, Zones 3–8)that was here when we moved in, with more geraniums and an art piece in the background
‘Helen Von Stein’ lambs’ ear,‘Karl Foerster’ grass, ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum (Hylotelephium spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’, Zones 3–9), ‘Angelina’ sedum (Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’, Zones 5–8),and yet more geraniums
‘Rosie Posie’ agastache (Agastache ‘Rosie Posie’, Zones 5–8), dwarf blue spruce, and ‘Whirling Butterflies’ gaura (Gaura lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’, Zones 5–9)
Purple basil, sedum, ‘Little Bunny’ grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Little Bunny’, Zones 4–9), drumstick alliums (Allium sphaerocephalon, Zones 4–8),and still more geraniums
Variegated sweet iris (Iris pallida ‘Variegata’, Zones 4–9), ‘Autumn Joy’sedum, Golden Mop false cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Golden Mop’, Zones 5–7), and gaura
‘Carmencita’ red castor bean with the hyacinth bean vine on a trellis in the background
A view through our back gate with wistaria, a coleus, and annual salvia in a pot, and some variety of sedum in the lady’s head planter
Thank you so much for another gorgeous update from your garden, Lizzi! Your landscape is maturing like a fine wine, and the need to edit is a sign that only more refined beauty is to come.
As I mentioned yesterday, the end of the growing season is the perfect time to reflect and start your game plan for next year’s garden. As you’re enjoying your fall garden or scrolling through photos of summer scenes, consider sharing your reflections with Garden Photo of the Day. Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.
We want to see YOUR garden!
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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Fine Gardening Recommended Products
ARS Telescoping Long Reach Pruner
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Telescopes from 4 to 7′. Cut and Hold (160) Blades. Drop forged blades for unsurpassed long lasting sharpness. Lightweight, 2.3 lbs., for continued use. Perfectly balanced for easy pruning.
Gardener’s Log Book from NYBG
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This weatherproof five-year log book includes the following features:
· Sturdy waterproof cover to protect pages from rain and muddy soil
· Lined pages and gridded paper for plotting beds
· Five years of 12-month bloom and harvest grids for recording what you planted and when
· Authoritative appendices on composting, pruning, pest and disease control, and container gardening
· Useful reminders by season on fertilizing, mulching, and transplanting
· Space for listing your favorite sources and suppliers.
Black and Decker 22-inch Cordless Hedge Trimmer
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Quick and easy to put into operation and is less noisy and lighter in weight than gas-powered hedge trimmers.
– 38 x 7 x 7 inches
– 6.9 pounds
– 1 Lithium Ion battery required (included)
China Chiffon® bears semi-double white flowers with a red-purple eye and streaking that radiates toward the petal edges. Each bloom measures about four to five inches across.
The shrub grows eight to 12 feet tall and four to six feet wide with an upright, rounded habit.
‘Diana’ bears pure white, single flowers three to four inches across that remain open later in the day than most other cultivars.
The extended bloom time gives it strong visual impact even in the evening.
The shrub grows four to 10 feet tall and three to six feet wide with a compact, upright habit.
As a triploid rose of Sharon, it is sterile and does not produce viable seed. It has received the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.
12. Helene
‘Helene’ is a triploid cultivar bred by the U.S. National Arboretum in the 1970s and released in the 1980s. It grows six to 10 feet tall with a similar spread, forming a compact, rounded shape.
The single flowers are about four inches across with ruffled white petals and a deep red throat.
As a sterile selection, it produces no viable seed and maintains a tidy habit throughout the season.
13. Lavender Chiffon
Also known by the cultivar name ‘Notwoodone,’ Lavender Chiffon® produces double flowers about four inches across in soft lilac-pink with a distinct red eye at the center of each petal.
The layered blooms give the plant a full, textured appearance through the season.
The shrub grows eight to 12 feet tall and four to six feet wide with an upright, rounded habit.
Also known by the cultivar name ‘Antong Two,’ Lil’ Kim® is a dwarf selection bred in South Korea by Dr. Kyung-Ku Shim.
It grows only three to four feet tall and wide, making it one of the most compact roses of Sharon available.
Part of the Proven Winners® ColorChoice® line, it produces single white flowers measuring about three inches across with dark red throats and pronounced red veins that extend nearly to the petal edges.
The densely layered petals create blooms that resemble pink peonies, making this cultivar a standout choice where a smaller, heavily flowering shrub is desired.
Developed as part of the Arboretum’s triploid breeding program alongside ‘Aphrodite,’ ‘Diana,’ and ‘Helene,’ this sterile cultivar produces no viable seed.
Paraplu Pink Ink® is a Proven Winners® introduction with single white flowers marked by a striking magenta-red eye and streaks that extend toward the petal tips.
The blooms are broad and open-faced, showing clear contrast between the crisp white petals and vivid center.
Also known by the cultivar name ‘Gandini Santiago,’ Purple Pillar® grows 10 to 16 feet tall and four to five feet wide, forming a narrow, upright habit ideal for vertical accents or smaller spaces.
The semi-double flowers are about four inches across with light purple petals and dark red throats. A Proven Winners® introduction, this is a sterile selection.
The shrub reaches six to eight feet tall and about five feet wide with a balanced, upright shape. This sterile cultivar flowers heavily through the season without producing seed.
Also known by the cultivar name ‘America Irene Scott,’ Sugar Tip® is a variegated rose of Sharon with fluffy soft pink double flowers about three inches across.
The petals are pale blush with a slightly darker center, standing out against blue-green leaves edged in creamy white.
This Proven Winners® introduction grows six to eight feet tall and four to six feet wide with a dense, upright form. It is sterile and does not produce viable seed.
This First Editions® introduction grows six to eight feet tall and four to six feet wide with a dense, upright shape. A sterile selection, it produces no viable seed.
Also known by the cultivar name ‘Notwoodtwo,’ White Chiffon® bears large, single white flowers about four inches across with a faintly ruffled texture.
The clean petals and open form give it a bright, airy look in bloom.
This Proven Winners® introduction grows eight to 12 feet tall and four to six feet wide with an upright habit.
Also known by the cultivar name ‘Gandini Van Aart,’ White Pillar® forms a tall, narrow column reaching 10 to 16 feet in height and four to five feet in width.
The plant’s vertical structure makes it ideal for tight spaces, screening, or as a formal accent.
It bears single white flowers with overlapping petals and a light red center. A Proven Winners® introduction, this cultivar is sterile and does not produce viable seed.
Whether you prefer the pure white of White Chiffon®, the compact size of Lil’ Kim®, or the bold vertical form of Purple Pillar®, there’s a rose of Sharon to fit nearly any garden.
These aren’t all the Hibiscus syriacus cultivars out there, either – there are plenty more. Although these 25 are my personal favorites, many others are worth your consideration.
Are you growing rose of Sharon? Do you have a favorite variety or three? Let us know in the comments section below!
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Today we have a new garden introduction, right as it begins packing it in for the season. Judy Hessert gardens in the Bitterroot Valley of Western Montana and has finally had time to dedicate to her own landscape after running a nursery for decades. Her garden expertise has allowed her to craft a fantastic plant palette, which keeps on performing up to the first frost that covers her still-vibrant garden in shimmering ice.
I garden in the Bitterroot Valley of Western Montana. I owned a nursery for 30 years; I had access to many plants, but no time to garden. Now I’m retired and am enjoying gardening for myself. My yard is about an acre and a half that had been a horse pasture. My focus has been on planting for birds and pollinators, and planting big bands of color. I have a lot of space! Most annuals and perennials I start from seed. When I moved here four years ago, I hung up a bird feeder and waited a month for any birds to show up. Now there’s a diverse population of both migrant and resident birds. I took photos this morning of the first frost—the beginning of the end of the gardening season.
‘Benary’s Giant Purple’ zinnias (Zinnia elegans ‘Benary’s Giant Purple’, annual) are like mini fireworks in the garden, even more so when their petals are lined with ice.
A wider view of those purple zinnias, each flower a little explosion of color
Judy’s ‘Indian Summer’ black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta ‘Indian Summer’, Zones 3–7) was absolutely covered in flowers when this frost hit the garden.
‘Indian Summer’ black-eyed Susan in the foreground, Korean spiraea(Spiraea fritschiana, Zones 3–8)on the left, Klehm’s Improved Bechtel flowering crabapple (Malus ioensis ‘Klehm’s Improved Bechtel’,Zones 4–8)with the tree guard, and the Sapphire Mountains in the background
‘Karl Foerster’ grass(Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, Zones 5–9)with ‘Burning Hearts’ false sunflower(Heliopsis helianthoides var. scabra ‘Burning Hearts’, Zones 3–9), and the tree is ‘Brandywine’ crabapple(Malus ‘Branzam’, Zones 4–8).
Purple coneflower(Echinacea purpurea, Zones 3–9)—it’s actually a cross of the straight species and ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ (Echinacea purpurea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’, Zones 4–9).
Fall pumpkins—Casper, Sanchez, Black Futsu, Large Marge, and Marina di’Chioggia
Benary’s Giant Salmon Rose zinnia (Zinnia elegans ‘Benary’s Giant Salmon Rose’, annual) as the morning sun starts to melt the frost away
Finally, a bold combination of ‘Rocket’ snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus ‘Rocket’, annual) and ‘Burning Hearts’ false sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides var. scabra ‘Burning Hearts’, Zones 3–9): They defrost in the sun while still looking at their peak.
Thank you so much for this tour through your garden, Judy! The shimmer of frost on your flowers adds another layer of beauty, but I hope we also get a chance to see your designs during the peak of summer sun.
Has your garden experienced its first frost yet? As the growing season comes to an end for many northern gardeners, it’s time to reflect on this year’s highlights and lowlights. Be sure to send in your garden recap to the blog, as we can all use some vibrant garden moments when the cold months settle in. Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.
We want to see YOUR garden!
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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Paying for things online has become second nature. Whether it’s booking a train ticket, buying a gift or managing your accounts, it’s quick and convenient. But convenience can come with risks. Online fraud and identity theft can happen quietly, and once your details are exposed, they can spread fast.
Protecting your information isn’t about being paranoid. It’s about building simple habits that make your digital life less vulnerable to the kind of attacks that target everyday users. Here are some simple ways to protect your money online.
Recognising the weak spots
Fraudsters often rely on the same tricks to catch people off guard. They create fake websites that mimic legitimate stores, send realistic-looking emails, or use pop-ups to harvest card details.
Many scams are subtle, and the warning signs are easy to miss if you’re in a hurry. That’s why it’s important to slow down before entering any sensitive information. Checking URLs carefully, avoiding unsecured connections and being sceptical of unsolicited offers can make a real difference.
Securing your credentials
One of the most effective ways to protect your financial data is to use a password manager. It creates strong, unique passwords for every account and keeps them stored securely, so you don’t have to remember them all. This reduces the risk of reusing weak passwords that can be easily guessed or stolen.
A password manager also makes it easier to keep track of where your details are stored, so if something does go wrong, you can update your logins quickly without feeling overwhelmed.
Being smart with your cards
When it comes to credit cards, extra caution pays off. Avoid saving your card details on multiple platforms, and always use secure connections when making a payment. Be especially careful with public Wi-Fi networks, as they can expose your transactions to prying eyes.
It’s also wise to keep an eye on your statements and activate alerts to detect suspicious activity early. Quick action can prevent a small issue from turning into a serious problem.
Knowing where to turn for help
Even with good habits, anyone can fall victim to an online scam. The key is to react fast and report suspicious activity to the right channels.
In the UK, Action Fraud provides clear guidance on what to do if your card details are stolen or if you think you’ve shared information with a fake site. Having these resources at hand can make a stressful situation much easier to manage.
A few habits that go a long way
Staying safe online isn’t about big, complicated security measures. It’s about developing steady, reliable habits that become second nature over time. By being more deliberate with where and how you share information, securing your passwords and staying alert with your cards, you make yourself a much harder target for fraudsters. A few smart habits today can protect you from a lot of headaches tomorrow.
Looking for homemade gift ideas that the recipient will actually use and love? Look no further than this list of over 100 gifts to make this year.
Making gifts for the holidays or another occasion can be a lot of fun, but is the end product something you really would want to get as a gift? In this case, yes!
I have given these homemade gift ideas (and in some cases received handmade gifts) for many a birthday, neighbour, teacher, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentines Day, etc. I’ve put together this list of over 100 homemade gift ideas for gifts you’d actually want to receive.
Jump ahead to a category!
How to Give the Perfect Gift
The number one rule in gift-giving is to think about the receiver’s wants and give them that. No doubt it can be easy to overlook this when you are giving handmade gifts. It’s easy to get caught up in the process of creating and forget whether the final product is really something that will be useful or bring joy to whomever you are giving it to. However, if done right, homemade gifts can be the absolute best!
Homemade gifts allow you to really personalize something for the recipient. Whether you’re gifting it to a friend or saying thank you to an acquaintance, it will mean so much more that you put time and effort into making the gift. And with this list, they will be totally awestruck that you actually made them yourself!
If you are making a large number of gifts for Christmas or wedding favours, then you can personalize it by giving a little bit of yourself in a package. Sharing homemade soap in a favourite scent, a great baking recipe, or even something from the garden are all wonderful gifts given with love.
Looking for gift ideas for teachers, daycare workers, mail carriers, and others whose wish lists are a mystery? The best gifts are always those things that can be used or eaten (yum!). Try foodie gifts like infused vinegar and sea salt, baked goods, and bath products like tub teas or bath bombs. I have a whole foodie list dedicated below that is great for anyone on your gifting list.
Now, if you are ready to get started, here is a whole bunch of links to homemade gift ideas that you would actually want to get. Each one will bring you to the full DIY so get ready to get crafty!
Foodie Gifts
What can I say, foodie gifts are perfect for just about anyone. While you can buy something from an artisan store, when you make it yourself it means so much more. I have some recipes below that are great for your culinary friend to use in their own recipes, or I have others that are great to eat on their own immediately. No matter which recipe you choose, their taste buds will be singing, I promise you!
Gifts for the Home
What I love most about these projects is that they look professionally made. Sometimes when people hear the words handmade or DIY, they picture something that is obviously done by a beginner. Many of these projects are easy to do, but you will end up with an artisanal, personalized gift for the home. In fact, I would argue that most of the gifts will be of better quality than you could buy!
Gifts for the Gardener
These projects have the garden in mind! While great for those who already have a green thumb, most of these projects can be appreciated by many. Anyone who enjoys the natural world and has a little bit of green in their life will love these. Take a look at this list of ways you can incorporate plants into your gift-giving.
Natural Beauty
Beauty products are always a sure hit when it comes to gifting. However, so many beauty products are packed full of unnecessary chemicals, preservatives, and perfumey scents. Natural beauty gifts are usually good for all skin types and safe for everyone to use. Many of these projects are easy to customize, so don’t be scared to get creative and really personalize the recipe based on who it is for. From healing foot balm to amber fossilized insect soap, I’m positive there is a beauty recipe for everyone in your life listed below.
Wearable Gifts
You don’t have to be a seamstress or a designer to make something beautiful to wear. If the person you are making the gift for is really into style and dressing themselves up with something unique, these are some great options.
How to Wrap Your Handmade Gifts
By the way, part of the thrill of giving a homemade gift is the packaging! The last thing you want to do is spend your time and energy making a gift, then hand it in a plastic baggie. Instead, try one of these natural and recycled gift wrap ideas and adorn them with some greenery. They are gorgeous, affordable, and eco-friendly, too!
There completes my list of homemade gift ideas. I hope you found a couple of great ideas that you will find easy and fun to make. Whoever receives your gift is sure to love it!
A city girl who learned to garden and it changed everything. Author, artist, Master Gardener. Better living through plants.
Moonflower vines are a quiet delight of the waning season. They are morning glory’s nocturnal cousin, and their wide, near-luminous white blooms begin to unfold every twilight at the end of summer. As the days continue to contract, and nights lengthen, a signal is sent to these photoperiodic tropical vines to begin making buds. At first, the blooms can only be enjoyed if you are out there with them, in the dark, but as temperatures cool and nights grow even longer, the flowers last well into the morning hours, and also open earlier in the day. At their peak they resemble an ethereal collective of sensitive and perfumed radio telescopes, poised to listen to something beyond our reach.
Photography by Marie Viljoen.
Above: The first moonflowers open at dusk. As nights lengthen they open earlier, and last longer.
Ipomea alba is native to the tropical Americas and as far north as Florida, where it is a perennial. In cooler climates moonflower is grown as an annual climber whose tendrils can be expected to exceed fifteen feet.
Above: Night-scented moonflowers attract sphinx and hummingbird moths.
As a small-space gardener, I value moonflower vine for its ability to grow in a (large) pot, cover a trellis or railing in heart-shaped foliage within a couple of months of sowing, and for its exceptionally beautiful flowers, whose structural appeal is mesmerizing—try watching a six-inch long bud as it unspirals slowly and unfolds until full-blown—a botanical meditation. And then there is that fragrance, which sometimes lures long-tongued moths to visit after dark.
Above: Moonflowers begin to bloom in July, reaching peak bloom a couple of months later.
Keep It Alive:
Moonflower seeds will not germinate if temperatures are too low. Don’t even think about sowing them outdoors until nights remain consistently above 55°F (which means that the soil temperature is warm enough). The same goes for seedlings bought at nurseries. Watch the weather and plant them only once that nightly benchmark of 55° has been reached. In my USDA growing zone 7b that is around mid to late May.
The seeds should be soaked before sowing to soften their hard, protective capsules. This may take 12 to 24 hours.
Moonflowers are slow to take off. These vines will not sprint out of the starting gate. Instead, expect them to begin their fastest growth about two months after sowing.
For container gardeners, choose a large pot to sow them in, at least 16 inches in diameter. Moonflower vines are rambunctious and need room to grow to their full potential. They will also need a deep and daily watering.
Above: Planted near seating, moonflowers’ delicate form offers a floral meditation. Above: As days cool and nights grow even longer, the flowers open in the afternoon and last well into the morning hours. Above: By late September many blooms open daily.
Cheat Sheet
Moonflowers are Ipomea alba, a night-blooming morning glory.
They are native to the tropical Americas.
Despite their common name, they will bloom during the day as nights grow longer.
Do not grow them in Hawai’i where moonflowers are invasive.
The common name moonflower also refers to Datura species.
Above: Moonflowers can share a vertical growing space with summer crops like beans.
Almost exactly two years ago, we were introduced to Patsy LaHue’s garden in Grand Junction, Colorado, (check out that post here: Late Summer in Patsy’s Garden). We learned how she and her husband have been tending their sloped landscape for decades, and completely transformed that space from a barren plot to a lively collection of plants that thrive despite their arid conditions. Today, she is finally back with an update that shows a garden as colorful as ever but also exquisitely evolved.
Our garden in photos: This is our late-summer garden in Grand Junction, Colorado—average rainfall, 7 inches. My husband and I started this garden about 30 years ago. It changes yearly. There are many perennials and four aspen trees. We supplement the color with annuals that we grow in our laundry room. The garden extends the whole length of the back of our house, and we spend most of our time on the patio. We have lots of company: many squirrels, 13 quail, raccoons, and occasionally deer. We live in a very arid area, close to the canyon lands on one side and the Rocky Mountains on the other. Our garden brings us lots of joy, an oasis in the middle of the desert.
Immediately, you get a sense of the diversity Patsy is able to pack into their garden. Some clear standouts in this area are the dusty pink bloom of ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum (Hylotelephium spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’, Zones 3–9), pricklyburr’s (Datura inoxia, annual) bright white flowers, and tall spires of hollyhock (Alcea rosea, Zones 5–9) in the distance.
A couple of retaining walls make these tricky gardening conditions much more manageable, and the warm bricks used add even more color to the plantings.
It looks like a decent amount of larger plants were removed from the garden in the past couple of years and replaced with lower growers and other new additions. These smaller plants give Patsy more room for planting, allow for better view of the rocks that add desert-garden interest, and likely cuts back majorly on maintenance needs.
While it feels like every color under the sun is represented in Patsy’s garden, there is also a prominent pink-and-red color theme that keeps the landscape cohesive and creates wonderful little vignettes. A cluster of blanket flower (Gaillardia spp., Zones 4–10) is lovely under that equally vibrant rose.
Patsy also makes a point to inject some fun into the garden with this adorable fairy house tucked between plants. The mini birdhouses are a delightful touch.
A fantastic view from the bottom of these beds really showcases the diversity Patsy has planted.
Of course, some larger plants still have their space in the garden. This vignette: brown-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba, Zones 4–8) bursts out from between two pretty groups of garden phlox (Phloxpaniculata, Zones 5–9).
Both flowers and foliage add bright color and textural interest to Patsy’s landscape. Some highlights here: ‘Helen von Stein’ lambs’ ears (Stachysbyzantina ‘Helen von Stein’, Zones 4–8), red zinnias, and ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, Zones 5–9).
One last view from the top of the garden, again highlighting the amazing layering of plants. The space is relatively small, but still a treasure trove of color and texture.
Thank you so much for sharing your garden with us again, Patsy! There is so much to admire in your landscape, and it’s a real treat to see it evolve.
How has your garden changed in the last couple of years? Have you made major plant substitutions, completely reshaped your space, or just worked to maintain the dream outdoor space you’ve created? Let us know in the comments, or consider sharing your garden’s evolution with Garden Photo of the Day. Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.
We want to see YOUR garden!
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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The Crevice Garden: How to make the perfect home for plants from rocky places
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Transplanting should be done in the spring after the ground is workable or in the fall.
Dig a hole twice as wide and the same depth as the container your juniper is growing in.
Remove your plant from its container by squeezing the sides to loosen the soil, then gently pull it out and loosen the roots.
Place it in the ground and fill in around it with the soil you removed from the hole.
Give the plant a good soaking to settle the soil.
Pests and Disease
Junipers are sturdy, and they don’t often fall victim to diseases or pests. They’re also resistant to many of the herbivores that plague other plants.
That said, you might bump up against some issues now and then. Here’s what to watch for:
Herbivores
I know, you’re probably thinking that you’ve heard junipers aren’t appealing to herbivores such as rabbits and deer.
There are plenty of articles on the internet touting these hardy plants as deer and rabbit proof, and it’s true that they’re not often their first choice.
I hate to be the one to bring you bad news, but animals will take a bite out of juniper shrubs, especially if other food is scarce.
Damage can range from no big deal to devastating, depending on the species, cultivar, and the age of the plant.
A tiny sapling is extremely vulnerable, while an established shrub usually won’t be bothered much at all.
When I was living in Utah, deer (and rabbits) would regularly devour my juniper saplings, and one harsh winter, the deer ate all the foliage on my older Rocky Mountain junipers (J. scopulorum) from about six feet down.
Pests
There are a few common pests that attack junipers.
Pests are more likely to have an impact on stressed trees, so do your best to keep your plant healthy with good watering and feeding practices.
Aphids
Aphids are impossible to avoid, and at some point, every gardener will come in contact with them.
Junipers may be attacked by several types of aphids from different genera, but there is one group of species known as the giant conifer aphids (Cinara spp.) that are often found feeding on these shrubs in particular.
Aphids won’t kill an established juniper, but they can make the foliage turn yellow or brown. A secondary issue is that they leave behind a sticky substance called honeydew that attracts sooty mold.
Fortunately, they aren’t hard to get rid of. Spray your plant with a blast of water to knock the little pests loose. They rarely find their way back to a plant.
Want to know how bagworms (Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis) got their name? The caterpillars create large bags during the fall that look a lot like conifer cones.
These bags are filled with hundreds of eggs.
When the larvae hatch in the spring, they crawl out and feed on the foliage.
While an established plant can probably survive an infestation, a stressed or young shrub can be completely defoliated and killed, especially if it’s attacked year after year.
Juniper scale insects (Carulaspis juniperi) are two millimeters long, with hard shells. In small numbers, they aren’t too much of a problem, but large infestations can kill plants over time.
The first sign is yellowish-brown foliage and an overall appearance of being dry and wilted. Later, branches die off, followed by the entire plant dying.
These insects suck the juice out of needles, leaving behind sticky honeydew.
Prune away infested branches. Make sure your plant is getting enough water and fertilizer, if necessary, since a healthy plant is better able to withstand this pest.
You can also use horticultural oils to suffocate the insects. Alternately, insecticidal soap will kill them off.
You’ll likely need to reapply multiple times throughout the growing season. Check the manufacturer’s recommendations for application timing.
Spider Mites
Spider mites are a common garden pest, and spruce spider mites (Oligonychus ununguis) in particular enjoy a nibble on plants in the Cupressaceae family.
These tiny arachnids are too small to see, unless you get in really close. But if you notice fine webbing on your plant and tiny yellow spots on the needles, you likely have an infestation.
Unlike other mites, spruce mites prefer cool weather, so watch for them in the spring and fall.
As with aphids, a strong spray of water can knock the pests loose.
If that doesn’t work, a broad-spectrum insecticide like Bonide Mite-X can kill them off.
Arbico Organics carries this potent spray. Just be judicious in using it, as it can kill off beneficial bugs as well.
Disease
I know we spent a lot of time talking about how junipers are survivors, but that doesn’t mean they can’t fall ill now and then.
Keep an eye out for the following:
Cedar Apple Rust
Gymnosporangium clavariiforme and G. cornutum cause cedar apple rust in juniper shrubs, particularly J. virginiana.
In the summer, watch for large two-inch galls forming near the tips of the branches.
In the following spring, these galls produce long, jelly-like growths known as teliohorns that are filled with spores just waiting to blow away to infect other trees.
Junipers that are infected have stunted growth, may become weak, and can eventually die.
Apples, crabapples, hawthorns, and quince trees serve as alternate hosts for this disease, and when the spores leave the juniper, they go in search of these other trees to complete their life cycle.
Prune away any galls that you spot. They look like small walnuts or wrinkly bulbs at the ends of branches.
Needle Cast Fungus
Needle cast is a disease that causes the previous year’s needle growth to turn reddish brown and fall off the shrub. This typically happens in late winter.
The infected needles on the ground release spores that will go on to reinfect the tree the next year.
Pruning shrubs and topiary is an exhausting business—especially if it requires being perched on top of a ladder or spending an entire day to complete the work. Large hedge-trimmers are simply far too heavy and unwieldy, and—apologies to the purists—traditional topiary shears, too slow for the impatient gardeners among us.
Which is why electric shrub shears are a game-changer for me. I’d first seen the Stihl HSA 26 battery-powered pruners last year but held off buying them until I visited designer Sheila Jack in her Wiltshire garden, where the neat power tool is an essential for trimming her fast-growing Lonicera nitilda domes that need to be clipped every few weeks.
The Stihl shears come with two attachments: a 20cm shrub cutter and a smaller 12cm “grass” cutter. It’s become my go-to tool, gliding through and tidying multiple overgrown hebes, a large topiarized pittosporum, and the many boxwood balls in my garden. It’s lightweight enough to work with all day—although a charged battery will get you about 110 minutes of clipping. (To recharge the battery will take about an hour; having a spare battery would avoid this issue.)
Above: The shrub cutter blade, which is perfect for gliding over topiary and all sizes of shrubs. Above: The shorter grass cutting attachment.
Crucially the HSA 26 is nimble enough and with a strong enough blade action to make clean and precise cuts. Like any bladed power tool, it needs to be used with care. But it’s extremely easy and intuitive to use, with simple blade changes and a rubberized grip for comfort. Stihl claims the shears can cope with branches up to 8mm thick (if you want a tool for chunkier branches, the brand’s cordless pruner—the GTA 26—is a mini chainsaw that is equally lightweight).
As we head into winter, I’m anticipating that the shears are going to be equally transformative when it comes to the big winter deadheading, especially for ornamental grasses which can be time-consuming to cut back. Like the very best tools, this one has made my gardening life a pleasure instead of a pain.
The money tree, aka Guiana, Malabar, or water chestnut (Pachira aquatica), is a broadleaf evergreen perennial native to wetlands and marshes in Mexico and northern regions of South America.
This species bears five-lobed, hand-like leaves. When young, the bark is green and pliable, becoming gray, corky, and rigid as it matures.
The trunk may swell as it stores water during periods of ample moisture, an adaptation that helps the money tree survive occasional dry spells.
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Suited to outdoor cultivation in USDA Hardiness Zones 10 to 12, money tree is also a popular houseplant believed to bring good luck and contribute to positive Feng Shui in the home.
In the wild, money trees can reach up to 60 feet tall, but when cultivated as a houseplant they top out at about six to eight feet.
This article discusses all you need to know to grow a money tree indoors as a houseplant.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
In its native habitat, the money tree produces showy, fragrant flowers in spring, with yellowish-white petals and dense brush-like red-tipped stamens.
Large pods follow, containing seeds historically used in traditional medicine. Indoors, potted specimens rarely bloom.
Those grown as houseplants often feature several straight trunks braided together for decorative appeal. Some growers train them as bonsai specimens.
Quick Look
Common name(s): Money tree, Guiana chestnut, Malabar chestnut
Plant type: Broadleaf evergreen perennial
Hardiness (USDA Zone): 10-12 (outdoors)
Native to: Mexico, Central America, northern South America
Mature size: 6-8 feet high and wide as a houseplant
Best uses:Bonsai, floor or table houseplant, rain garden
Taxonomy
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus:Pachira
Species:Aquatica, glabra
Like lucky bamboo, another tropical ornamental, money trees are frequently adorned with red ribbons or charms to symbolize prosperity.
A closely related species, the Guinea or French peanut, P. glabra, has cream-colored flowers with matching cream stamens, and smooth, gray bark.
Even in its early stages of growth, the stems are noticeably swollen.
It’s not unusual to find P. glabra foliage grafted onto P. aquatica trunks in commercial specimens and the species are often listed interchangeably on the houseplant market.
A legend tells of a financially challenged Taiwanese farmer who prayed for a miracle, found the tree growing in his field, and was able to sell the seeds for a profit, hence the name “money tree.”
The species is also prized for having a lifespan of 50 to 150 years.
It was a big week here at Remodelista and Gardenista: Our latest (sixth!) book is out in the world! Read more about it right over here, and find it wherever books are sold. (P.S. We’d love to see your copy. Snap a photo in your garden (or front stoop, sunny window, or fire escape) and tag us on Instagram @gardenista_sourcebook.)
Happy weekend, and read on for 18 more things on our radar lately:
Above: Open now in Brooklyn: the Dinesen Apartment by Danish architect David Thulstrup, Photograph by Eric Petschek. Get more info, and book an appointment, here.
New Yorkers: Elizabeth Street Garden’s 5th Annual Halloween Pet Parade (and “rigorously judged costume competition”) will be held next Saturday, Oct. 25. Details here.
If you’ve always wanted to tour Sissinghurst, here’s your chance to do it virtually: Create Academy just launched a new gardening series featuring its head gardener.
“Claverton Cloches has launched a hose reel that is a thing of great beauty! I have their hose, which is beautiful—really weighty so it doesn’t kink and with beautiful brass fittings,” says Clare.
And new goodies from ORCA: gorgeously patinated copper planters. “I’m genuinely obsessed! I love how ambitious ORCA is with their product offerings,” writes Laura.
It’s the last day to catch this exhibition of ink paintings by Okinawa-based Daichiro Shinjo and ceramic works by Wonder Valley-based Jonathan Cross at Blunk Space in Point Reyes Station, CA.
Annie, Margot, and our marketing manager, Adam, attended a screening of The Harvard Fiveat the Architecture and Design Film Festival this week, about the revolutionary architects who brought modern design to New Canaan, CT. Two things that stuck with us from the Q+A with filmmaker Devon Chivvis, a filmmaker who grew up in one of the glass and steel houses: “We were never just inside or just outside,” said Devon. “It was always both.” And also: “The house was like a sibling.”
“Fishs Eddy, the beloved NYC seller of diner dishware, has opened a new outpost in Dumbo that’s a combo café and shop,” reports Margot. “A cup of coffee is only $1.95.”
Wouldn’t you love to wake up here? Now open for stays, courtesy of our friends at Marston House.
Just out: stripey aprons and table linens designed by chef of the moment, Flynn McGarry, for Gem Home x Autumn Sonata.
Clematis is rightly known as the queen of the vines for its regal performance in the garden.
It happily scrambles up and over arbors, pergolas, and trellises, as well as through other plants, creating beautiful walls of rich color.
A carefree perennial, the striking, star-like flowers bloom in shades of blue, pink, purple, red, white, and yellow from late winter into spring, summer, and early autumn.
But not all varieties of this showy climber are cold hardy, and many can benefit from some preventative winter care.
With protection from freezing temperatures and hard frosts, your vines will return with an abundance of flowers year after year.
Here’s what’s to come in our clematis winter care guide:
Clematis Basics
As a perennial, clematis are vigorous vines that return yearly, growing from the same plant stock.
Hardy in USDA Zones 3 to 9, there are some species that are even suitable for growing in chilly Zone 2.
However, there are both hardy and tender varieties available, and not all will survive extended freezing temperatures.
For those living in colder regions, winter hardiness is an important characteristic to take into account when purchasing.
Clematis have three distinct blooming periods that correspond to their pruning groups, known as Groups 1, 2, and 3 (aka Groups A, B, and C).
Knowing what group your plants belong to is important before you start any winter pruning.
Group 1
Group 1 are the early bloomers that flower on old wood in winter and early spring, and they require no pruning.
Photo by Lorna Kring.
Some species in this group can survive Zones 3 to 5, although many won’t flower as profusely in these areas – air and soil temperatures usually don’t warm up enough to coincide with their early bloom periods.
This group also includes evergreen varieties, which are the most susceptible to frost damage.
Group 3 plants flower in late spring, summer, and into autumn, with flowers blooming entirely on new wood.
This group gets cut back hard in winter, so frost damage to stems is negligible – a bonus in cold zones.
Group 3 types also have the most suitable bloom period for colder regions, with flowers blooming in the warmth of early summer right up until first frost.
Here are a few tips if you have existing clematis plants and aren’t sure what group they belong to:
Group 1s often develop thick, woody base stems measuring two to six inches across. They don’t get pruned, which allows them to grow larger than those in the other two groups.
EVERY GARDENER has certainly heard the rallying cry each recent autumn to “leave the leaves,” invoking us to go gentler with our cleanup to support a diversity of beneficial invertebrates who call the fallen leaves their home.
Now a recently published research study calculates just what the impacts of leaf removal are to which organisms, and also offers insights into how and where in our landscapes we can leave the leaves to create habitat with the most positive impact.
Max Ferlauto, the Maryland state entomologist, is one of the scientists who conducted the new research, and in March this year, Max and Karin Burghardt, an ecologist and associate professor at the University of Maryland-College Park, published research on the impacts of leaf removal resulting from their two-year study in 20 residential suburban Maryland yards. On the podcast we talked about their takeaways, and how the data they gathered can help inform gardeners seeking to develop their own more ecological fall cleanup plans.
Read along as you listen to the Oct. 20, 2025 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
Margaret Roach: Yeah. So we did a recent “New York Times” garden column together about your latest research with Karin Burghardt, and I think I said to you at the time, that I’d heard about leaves the leaves, but this was like: leave the leaves, by the numbers. [Laughter.] It’s like you really collected data. It was amazing. So tell us, how did the study take shape? What did you do? What was the protocol, so to speak?
Max Ferlauto: Yeah, sure. So we use these things called emergence traps [above], which are these tents that you basically place over the earth and anything that emerges from that piece of land gets collected. And so in these suburban yards, as you mentioned, we placed those emergence traps over areas where leaves were raked away and where leaves were retained. So we were able to really see everything that was emerging from the ground after the winter, which is the period of time that we’re concerned about during the leaf litter removal period.
Margaret: So there were pairs, so to speak, of these traps. And one had leaves, one area had leaves, and one didn’t in each case. And how big were the spots? How big were the traps?
Max: So we manipulated the leaf litter in one meter square quadrats, and the emergence traps over those quadrats in areas where we removed or retained leaves.
Margaret: So that’s not really very big. And yet when I read the numbers, I mean it’s a little larger than a square yard, yes, a square meter?
Max: Yeah, a square meter.
Margaret: So it’s not miles and miles and miles. And yet when I read the numbers come spring, or in March when you put these emergence traps up through, I guess what, the end of June was it each year?
Max: Yes. March through June, March through the end of June, and we collected almost 2,000 insects emerging insects and spiders emerging from that square meter of yard. [Above. Max with a waved sphinx moth.]
Margaret: In each one that had leaves.
Max: Yes.
Margaret: I mean, that’s a lot of life [laughter]. That’s a lot of life.
Max: You don’t think about your yard producing that much abundance in biodiversity. But that’s what we found.
Margaret: And which organisms were you counting? You weren’t counting like earthworms or-?
Max: So earthworms and decomposing species like springtails, we had even more of those. These were just butterflies and moths, beneficial parasitic wasps, spiders, beetles and flies.
Margaret: O.K.
Max: And basically when you removed leaves, we saw a decrease in a lot of these groups. So when you removed leaves, we found that the average abundance of butterflies and moths was reduced by about 45 percent.
Margaret: Forty-five percent. Oh!
Max: Spider emergence declined by 56 percent, and beetle emergence declined by 24 percent. So we’re seeing that yes, these small sections of our yard, which produce so many insects and beneficial species, if you remove the leaves, we’re seeing declines there.
Margaret: So now people are probably like, well, but what is… You didn’t mention parasitic wasps just then; you had mentioned them earlier. But I’m a gardener—why am I thinking about spiders? A lot of this is about the checks-and-balances systems, right? It’s like the whole system has to be in place. We’ve all heard in the leave the leaves campaign, we’ve especially heard about the butterflies and moths and their caterpillars, which then of course are the primary food source for baby birds, especially songbirds. And that’s so critically important, and that’s been highlighted to us as part of this campaign. But it’s not quite that simple. It’s not just those Lepidopterans. [Above, a marbled orb weaver spider.]
Max: In your yard, you want to have a thriving ecosystem, and that means thinking about the prey and the predators, and that occurs at the insect level, just like it occurs for mammals and birds. So yes, it’s really important to have butterflies and caterpillars to feed birds, but also it’s great to have beneficial biocontrol.
These are natural enemies that we have in our yards that take care of our pest problems. So things like spiders, certain ground beetles, and definitely parasitic wasps, which are tiny wasps; they can’t sting humans, but they will lay their eggs in different pest species and reduce their numbers. So if you have outbreaks of aphids or tobacco hornworms on your tomatoes, there are these parasitic wasps that will control those species.
Margaret: So if we do anything to interrupt their success in our habitat, whether in some of the cases by the numbers you mentioned a couple minutes ago, by not leaving the leaves, we reduced the percentage of emergent individuals of those groups of invertebrates.
Max: Spraying a pesticide, you might get rid of your problem in the short term. But in the long term, if you’re killing both the prey and the predator, eventually that outbreak could come back even worse because you’re not going to have anything to control it. Anything that is going to disrupt those food chains in the long run, it’s going to be damaging.
Margaret: So if we want somebody to take care of our aphids and our tobacco hornworms, we’d better make sure that the food that they want is around [laughter], otherwise they’re not going to find our environment very attractive. I’m oversimplifying, but you know what I mean.
So there were these declines in abundance, I think you told me when we did the Times story, you would call it—the total number of individuals—and also fewer species you saw in some cases.
Max: Yeah. So butterflies and moths had a reduction in species richness or the number of species by about 44 percent.
Margaret: Oh my goodness.
Max: Yeah. And what we’re seeing was it wasn’t just that the species richness was being reduced, but also the composition, the different types of the species that survived had changed. So specifically species that mine leaves, they’re called leafminers, or species that overwinter as larvae or overwinter within the leaves, those are their life-history traits, we say those were the species that were harmed the most by removing leaves.
And on the predator side, we found that the parasitoid wasps that feed on the leafminers and feed on the larvae that are overwintering declined, just like those prey species did as well. So we can see the entire food chain being disrupted by removing leaves. [Above, a mourning cloak butterfly; they overwinter as adults in leaf litter or under bark of trees.]
Margaret: Many years ago, as gardeners—and I’ve been an organic gardener for decades—many, many years ago, there was a big aha moment where it was like, don’t bag your leaves and put them out at the curb; be more sustainable. Keep them there. Utilize those resources, build your soil, use it as mulch, mow over it on the lawn, shred it and let it decompose into the soil of your lawn and blah, blah, blah. In other words, keep it out of the landfill.
And that’s a great idea, that’s a great idea. But it doesn’t do what we’re just talking about: fostering, supporting this food chain and creating habitat for all of these species to live their life cycles out. So I’m going to still say, I believe that compared to sending it in a plastic bag to the landfill—some leaves may have to get maybe end up in the compost, or sometimes we just have too many in certain configurations of our home landscapes or whatever, to let them all lie on every square inch.
But what should we be doing and what can we be doing, and which actions don’t support these organisms that live in the leaves and so forth? How do I know what to do? What are my best and worst options, so to speak [laughter]? Because it’s confusing.
Max: I’m a huge proponent of composting leaves for your garden, but as you mentioned, by doing that, you are going to be killing those overwintering species.
Margaret: Is the heat; is it the heat of the compost? What kills them?
Max: If you have a compost that is running strong and hot, it will kill those species. But also just the depth of that compost pile is going to be disruptive as well.
So really what we’re saying is you don’t have to leave the leaves over your entire yard—as I mentioned, just a small square meter is producing so many insects. So if you have too many, you can compost what you need to. But by leaving leaves and not composting them, you’re allowing for those life cycles of these different insects we’re talking about to complete.
And some other things you can do is take the leaves from an area that you don’t want them, and just move them to a new area. A lot of the insects are overwintering within that leaf material, so by moving it, you’re just basically moving them to a new home over the winter.
Margaret: So moving them whole, not shredded or not put through a machine of some kind, but moving them whole.
Max: We found that shredding leaves was almost as bad as removing them and bagging them. So removing them whole, placing them at the edge of your yard, those are all alternative practices.
Margaret: So moving them around. And in terms of identifying sort of areas of maximum impact, positive impact? I believe when we did the Times story, we talked about thinking about thinking about: so here I’ve made a pollinator garden in my backyard, let’s say. O.K., let me visualize all those creatures that are living in there in the fair-weather months. Where are they going to go and complete their life cycle, procreate, whatever—what’s going to happen next to them? And maybe think about utilizing that area or an adjacent area. Or if I have trees and letting leaves lie under trees and creating a bed under the trees and things like that.
What kind of strategies—is it that kind of thinking? Is that what you’re doing when you look around? [Woolly bear caterpillars, above, the larval stage of the Isabelle tiger moth, overwinter in leaf litter.]
Max: And we did look at this and we found that leaving leaves in areas where they had previously been removed year after year was more beneficial than just leaving them in an area where you always leave them. So that leaf material is a habitat resource. And so by providing it in an otherwise barren area, you’re attracting those insects to that protective habitat, overwintering habitat. And the areas where you have flower gardens, where you have native plant gardens, those are all ideal places to retain your leaves.
Margaret: Yeah, I would think so. I mean, to me, that’s again, when we spoke before for the Times story, that was kind of what I was visualizing when you were sort of walking me through the research and when I read it on my own and so forth, after our conversations, I was kind of visualizing. And the other thing I was visualizing is that, huh, O.K., at the fringe of my property, for example, I have a lot of mature trees, as many people do. The biggest trees sometimes are along the property boundaries or whatever. And I thought, O.K., so those oaks, what if I can make those have their own leaves beneath them? If I can create beds, so to speak and say, these are my safety zones, these are places where I’m going to leave the leaves, because that would seem to be a very natural, ideal kind of situation.
Max: Yeah. There’s a term that’s been discussed called “soft landings,” this idea where you have those areas under trees and you keep them natural. And if you need to move leaves to those areas, as long as you’re not creating huge leaf piles and you’re just kind of moving them from one area to another, you can create those protective habitats, so that all of those species that live on the trees during the summer and spring can move down to its roots to the leaf layer that’s there during the fall and winter. [More about creating soft landings.]
Margaret: And you just said huge leaf piles. So what we’re not talking about is we’re not saying take every leaf whole, pile them on tarps and drag every single leaf on your property onto one bed under one tree, so it’s a 7-foot-deep layer [laughter]. That’s not good.
Max: The insects, they’re queued to seasonal changes, and also energetically, it’s very difficult for them to climb out of a, as you said, a 7-foot pile of leaves. So they want their environment to be as similar as it would be on a forest floor. So imagine walking through the woods on a hike. The leaf layer that you’re seeing around is the depth that we’re talking about, so not deeper than that.
Margaret: So it’s not giant, giant, giant piles of leaves, which also would smother some of the herbaceous plants at that layer.
Max: Yeah, oxygen levels are lower. It’s just not a great habitat to be an overwintering insect at the bottom of a massive pile of leaves.
Margaret: O.K. And similarly, you’re not advocating that. Again, using this kind of walk around and look and try to draw inferences by thinking about where are these creatures and where are they going to go next month and in three months and in six months, in other words, to have a whole year to have their whole life cycle however long it is, and their next generation, next generation survive in this area where I may have attracted them with my planting methods and so forth. I mean, it is a garden after all. So I’m not just going to dump 7 feet deep of leaves behind my garage, either, right? That’s not the whole answer.
Max: And it’s about thinking about the whole life cycle, as you mentioned. So if you’re attracting the insects in the summer with your native plants or your pollinator flowers, you don’t want to remove the habitat that they rely on over the winter. You’re basically just attracting them to kill them later on. So it’s those areas that can be the best places. If you must leave your leaves in only one area, not the whole yard, those are the areas to prioritize.
Margaret: And you just mentioned winter, and so a lot of us, again, it was leave the leaves, don’t clean up so scrupulously in fall, be a little messier, etc., because of overwintering habitat. This is what we’ve learned so far, because again, this is a fairly new idea for a lot of us, and we’re trying to—and we’re not scientists, we don’t have your expertise—we’re trying to take it all in.
So we’ve learned about the overwintering-habitat idea and who’s in that leaf litter in the offseason, but it doesn’t end there, does it? The importance of that habitat doesn’t end there, does it, at the end of winter?
Max: Yeah. Our experiment was to remove the leaves in the fall, and then we placed those emergence traps in the spring to early summer, but we did not notice any declines in the number of bugs emerging. So there was a thought that at some point, maybe when the ground hits 50 degrees or all of these other potential times, there was going to be a cliff, and most of the insects would have emerged, and now we’re O.K. to remove our leaves.
We didn’t see that. We saw that insects kept on emerging throughout the summer, so that in July we were actually getting more insects emerging than we were in March and April. So yeah, I would say that we’re talking about overwintering, and that is what we specifically studied, but it doesn’t look like there’s much evidence for there being a time where everything is emerged and it’s O.K. to clean up. A lot of species actually have two generations, so they’ll have a generation in the spring, and then they’ll also have one in late summer. This leaf habitat is valuable all year round.
Margaret: Right. Well, and if we think about it, we’re in a way emulating or evoking this sort of duff layer. The forest floor you mentioned before is the closest thing we know in habitats. So nobody cleaned up the leaves there at any time [laughter]. Do you know what I mean? It was a forever thing. The detritivores, all the other creatures who you didn’t count in this particular study, but who we know something about, they were doing their work down below on the oldest stuff, which was getting incorporated into the soil; the organic matter was getting incorporated into the soil. So there was a constant, again, food chain.
Max: Yeah. I mean, there are examples in history where humans have removed leaf litter from forests, like in the Middle Ages. They would use that material for bedding for their livestock. And there’s been studies that have shown that those areas where the leaves have been removed for centuries have lower soil carbon levels, even centuries after that practice had stopped. So the removal of this material has long-lasting implications.
Margaret: Let’s talk a little bit more about that, because I think a year prior, I think you published work about earlier research about the soil carbon and about what you were finding. Was it from these same properties, I believe, but earlier inferences?
Max: We looked at soil carbon and decomposition, and we found that areas where leaves have been removed year after year as a historical practice within yards had a reduction of about 24 percent of soil carbon was reduced.
Margaret: And the soil carbon helps in…what’s its role? It helps with-?
Max: Soil carbon, and soil organic matter really are valuable as, I guess you could say, purveyors of different soil qualities. So soil carbon, having higher soil carbon, means your soil is more nutritious. It means it holds water better. It means structurally it is less compacted. And then of course, thinking on the big picture, soil carbon is important for carbon sequestration from our atmosphere. So soil carbon is very important to the systems of earth.
Margaret: So that was some of the earlier takeaways, and that’s not quick. Like you said, in the places where you added leaves, you saw not immediate, but in that same season, you could see creatures were utilizing it. Whereas repairing this loss of soil carbon doesn’t come back the next year.
Max: Right, exactly. We would say that this would be a legacy effect of leaf removal. The carbon is being reduced by 24 percent. It’s not coming back the next year.
Margaret: Or probably anytime soon.
Max: Yeah, exactly.
Margaret: Well, Max Ferlauto, I mean, the numbers really did it for me. It made me want to learn more and more and more about each of the creatures and how to support them, and the intricate relationships between them and so forth. So I just found it fascinating. I’m so glad to speak to you again, and thank you for making time. I know you’ve got lots and lots and lots going on, so thank you.
prefer the podcast version of the show?
MY WEEKLY public-radio show, rated a “top-5 garden podcast” by “The Guardian” newspaper in the UK, began its 16th year in March 2025. It’s produced at Robin Hood Radio, the smallest NPR station in the nation. Listen locally in the Hudson Valley (NY)-Berkshires (MA)-Litchfield Hills (CT) Mondays at 8:30 AM Eastern, rerun at 8:30 Saturdays. Or play the Oct. 20, 2025 show using the player near the top of this transcript. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes/Apple Podcasts or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
A beautiful relative to the bright red beet above, chard comes in a variety of colors, but a brilliant green is just as enticing.
These ‘Early Girl’ tomatoes are still green but will ripen before most other tomatoes in the garden. This extra-large variety is great for stacking on a sandwich or simply slicing up on a plate.
Of course, there is much more to be admired in a kitchen garden then just the fruit. The flowers that precede your crop can be just as exciting and don’t get nearly enough attention for their understated beauty. This is one of Barbara’s small but mighty cucumber blossoms.
Cucumber tendrils always have a mind of their own, twisting and curling around whatever is nearby and creating wonderful swirls and spirals in the process.
Another big bloom that holds the potential of a delicious crop to follow: This one is a much larger yellow zucchini squash blossom, with another squash starting to mature alongside it.
Fall is here, and that means squash season! ‘Waltham’ butternut squash is one of the most well-liked winter squashes. It’s easy to see why—that bright orange flesh is delicious in a wide variety of recipes.
That is one hardy harvest! Lots of butternut and white acorn squashes along with one huge cucumber.
Of course, Barbara had to treat us to one fantastic flower. A couple of bumblebees are also here to enjoy this lovely bright red dahlia.
