Here’s a myth about design. Contrary to what home-makeover shows might have you believe, there’s no ta-da moment when a space is “done.” Rather, we like designer Cassandra Ellis’s idea that a home is “a long and rambling poem revealing someone’s life,” ever shifting, changing, and adapting to suit the needs of its inhabitants and reflect what they love. Ditto a garden.
How do you want to live in your space this year? As for our editors, we’re aiming for boldness, making room for joy, culling what’s extra, and finally getting around to some long-put-off garden tasks. Read on.
Above: Julie’s Mill Valley place. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Remodelista.
Eschew trends.
“My resolution? Stick to tried-and-true basics and ignore the trends. We recently moved back to our house in Mill Valley, California, and it’s still as fresh and easy as it was two decades ago. If you start with classics—some might even say ‘boring’ choices—you won’t have to look back with regret. And you won’t waste money on of-the-moment trends—hello, wildly patterned marble backsplashes, white boucle covered midcentury furniture, and brass fixtures and fittings everywhere.” – Julie
Be bold.
“I’m not color-averse, just color-shy, but this is the year I’d like to be more playful with my palette. Our home is dominated by neutral-hued floor coverings and furniture, with spots of color courtesy of artwork and pillows. I’m ready to turn up the color: perhaps a botanical wallpaper for the bedroom? Or a patterned Moroccan rug in lieu of our current ivory shag rug that I’ve come to loathe? Or maybe a new red armchair to replace the minimalist gray one that, if I’m honest, kinda gives American Psycho vibes? There will always be a place for neutrals in my home (I’m a New Yorker at heart), but I think what 2026 calls for is a little more boldness and bravery.” – Fan
Move past white.
“The time has come to move past the white couch. Our sofa is comfy and serves us well—and is plenty wide enough when my partner or I need to sleep on it with our senior rescue dog. But I must admit that the nothing-color of the upholstery is doing, well, nothing for the room. Time to learn to sew a slipcover?” – Annie
Cut back on secondhand buys.
“Most New Year’s resolution lists probably say something like ‘buy more secondhand,’ and yes—always shop gently used and pre-loved before buying new. However, I feel ready to admit that my consumption at both my local Goodwill and the excellent nearby swap shop has started to get away from me. Just because it’s there, or a good deal, does not mean I need more glassware or fabric or baskets. There. I said it. I’ll still shop these places before buying new, but it’ll be a more judicious hunt for something specific rather than a I’m-just-passing-by browse.” – Annie
Tame the toys.
“My eight-month-old daughter’s play mat, books, and toys have already taken over my small Brooklyn apartment—we sold our coffee table to make room for it all—but I’d like to at least keep it organized and as visually-appealing as possible, so I ordered a bunch of HAY Recycled Colour Crates and a big yellow woven basket as an attempt to tame the mess. Baby proofing is also on the docket…Wish me luck.” – Morgan
Repaint.
“On the home front, I have a new motto of ‘no more chipped paint’: This applies to both the surfaces of my apartment and some furnishings. In the garden, I want to boost biodiversity. I have a goal plant a greater variety of native plants at my weekend house—including at least one tree.” – Laura
Cull collections.
“I resolve to do a lot of indoor weeding—not of plants but of the many possessions I’ve accumulated, from a closetful of vases to a sky-high stack of dish towels. And that ever so barely begins to cover it.” – Margot
Cook for others.
“This month I started contributing to a community fridge, after a friend posted about doing the same. I make a big batch of what I have been calling Thursday Chile (it is delivered on a Thursday), enough for ten meals and featuring as many calories and nutrition as I can stuff into one pot. As I arrived yesterday, the fridge’s customers were two elderly men and a grandmother with two small kids in tow. The fridge was empty then, and the containers went straight into their hands. It is humbling. I am very uncomfortable about the virtue-signaling aspect of this, but I know I am doing it because someone else’s actions inspired me to do a little local research. It may inspire someone else. The need is great.” – Marie
Above: A flower bed in Clare’s garden. Photograph by Clare Coulson.
Tend to the garden’s edges.
“My goal: replanting borders. This is a huge job, which is why I’ve put it off, but after a few summers of letting my out-of-control borders slide, it’s time to bite the bullet. I’ve allowed thugs and self-seeders to gain the upper hand, so it very much feels like it’s now or never. Last year I saw some really pretty planting at Luciano Giubbilei’s new garden at Raby Castle, and this has given me extra incentive to replant with a new palette, but also more drought-tolerant plants.” – Clare
Upgrade the potter’s shed.
“Our cottage came with a hut in the back, which is entirely plastic: floor, walls, roof. The huge window is glass. Instead of making do and cladding the interior, I’d really like to have a ‘head gardener’s office,’ with reasonable windows that open and a gently sloping planted roof. I’m told that it’ll be quite easy, but having NEVER had builders in, my hesitation over finding one has put the garden on ice for four years. I can’t stand it any longer, so drawings are being made and the search is on. Watch this space.” – Kendra
Grow more.
“Resolution: grow more arugula, because the store-bought bags go funky too quickly. Create more art—more for therapeutic reasons than anything. Grow more cut flowers from seed because there are way more options!” – Kier
Be present.
“This year, my resolution is to spend less time looking at the garden as a task list and more time being fully present in it—really listening to the different sounds of birdsong, insect chatter, and leaves rustling, really seeing the way petals unfurl and how colors of plants come together, and really breathing in deeply the scents of the land, from earthy compost to spicy summersweet.” – Melissa
Do you have home resolutions for the new year? Let us know in the comments.
Happy weekend, dear reader. Ahead, a new memoir, spoon-carving workshops, making flowers in the snow, and more. Read on: Itching for growing season? We are, too, and plan to force some bulbs indoors for a dose of color. These inexpensive bulb vases look perfect for the job. From Laura; “Stephen Orr has stealthily launched a Substack, which shares […]
GOLDENRODS are powerhouses—keystone plants that serve as hosts for more than 100 species of butterflies and moths, and as rich, late-season sources of pollen and nectar for countless beneficial insects. As if that were not enough, they also produce seed that supports various birds.
Now Mt. Cuba Center, the native plant garden and research institution in Delaware, has published the results of its three-year trial of 70 different goldenrods—and their manager of horticultural research, Sam Hoadley, detailed for me what they learned about the best goldenrods (like Solidago sphacelata, above) and how to use them in your garden.
Sam is the Manager of Horticultural Research at Mt. Cuba Center, where he evaluates native plant species, old and new cultivars, and hybrids in the famed Mt. Cuba Trial Garden.
I always look forward to our conversations and to getting his first-hand insights into each genus they explore there, and Sam will also be presenting a virtual class on goldenrod Feb. 18 at 6:00-7:30 PM (information on that is here on the Mt. Cuba website).
Read along as you listen to the Feb. 2, 2026 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: Welcome back to the program, Sam. How are you?
Sam Hoadley: I’m good, Margaret. Thanks so much for having me back.
Margaret: Happy winter.
Sam: Yes, happy winter.
Margaret: No goldenrods right now.
Sam: No, no. We can think about green things while we have this conversation, but everything’s a little white, I would say, at the moment.
Margaret: Yes. Well, I was so glad that this report was out because I mean, as I said in the introduction: powerhouses, and these are keystone plants. I mean, one only has to go stand adjacent to a field or a meadow or whatever in the later part of the season, the fall or whatever, and just look at the life, listen to the life—it’s literally abuzz—and know the power of these plants. So it must have been a really literally lively trial.
Sam: Yes, absolutely. The insect activity was off the charts. It was higher than at least the volume of insects and the diversity of insects that we were seeing coming to visit the goldenrods, and supporting this incredible diverse web of life just in the Trial Garden itself, was incredible. Since then, we’ve also included a Pycnanthemum trial, so we’re seeing lots of insects with that. We’re keeping that theme going. But goldenrods are just… If you’re looking for a group of plants to just help amplify your home garden in terms of the value it can provide wildlife, goldenrods are a really, really great place to start.
Margaret: And yet I think a lot of gardeners are a little cautious, shy, gun-shy, because there are some that have this reputation of, “Oh, they’re so invasive or whatever, they get out of hand,” and so forth. So funny anecdote, I had a workshop here a few years ago with a visiting botanist neighbor. She was doing a lot of the teaching and we’re up in the meadow above my house and the student visitors or whatever, we’re all sitting around. And I’m pontificating [laughter] and I’m saying, well, I’m so worried because I’m very worried that Canada goldenrod is going to come into my little meadow—and it is a small meadow—and then that’s going to take over and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And my friend, the botanist, she sort of walks away and she walks into the meadow and she comes back and she lays down five stalks of goldenrod on the ground by the students, parallel to one another very beautifully like a still life. And she says, she looks at me without being insulting or anything, what she says, “Well, Margaret, you have five species of goldenrod, but you don’t have Canada goldenrod.” [Laughter.] And I didn’t plant anything. My meadow was just a, I unmowed; I stopped mowing. Lovely. What happened? Because I’m in a rural area, so people worry about, “Oh, it’s invasive.” But that’s not the case with all of them by any means, is it?
Sam: No. And that’s something we saw in the trial quite a lot. I think goldenrods are often maligned for a few reasons. One of them being that people, I think many people can recognize a goldenrod when they see it. I think they’re kind of in that category of roses and peonies. People maybe who aren’t even gardeners can see that yellow flower in the fall and think goldenrod. But a lot of times are those initial thoughts about goldenrods in general is that these are aggressive plants or they cause allergies. And of course there’s nuance to the aggressive nature of goldenrod. There is no nuance to the allergies. All goldenrods have that one thing in common is that don’t cause allergies, which is great for us.
Margaret: Right. They’re always confused with ragweed because they sort of happen at the same time. And the pollen from ragweed is the deal. Right?
Sam: Exactly. That’s exactly right. The goldenrod pollen is heavy. It relies on insects to move it around. So that pollen is not airborne. It’s not getting into our lungs and into our sinuses.
But in terms of the aggressive nature of goldenrod, it really does exist on spectrum. And we saw a few plants in the goldenrod trial—we evaluated 70 different kinds—and I would say maybe three or four of those species are plants that I would categorize as aggressive. And the rest were, if you will, fairly well behaved. A lot of them were clump forming. A lot of them were a little bit shorter than I think I might’ve imagined goldenrods being in my mind. And a lot of them are really great candidates for more managed traditional home landscapes.
And it’s not to say the aggressive plants don’t belong anywhere, and there’s certainly uses for them. We think of those plants as really great candidates for restoration settings, where you need a plant that has a more competitive edge to it. And in terms of biomass and supporting wildlife, caterpillars, insects, plants like Solidago altissima[below] and Solidago canadensis are phenomenal at supporting a tremendous amount of wildlife. So it’s one of those plants, it’s really just right plant, right place. But the vast majority of goldenrods really are not that aggressive at all.
Margaret: So altissima, what’s its common name? Canadensis would be the Canada goldenrod that I mentioned earlier. What’s altissima’s common name?
Sam: Altissima is tall goldenrod.
Margaret: Tall goldenrod. Right. O.K., good. And those two are stronger growers.
Sam: Yes, they are. And canadensis, I think a lot of times a lot of these taller, more aggressive goldenrods get lumped under canadensis. But at least around Mt. Cuba Center, most of the plants that you see on roadsides and in old fields are Solidago altissima. There’s actually relatively few specimens of Solidago canadensis in our natural lands.
Margaret: Well, and that speaks to taking a closer look, because as you pointed out, even from a distance, as you’re driving by and you look from the edge of the road into a field in the distance, you can say, “Oh, it’s goldenrod season,” but which goldenrod. They are hard to tell apart unless you really slow down, aren’t they?
Sam: Yes. But once you do, you start to see diversity in foliage and form and habit, and when those plants are in bloom. And that was the other thing we saw, too, was just this incredible season of flowers with these 70 goldenrods. Of course, you have this peak goldenrod season in September, October, but we had plants starting to bloom in May, June, July, and we had a couple of goldenrods that extended their bloom season all the way into November.
So with just this one genus, you can have flowers supporting wildlife and beautifying your garden for months out of the year. Once you slow down a little bit and you look at your goldenrods, there’s a lot more nuance out there. And as you said in your meadow alone, you had five species. That’s incredible in a relatively small area, as you mentioned.
Margaret: Right. And again, I didn’t do anything. I didn’t plant anything. They were in the seed bank when I stopped mowing that field above my house years ago and let whatever was going to happen happen, they sprung up. They were in there. Do you, around Mt. Cuba, are there a lot of species that you haven’t planted? Are there a lot of literally native species to that area?
Sam: Yes, there’s some really cool plants. Our natural lands are home to several really cool goldenrods. Some of them would be familiar to gardeners like blue-stemmed goldenrod, zigzag goldenrod. They’re in our woodlands around here, Solidago caesia and flexicaulis, probably pretty familiar to gardeners and a great candidate for shaded gardens. We have Solidago altissima that’s very common in our natural lands, a few Solidago canadensis patches. We also have another species that’s relatively tall and I think sometimes considered to be an aggressive plant called Solidago gigantea [above], which is a beautiful plant that occurs really in kind of wet meadows, kind of seepy areas, and is a perfect companion with New York ironweed. They bloom at the same time. So you have this kind of concert of yellow and purple, really a stunning display.
Sam: We did, and we actually teased a little photo of that wet meadow with the New York and Solidago gigantea together, which is one of my favorite places at Mt. Cuba Center. Just to see these kind of plants in their natural habitat and to see them thriving together and to observe all the insects that are coming in.
And we have a couple other, somewhat more, I would say obscure species as well, including Solidago patula, which really grows in kind of these wet woodlands, these big leafy rosettes that come up in the spring. And these very tall architectural inflorescences—beautiful plants, somewhat uncommon in this area, but another candidate for shaded gardens, early goldenrod, Solidago juncea, is in some of the leaner soils in our meadows and blooms in July, August. But there’s an incredible diversity, and I really do encourage people to go to our natural lands in addition to our gardens, of course.
Margaret: When they visit, right.
Sam: Exactly. And to see these plants in the wild, and it just gives you a lot of insight about where these plants want to grow effective companions to plant them with and to really see how they work in a natural system.
Margaret: Now you mentioned that some can take some shade, I think; that there are different times of bloom, that there’s an extended season of bloom, if you really look at the different species. And you evaluated that in the report, there’s a different height range; they’re not all four or so feet tall. There’s different extremes of height as well.
A lot of people, especially when they’re using them in a looser area of their property, they might have deer in that area. What about deer? Are they deer food or what’s the-
Sam: Yeah, so a lot of them we found are fairly resistant to deer herbivory. Now, resistant doesn’t necessarily mean deer-proof.
Margaret: Of course.
Sam: But I mean, I think we all get an education on what exactly is deer proof every year, depending on how hungry the deer are. But for the first time, we were able to have a little bit of data included in our research report on our website about deer and herbivory resistance, thanks to a study that was done at Temple University at Ambler Arboretum. Their staff, including Kathy Salisbury, their executive director, took large portion of the trial and planted it out in an area that was exposed to a lot of deer traffic, and basically monitored all those plants for two years to try to see which of these plants are being browsed and which weren’t.
A lot of the really healthy, strong plants, a lot of the top performers from our horticultural trials, ended up being quite resistant to herbivory. And so that was a very encouraging finding for me that goldenrods are not just adaptable plants in garden settings, but they’re also fairly adaptable to herbivory or resistant to herbivory, which is a really important consideration for a lot of people in our area that deer pressure’s a very real thing in cultivated areas.
Margaret: So in the trials, you always have a chart of rating the top ones and for different qualities and so forth. And in terms of winners [laughter], there were a few that really stood out, weren’t there? And are these all for garden use, or are these for conservation or restoration use, or I can’t remember with the top ones, whether they were all good garden candidates as well?
Sam: Yeah, a lot of them are. A lot of them are actually kind of go into both worlds there. A lot of them are good for the home garden, but I think also are good candidates for restoration projects, for natural lands managers. This is a really a great trial that applies to a much larger audience, perhaps, than we’ve been targeting before with a lot of these results.
We have some of our plants that are maybe more traditional garden plants that maybe are not necessarily locally native to us. But we have several species that are locally native, are relatively common in natural areas around us, but just have not been grown before either by horticulturists or restoration nurseries. And we found that some of those plants were phenomenal garden performers, and it was a really, really great opportunity for us to promote those plants, to elevate them in the garden and conservation communities, and to just shine a light on some of these species that are, in some cases in our backyards, that make tremendous garden and landscape plants that have incredible ability to support wildlife and cultivation as well.
Margaret: I think the top spot was like a tie, wasn’t it? There was a dead heat for a tie. What were called the winners, so to speak.
Sam: It was almost a perfect tie between one plant that’s very well established in cultivation, which is Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’ [above]. I know I’ve had some of my gardens for years. I know many people have that plant. It’s a great introduction to the world of goldenrods. It has a beautiful habit. It’s actually a selection of a wild-type plant that was collected by North Carolina Botanic Garden staff I think in 1970 and was later introduced to the horticultural world in 1990, I believe. And it’s been very popular ever since and rightly, and it was great to see that being a top performer; it kind of confirmed what we already know, that it’s a great garden plant was actually a top performer in Richard Hawke’s research at Chicago Botanic Garden as well, when they did a goldenrod trial. So it confirmed what we all know.
Margaret: I remember actually when it was Kim Hawks from Niche Gardens, which was one of the really pioneering native plant nurseries. I remember visiting them a million years ago, decades and decades and decades ago, and that she was just so high on this plant that it was just such a great plant. And again, as you pointed out, then a decade later, it was affirmed by Chicago Botanic and so forth. It’s, it’s a winner. So Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks.’ And is it big, small, early, late? Anything about it?
Sam: It’s kind of a medium-sized plant. It does spread, but it’s not terribly aggressive. I think when you plant it in wetter soils, it will spread a little bit faster, but you can keep it restrained by growing it in more average to dry soils. It blooms kind of in that typical September, early October window. It has these incredible sprays of flowers. Individually the inflorescences are kind of stringy and wiry, but together they kind of create these netted domes of golden flowers. They are stunning, and we use them extensively in our perennial borders and our formal gardens. It’s just a really solid performer. We see lots of insect activity. It is kind of the best of cultivated goldenrods.
Margaret: And rugosa is the wrinkle-leaf goldenrod, the common name. O.K., so this is the selection ‘Fireworks.’
Sam: Exactly. But along with that, the plant that tied with it was a virtual newcomer to the horticultural world, which was very exciting. We have a plant that has not really been in cultivation before, is locally native to us in Delaware. It’s kind of a coastal native plant that prefers kind of these wet back dune areas. And this plant was neck and neck with ‘Fireworks’ for the entire trial.
And it’s so exciting for us to see plants like that that have this untapped potential, because it just shows you that there’s so much out there that hasn’t been evaluated and introduced, and there’s so much diversity out there that’s just kind of ready to be found and ready to be introduced to gardeners, to restorationists. And that’s one of those plants that can really fit into both of those worlds beautifully. It grows, it’s kind of a medium-sized plant, again, maybe gets to 3 to 4 feet tall; really nice, sturdy stems.
Does spread similar to ‘Fireworks,’ but its spread can be slowed by growing it in drier soils. And even then, it’s really not too hard to contain. It’s not a terribly competitive plant. If you plant in a perennial border, it’s not going to overrun your border, either. We’ve loved its sturdy stems. It has kind of this fuzzy pubescence over the stems, the foliage. The flowers are incredibly beautiful. We saw lots of insect activity, really beautiful seed heads, and one of my favorite things about it, so we got really nice fall color out of this species as well. The foliage turned kind of shades of garnet and red and purple, a really, really lovely and special species, and was collected locally in Delaware. And it’s one that we have spent some time distributing seed to commercial nurseries around us, both for the horticultural world and for the restoration world. We’re hoping that it’s going to be much more available in the future. [Below, ‘Fireworks’ in fall color.]
Margaret: So that’s the pine-barren goldenrod, Solidago fistulosa.
Sam: Right.
Margaret: I don’t know that one. So it’s interesting, I’m inland and closer to New England, so I don’t know that one. So those were two winners, they tied. And then I think what came next was one that Mt. Cuba Center introduced quite a while ago.
Sam: So it’s actually the wild type of that plant we introduced.
Margaret: Oh!
Sam: So this is Solidago sphacelata, I think it’s called autumn goldenrod, which is not a very descriptive name [laughter], but Solidago sphacelata is a wonderful plant. It can apply to a lot of different garden settings. And we introduced Mt. Cuba Center, the “we” is Mt. Cuba Center introduced.
Margaret: Yes. Right [laughter]. And the funny thing is, it might have been even Dick Lighty [the first director of Mt. Cuba Center].
Sam: I think it was.
Margaret: Because I remember coming and visiting him there, and some of his earliest introductions I have in my garden. It’s like, wow, you guys have been pioneers and then you’re just continuing, continuing to make such an important contribution. So hooray.
Sam: Yeah. And Dr. Lighty introduced a lot of really great plants, especially in the late eighties, early nineties.
And Solidago sphacelata ‘Golden Fleece’[detail above], which is another pretty probably familiar name in the goldenrod world to gardeners, was introduced at that time. And this was a really compact form of Solidago sphacelata that was found in North Carolina. It is a really great fit for more formal borders. It’s smaller, well behaved if you will. I think it’s even small and compact enough to be used in container gardens really effectively if you don’t have a lot of space in your garden. And it has a lot of garden merit.
But we actually found that the wild-type plant outperformed ‘Golden Fleece’ in the trials from most perspectives, it was a little bit more robust. It was able to kind of I wouldn’t say compete, but stand up against taller plants. I have some problems in my home garden with golden fleece just because I don’t maintain my garden quite to the level that we do at Mt. Cuba Center.
And ‘Golden Fleece’ often gets overrun and outcompeted where I plant it. But Solidago sphacelata the wild type is just a little bit larger, a little bit more robust, and it’s able to kind of hold its own in a garden setting. And it actually is a really effective groundcover. It has larger, somewhat more silvery leaves. It creates this lovely mat of foliage in the spring that’s followed by these arching sprays of flowers in later fall. I think it could be really beautifully used on hillsides because a lot of those inflorescences will all kind of orient the same way, especially if you’re looking up at it on a hill. I think it would be absolutely spectacular.
Margaret: Interesting.
Sam: Adaptable to dry soils. It’s adaptable to shade. There’s a lot of uses for just the wild types, Solidago sphacelata, and a ton of insect activity as well.
Margaret: I want to talk about growing them. And is there a sort of protocol of when we cut back or do we cut back, or when we do anything to them. Because they are used in all of their moments really by some creature or other, because as I said, the introduction, they’re host plants for so many insects, they are pollen and nectar sources. They then produce seed that many birds use in the offseason. I mean, these are super-powerhouses. They are. And so what’s your instinct then, knowing that, and that there’s always someone wanting to get at the goldenrods [laughter]—what’s your instinct for managing them as a gardener?
Sam: Yeah, I think we did very little to them in the Trial Garden. And I don’t treat them very differently in my home landscape. I really want wildlife to be able to eke every last bit of benefit out of those plants as I possibly can. That really translates to leaving those stems up in the winter. And we do cut back in the spring, but we try to leave at least on some of the taller, more robust species a little bit of stubble, if you will, some taller stems, maybe 8 to 24 inches of stem, instead of cutting them back to the ground. That will provide some habitat for cavity-nesting bees. We want to have all those seeds get eaten.
And really during the growing season, we can be very hands-off with these plants unless you wanted to kind of control its spread a little bit. And a lot of that just requires simply pulling some of those stems that are coming up in places that you don’t want them. But a lot of these plants can be really left alone. Some of them you can do the Chelsea Chop on, you can cut them back, especially some of the plants with kind finer foliage and more numerous stems. They respond well to that if you want to keep them a little bit shorter. But that’s really not required, either.
Goldenrods, if you cite them correctly and if they’re happy where they’re growing, they are a very, very hands-off, low-maintenance plant, which is I think great. Again, for gardeners like myself, who I don’t have the time to really be out in all corners of the garden at all times. They’re really a great plant that I know is going to perform in the garden setting, but it’s also going to provide tons of wildlife value with very limited inputs from me.
Margaret: And those two things are just really sort of in sync, harmonious, the hands-off. And boy, oh boy, everybody’s in there getting what they need from them. So yeah, we didn’t mention that they’re in the Aster family, but their flowers, each little flower is accessible, it’s so accessible. And so asters frequently bloom at the same time and are another great fall resource for a lot of these same creatures.
Sam: Exactly.
Margaret: Yeah. Well, what are you trialing next? What’s going on now?
Sam: Yeah, we’ve got lots going on in the Trial Garden. We have an ongoing trial in oakleaf hydrangeas, an ongoing trial on milkweeds, which I think is going to be our next research report, small trial on Physostegia, small trial on Tiarella, a big trial on Pycnanthemum, which has been incredible in terms, I mean, very similar.
Margaret: The mountain mints. The mountain mints, yeah.
Sam: Oh my gosh. Yeah, the mountain mints. And very similar in terms of insect activity, and just if you’re interested in elevating the wildlife value of your home garden, look at goldenrods, look at mountain mints. We’re also looking at ferns, and we just planted a new trial on what we’re calling bluestems. So these are the little bluestems. There’s some bluestems that are really commonly known, like little bluestem is the very popular landscape plant, but there’s lots of other bluestems out there. And we’ve really tried to demonstrate the biodiversity of what Andropogon and what Schizachyrium can offer in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond from cultivated specimens to wild-type plants.
Margaret: Well, Sam, I don’t know how you do it all, but I’m so glad you do, and thank you for making time today to talk, and I hope I’ll talk to you soon again.
Sam: Absolutely. And thank you so much for having me.
more from sam hoadley
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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 Feb. 2, 2026 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).
Winter can be a quiet time in the garden, as many plants are dormant and gardeners turn to non-gardening activities that can get neglected during the peak season. Because of this, some gardeners don’t expect much from their winter garden and spend the season anticipating spring blooms. However, it is possible to enjoy gorgeous garden scenes year-round, and it’s particularly easy in the Southeast. Dr. Andy Pulte and Jason Reeves, two Southeast horticulture experts from the University of Tennessee, share their best advice for winter gardening.
In this roundtable and Q&A, Andy and Jason discuss:
Top plants for winter interest: Discover a diverse selection of trees, shrubs, and perennials that bring beautiful blooms, vibrant foliage, and necessary structure to your winter landscape.
Winter garden design advice: Learn how to incorporate an array of winter interest in your garden for a design that dazzles from December through February.
A winter garden task roundup: If you are looking for any excuse to get outside and start working, you are in luck. Andy and Jason will run down which garden chores to prioritize in winter, which tasks can wait until spring, and the maintenance methods to skip altogether.
About Andy
Dr. Andy Pulte received his PhD in plant sciences from the University of Tennessee, where he is now on the faculty in the same department. His current responsibilities include teaching and advising, and he also coordinates UT’s plant sciences undergraduate program. He is also an internationally certified arborist.
About Jason
Jason Reeves is the curator of the University of Tennessee Gardens, located at the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Jackson. Jason has been cultivating and growing the gardens there for nearly 20 years.
Welcoming children into a home often changes the way parents think about their living environment. Air quality, once an afterthought, becomes a priority as families grow and spend more time indoors together. This is why an air purifier naturally finds its place in conversations around family wellbeing, supporting cleaner air without adding complexity to daily routines.
Why indoor air matters more as families grow
Homes with children are constantly active. Cooking, playing, cleaning, and everyday movement all contribute to indoor particles circulating through shared spaces. For young children whose bodies are still developing, a comfortable indoor environment plays a key role in daily wellbeing.
Parents often focus on nutrition, sleep, and routines, yet air quality quietly influences all three. A fresher atmosphere supports better rest, easier breathing, and a calmer home overall.
Everyday activities and invisible particles
Simple actions such as preparing meals, opening windows, or playing on the floor can introduce fine particles into the air. Over time, these build up, especially in rooms where families gather most.
Maintaining cleaner air helps create a home that feels lighter and more comfortable, even during busy days when ventilation is limited.
Supporting comfort through every season
Seasonal changes often affect how much time families spend indoors. During colder months or high pollen periods, windows remain closed more often. Having consistent air treatment helps maintain comfort regardless of weather conditions.
Building a calm and comfortable home environment
A growing family benefits from a sense of calm at home. When the environment feels fresh and balanced, it becomes easier to manage routines, transitions, and rest times.
Clean air contributes to this calm in subtle but meaningful ways. Parents often notice improved sleep quality and a more pleasant atmosphere in shared living spaces.
Encouraging better sleep for all ages
Sleep is essential for both children and adults. A comfortable bedroom environment supports deeper rest, which in turn improves mood and energy levels throughout the day.
By maintaining cleaner air in sleeping areas, families can support consistent bedtime routines and more restorative nights.
Creating welcoming shared spaces
Living rooms, play areas, and kitchens are where family life unfolds. These spaces benefit from an environment that feels fresh, especially when children spend time playing close to the floor.
Practical solutions for modern family life
Parents managing busy households often look for solutions that work quietly in the background. Simplicity and reliability matter more than constant adjustments or monitoring.
Modern air treatment solutions are designed to integrate smoothly into daily life, supporting families without disrupting routines.
Some of the practical benefits include:
Consistent improvement of indoor air quality
Minimal involvement once set up
Suitable for different room sizes and uses
These advantages can help you focus on your children rather than household maintenance.
Adapting to changing family needs
As families grow, homes evolve. Nurseries become bedrooms, playrooms transform into study areas, and shared spaces take on new roles. Flexible home solutions support these transitions without requiring major changes.
Air quality remains a constant need through every stage. Whether caring for a newborn or supporting school age children, maintaining a comfortable atmosphere contributes to long term family wellbeing.
Supporting children at different stages
From crawling infants to active toddlers, children interact closely with their environment. Clean air supports comfort during play, learning, and rest, adapting naturally as children grow.
Helping parents maintain balance
Parenting brings both joy and responsibility. Reducing environmental concerns helps you feel more confident and in control, allowing you to focus on connection and guidance.
Investing in a healthier future at home
Your family home is more than simply a place to live. It’s where habits are formed, values are shared, and children learn what care looks like. Choosing to support a healthier indoor environment reflects thoughtful parenting and long term vision.
By prioritising air quality, you can create spaces that feel safe, calm, and supportive at every stage of growth. The result is a home that nurtures wellbeing daily, allowing the whole family to thrive together in comfort.
Growing heirloom crops is like sowing little pieces of history. These old, open-pollinated varieties of classic garden vegetables are passed down from generation to generation and are often renowned for superior flavors, colors, and productivity. If you’re looking to join in this time-honored tradition or expand your heirloom seed collection, join us for a live webinar and Q&A with one of our Pacific Northwest regional reporters, Fionuala Campion.
Fionuala’s roots in vegetable growing began with her grandparents, who were farmers in Ireland (yes, her family does have a favorite potato variety!) and continues in her career today as the owner and manager of a nursery in Petaluma, California.
In this webinar, Fionuala will discuss:
The best heirloom varieties to grow: Stop drowning in catalogs or spending all day scrolling through online seed listings, and discover the varieties that this heirloom aficionado cannot live without.
Seed starting advice: Give your heirloom seeds the best chances of success with Fionuala’s expert guidance. She will cover everything from timing to techniques that will give you a better rate of germination and more robust plants.
Preservation through seed saving: Learn how you can be a part of keeping these heirloom varieties alive and well by successfully collecting and storing seeds every year.
From the tastiest tomatoes to peas, potatoes, and pumpkins, sign up for this free webinar to ensure your garden produces the most delicious and abundant harvests this year.
February 13th, 2026
11am EST
About Fionuala
Fionuala is the owner and manager of Cottage Gardens of Petaluma, a specialty nursery in Northern California. From this platform she shares her love of growing plants and transforming landscapes, while continuing to design and maintain gardens for clients.
Dramm 17050 50′ ColorStorm 1/2″ Standard Soaker Hose
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– Provides sufficient amounts of water to the garden without the hassle of hand watering
– Conveniently waters garden and beds
– 50 ft. by 1/2 inch diameter made from recycled material; lifetime guarantee
– Made in the USA
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– Slim, lightweight design, is made with toxin-free polyurethane and utilizes industrial grade, lead-free fittings
– 3 Pounds
– 1200″L x 0.43″W
– Manufactured in the USA
Lee Valley Garden Obelisks
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Sturdy yet lightweight, these obelisks provide ample support for climbing plants while being easy to install and move. The medium obelisk stands 68 1/2″ high overall with a diameter of about 9 1/2″, compact enough for smaller containers indoors or out. The large size stands 86 1/2″ high with a diameter of 15 3/4″, ideal for larger outdoor spaces and containers.
Getting a good night’s sleep is easier said than done. With all of the stresses and responsibilities of our busy lives buzzing about our heads late at night, it can be tough to get the restful slumber that our bodies and minds need to function at their best. Here’s how to use common herbs for sleep – and you’ll be resting easy in no time.
If you’re anything like me, it can be quite challenging to turn off all the stimuli and get a good night’s rest. I’ve been there! Thankfully, I’ve discovered the best natural sleep aid…herbs!
There are two things that made the biggest difference for me: creating an evening routine and incorporating some of these natural sleep aids.
Using these herbs for sleep can do wonders for your sleep schedule, and in turn, your whole life. Trust me, EVERYTHING seems easier after a good night’s sleep!
Creating a Bedtime Routine: an Easy Natural Sleep Aid
Before we get into the list of herbs for sleep (and how to use them), let’s first chat about the importance of building healthy sleep habits and creating good sleep hygiene (yes, it’s a thing!).
Building up healthy sleep habits can be difficult at first, but it is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves. Creating a regular nightly routine of calming activities about an hour before bed helps to wind down at the end of the day so that your body and mind are calm and ready to head into a restful slumber once your head hits the pillow.
Quick Tips for Healthy Sleep Habits
The phrase “sleep hygiene” refers to creating a series of healthy sleep habits. These habits will help improve your ability not just to fall asleep, but also to stay there. Just as showering and brushing our teeth is a part of our personal hygiene, these healthy sleep habits should become part of our daily routine.
Here are some quick tips for good sleep hygiene:
Keep your sleep schedule consistent. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every single day of the week…yes, even the weekend! This will help your body create a consistent schedule and find its rhythm. If you have kids and pets you know they don’t switch their sleep schedule for the weekend (as frustrating as that may be!).
Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night. This is a tough one, especially if you have a hectic life and/or small children. Prioritize your sleep over everything else wherever you can to get that good, restful sleep.
Eat well. Yes, a poor diet can affect your ability to sleep. Take care of yourself and your body will follow suit.
Exercise regularly. Getting regular moderate exercise is important to tire out your body enough that it can rest. No need to hop on the treadmill before bedtime, that could stimulate you more! Being sedentary can also affect the quality of your sleep. Even when you are feeling unwell, try to get up and do something that gets your body moving so you can rest well at the end of the day.
Limit exposure to bright light 30 minutes to an hour before bed. Blue light right before bed can be disruptive to your sleep. This means you should turn off the television, and yes…even your phone right before bed. If you have to use either, try using blue light blocking glasses to see if they help.
Relax. Allow your body to relax fully, especially if you have tension or pain. A herbal bath usingbath saltsortub teasmakes all the difference for me, as the Epsom salts helps to ease muscle pain and even Restless Leg Syndrome.
There are many more helpful tips and tricks you can use to build good sleep hygiene. There’s a good list from the CDC with tips for getting better sleep.
Best Herbs for Sleep
Now…let’s talk herbs for sleep! Incorporating these natural sleep aids into your nighttime routine can help to relax you even more. The ritual of sipping a cup of herbal tea or taking a lavender-scented soak before bed can also become a central part of your wind-down routine.
These herbs are the ones to reach for when you are tossing and turning at night. It may take some trial and error to see what your body responds to best, but these plant-based remedies are an easy thing to start with. So put down the “To-Do” list, turn off your phone, and get started on a healthy herbal bedtime ritual with these natural sleep remedies.
Hops – Humulus lupulus
Hops contain methylbutenol, a chemical that induces sleep when consumed. You can brew hops into a natural bedtime tea to help you sleep. The tea is bitter, so you may want to add honey, stevia, or the sweetener of your choice. You can also blend it with other calming herbs such as mint and chamomile for a sleepy tea that tastes more appealing.
Simply smelling the aroma of hops also helps to calm and promote sleep, so another option is to make a small sachet filled with dried hops and slip it inside your pillowcase for sweet dreams.
Mint – Mentha
Although the bright scent of mint is often associated with energy and invigoration, mint is also a powerful herb to use at nighttime to get ready for bed. It makes a delicious, soothing tea that relaxes muscles. Mint also reduces uncomfortable bloating and stomach pain caused by gas, so if a sore tummy is keeping you up at night, reach for a cup of mint tea with honey.
This natural sleep aid also has a more appealing taste than some of the other herbs for sleep on this list, so you may want to add some mint leaves to a tea of passionflower or hops if you want to disguise the taste without diminishing the effects of those herbs.
Chamomile – Matricaria chamomilla
Chamomile contains apigenin, a compound that releases a mild sedative and works to calm the nerves. Chamomile can also help to soothe an upset tummy, so chamomile can help to remedy discomfort from digestive problems while relaxing your body and mind. Chamomile and mint together make a relaxing before-bed tea that will also help with pain related to digestion.
Chamomile is a mild, gentle herb for sleep. Despite this, it’s surprisingly potent and effective! If you have pain at night that prevents you from getting a good rest, this can be one of the best natural sleep remedies to try.
Rosemary Gladstarr, the mother of modern herbalism, sites the power of chamomile in her book, Medicinal Herbs. She sites a clinical study in which 10 out of 12 people who drink chamomile tea instead of taking their normal pain medication went into a deep restful sleep within 10 minutes of retiring. Now that’s powerful!
Passionflower – Passiflora incarnate
Passionflower is a natural sleep aid that is calming and promotes deep, restful sleep. This herb for sleep is often used to reduce anxiety and induce sleep safely and naturally. Passionflower contains nerve-relaxing flavonoids, which calm the nerves and result in relaxation and reduce anxiety, which in turn allows us to fall into a restful slumber.
You can take passionflower in the form of tinctures, capsules, or tea. I recommend tea because just the ritual of drinking a hot mug of tea before bed is relaxing in itself.
Lavender – Lavandula angustifolia
Inhaling the fragrance of lavender calms the body and mind, and it has a mild sedative effect that can help to induce sleep. While you can certainly brew a lavender tea to help you wind down at the end of the day, a more effective way to use the lavender herb for sleep is through aromatherapy.
You can make a lavender sachet in seconds—simply stuff a small drawstring bag with dried lavender flowers and tie it closed. Pop the sachet inside your pillowcase for a restful slumber, or spritz some lavender pillow spray onto your linens.
I especially like to use lavender sachets when traveling because it is an easy way to make an unfamiliar sleeping situation feel homier. Plus, lavender has antibacterial and antifungal properties so you can rest easy, even on a hotel pillow that has been used by many others before you.
Another great way to use lavender for sleep is in the bath. Taking a hot soak before bed is a wonderful way to unwind and soothe any tension or sore muscles at the end of the day, and adding a little lavender to the bath will make it even more restful and get you ready to doze off afterward. Simply add a few drops of lavender essential oil directly to your bathwater, or try these DIY lavender bath meltsor lavender bath salts.
Lemon Balm – Melissa officinalis
Lemon balm is a member of the mint family, and has all those good qualities of the mint plant, with a different flavor. If you don’t care for the taste of mint, give lemon balm a try! As the name suggests, fresh lemon balm tastes bright and citrusy, so fans of lemon will like it.
Steep a handful of lemon balm leaves in hot water to make a DIY natural sleep aid that comes right from your garden. I have found lemon balm to be incredibly useful and effective for a wide variety of other things, including attracting bees to your garden and combating stress and fatigue. Here’s a guide I put together with everything you need to know about growing, harvesting, and using lemon balm.
How to Add Herbs to Your Bedtime Routine
Brew an herbal tea and drink it 30 minutes to an hour before bedtime. Here’s a handy guide on how to harvest and brew your own herbal tea. Combine drinking your mug of tea with another relaxing activity like taking a bath or reading a novel in bed (no screens, though).
Take a hot bath and soak for at least 20 minutes. Add a few drops of essential oils to the water or make a tub tea with your favorite combination of the above herbs for sleep.
Rub a relaxing essential oil blend on your feet. In the summer I use lavender and during cold-and-flu season I use a combination of lavender and Thieves oil to boost immunity. Giving yourself a foot massage before bed will relax muscle tension and calm your body, while the fragrance of the essential oils will relax your mind.
Tuck lavender or hops sachets into your pillow so that you can benefit from these herbs’ sleep-inducing properties as you rest your head.
Spritz your bed linens with lavender pillow sprayto give your entire bed a relaxing scent.
More Herbal Projects You Might Like
A city girl who learned to garden and it changed everything. Author, artist, Master Gardener. Better living through plants.
Susanna Grant is a garden designer and co-director of Care, Not Capital, with the irrepressible John Little (we wrote about him here). With help from “lots of excellent gardeners and ecologists,” they offer a free program that helps to equip trainees with the skills needed for “modern gardening.” Susanna explains: “The main idea is shifting the emphasis and some of the budget away from hard landscaping and infrastructure towards planting, habitat creation—and gardeners.”
This little yard in North London was transformed by Susanna for like-minded clients, who had already successfully campaigned with their Islington neighbors to get the local authorities to install some planters on a sad stretch of sidewalk, which they described as a “disused piece of pavement.” They asked Susanna to make a wildlife garden there; then asked her to help them with their own disused backyard.
Above: A lot of plants and a consistent palette in the hardscaping make a small space seem bigger. “It was a tough brief as the owner wanted interesting plants: lots of planting plus room. I think it shows what you can fit in a space.” Above: “The back garden is tiny, north-facing and quite boxed in,” says Susanna. “It backs onto flats, and rather than try to pretend they weren’t there, I wanted to ensure the view from the house focused the eye on the planting—not up and beyond.” Above: “The client wanted interesting plants,” continues Susanna. “Although my scheme was predominantly quite woodland because of the aspect, there was an existing banana, nandina domestica and acer palmatum which I needed to work around. I added an Abutilon ‘Canary Bird’ right next to the house as it flowers for most of the year and picks up on the vibe of some of the existing plants.”
On New Year’s Day I shared some of my garden-related highlights from 2025 (Happy New Year, GPOD!), which included the trip I made to Maywood Gardens in Bridgewater, Connecticut, on their annual Open Days for The Garden Conservancy. At the time of writing that post, I was confident that I had shared photos of that trip on Garden Photo of the Day, but I was shocked to find that I had not even mentioned it. Now, at the end of January, after more winter weather has rolled in and summer color still feels painfully far away, I thought it would be a great time to share photos from this sunny day with some of my favorite scenes from the gardens.
Maywood is a private estate in the hills of Litchfield County, which is the northwest corner of Connecticut. Totaling around 1,000 acres of land, the formal gardens and more-naturalized woodlands around the main buildings are just a fraction of the property, which also includes an orchard and vineyard. While the European-inspired architecture and garden designs would incline someone to believe these gardens have origins in the Gilded Age, they only date back to the 1980s.
One of the most iconic parts of Maywood Gardens is the Sunken Perennial Garden, so it was no surprise to see it at its peak for their annual day of public viewing. While these are designed in a very traditional style, they still take on the modern need for more beneficial plantings. Throughout these meadow-like beds you’ll find plenty of native blooms attracting and supporting a range of pollinators.
All through the gardens, wildness and formality collide to marvelous effect. This allows the grand architecture of the estate to mend with the rolling hills and woodland landscape of Litchfield County.
The pergola at one end of the Sunken Perennial Garden feels like a lush hideaway when you step inside. Trumpet vines (Campsis radicans, Zones 4–9) cling to and cover almost every surface, only letting pockets of light spill through the dense foliage.
Below the Sunken Perennial Garden is a traditional boxwood garden with inlays of annuals that create fabulous patterns of cool colors. The structure on the far side of this garden, a covered exterior gallery called a loggia, adds to the European style of this part of the estate.
While the grandiose gardens are full of expansive designs that are as impressive in their detail as they are in their scale, I often find myself drawn to the smaller special elements in the garden that enchant and transport. This covered footbridge is one of those most memorable scenes.
As we’ve already seen a sample of, several structures throughout the grounds were covered in climbing plants that softened edges while adding more spots of shade. However, this bridge felt straight out of a fairytale.
While there are several buildings that make up the estate, any gardener that visits Maywood will likely find the massive greenhouse a focal point on the grounds. The front of the greenhouse features formal garden beds, but the backside is the home to the Annual Cutting Garden. A great mix of annuals somehow comes together cohesively, and these flowers are actually utilized as a real cutting garden. Much of the plant material harvested from these beds create weekly flower arrangements.
The greenhouse, aside from its main purpose of starting and overwintering plants for future outdoor planting, is home to large collections of tropical plants that range from orchids to warm-climate woodies. These conservatory plants are divided up by type (as in the Orchid House) or arranged into incredible displays like this one with a sago palm (Cycas revoluta, Zones 9–12) focal point.
While the greenhouse is a functional addition to the estate, it also adds more beauty to the gardens. A handful of lawn areas situated around the greenhouse make up the formal gardens that I mentioned above, some with espaliered trees and others with long beds of colorful annuals.
There are so many different garden areas at Maywood, tucked into corners or waiting for you around a bend, that it is very easy to miss whole garden rooms as you’re exploring the grounds. That was almost the case with this smaller section of tender and tropical plants near the rose garden (which did not have many blooms when I visited). As a houseplant collector and succulent obsessive, viewing this fascinating foliage was actually a highlight. I’m thrilled I carried my tired legs down yet another garden path to find it.
I hope you enjoyed this tour of a Connecticut garden marvel. This year’s Open Day has yet to be announced, but if you’re in the area this summer I would highly suggest blocking out your schedule to make the trip. And if you visited any public or private gardens last year, please consider sharing your photos with the blog. Follow the NEW directions below to submit your photos to Garden Photo of the Day!
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!
You can also 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
SHOWA Atlas 370B Nitrile Palm Coating Gloves, Black, Medium (Pack of 12 Pairs)
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Lightweight and close-fitting for excellent dexterity. Machine washable. Breathable back of hand to reduce perspiration. Designed for easy movement and continuous wear. Ideal for aerospace, assembly, automotive, construction, final fix, gardening, manufacturing, operating machinery, packaging, precision handling, tiling, warehousing.
Pruning Simplified: A Step-by-Step Guide to 50 Popular Trees and Shrubs
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Pruning Simplified shows you exactly how to do it. This must-have guide offers expert advice on the best tools for the job, specific details on when to prune, and clear instructions on how to prune. Profiles of the 50 most popular trees and shrubs—including azaleas, camellias, clematis, hydrangeas, and more—include illustrated, easy-to-follow instructions that will ensure you make the right cut the first time.
The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees
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The Nature of Oaks reveals what is going on in oak trees month by month, highlighting the seasonal cycles of life, death, and renewal. From woodpeckers who collect and store hundreds of acorns for sustenance to the beauty of jewel caterpillars, Doug Tallamy illuminates and celebrates the wonders that occur right in our own backyards. He also shares practical advice about how to plant and care for an oak, along with information about the best oak species for your area.
Here in the Deep South, we don’t get long stretches of freezing weather. This has allowed us to get away with some cheap greenhouse heating options. This is a quick overview of our barrel/propane heating combo we’re using right now to keep plants alive through freezing nights.
Our greenhouse is roughly 2,000 square feet. On nights between about 28 and 32, we can get away with just passive heat from the many barrels of water we put inside the space.
When it gets to the mid-20s or lower, we use two Mr. Heater propane heater heads (we got them on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/4albTuI) on barbecue-grill style propane tanks.
They last long enough to get us through the night and into the day, when the sun rises and warms the greenhouse enough to keep the plants fine.
When it gets below 20, we run three of these heater heads and that keeps it just fine. We’ve handled temperatures down to 11 so far and kept our plants okay.
The worst part is the cost of the propane. One day we hope to add a diesel heater or a big propane tank professional greenhouse heater, but right now we’re just doing what we can with the money we have… so far, so good!
The other night I sent some pictures from inside the greenhouse to my brother.
Brian told me it looked like a Star Trek set. Sure enough!
I took a selfie in front of the red-lit greenhouse as well:
Note that you can see stars in the sky behind me… like you can’t in this picture:
It hit 18 degrees the night I took our photos, which is a bit rough for just the barrels to handle.
One day we may improve our heating, especially if we keep getting winters like this, but for now we’re on a shoestring budget.
We’ve got a lot of coffee, mulberries, lemon grass and other plants in the greenhouse just waiting for things to warm up so we can bring them to the shop. If we can get through these freezes for another month, we’ll be good until next winter.
Fungus gnats infest oversaturated soil. The immature grubs feed on the tender roots of young plants while the adult flies hover above the soil, a beacon to growers of the potential for damage below.
They are easily avoided by using appropriate soil, a well-draining pot, and not overwatering.
Capture the adults with yellow sticky traps and sprinkle food grade diatomaceous earth (DE) on the soil surface to destroy emergent grubs and eggs.
Vine weevils are beetles. The adults chew foliage while the grubs feed on roots.
Avoid overwatering, hand-pick and destroy night-feeding adults, and apply food grade diatomaceous earth to kill eggs and grubs.
Disease
Succulents, including those in the Crassula genus, are prone to fungal diseases that thrive in moist conditions.
Gray mold, powdery mildew, and rust cause foliar discoloration and softening.
Root rot and southern blight affect the roots first. By the time the leaves become limp, the damage may be irreparable.
Avoid overwatering and ensure that pots drain well. Remove stems with powdery, grayish coated leaves and those with a rusty brown cast. Treat the remaining foliage with neem oil.
If unpotting an oversaturated plant reveals dark, malodorous, mushy rootstock, you can try to salvage healthy, unaffected portions.
Cut off rotten roots and foliage, rinse the remaining with water, and replant it in a clean pot with fresh potting mix.
Watch chain crassula is easy to love when you meet its cultural requirements for gritty, well-draining substrate, bright, indirect sunlight, and water when the pot is completely dry.
Diluted liquid food once a month during the growing season, fresh potting mix every two to three years, and a container with an inch of extra room for watering complete the regimen.
C. mucosa draws the eye upwards along its link-like, leaf-laden stems, rising above the rosettes, spheres, and spirals of other succulent species.
Add it to your collection today, as an accent in a mixed grouping or a striking standalone specimen.
Do you grow a watch chain crassula? Please share your tips in the comments section below.
Garden renovations often generate surprising amounts of waste. Old paving slabs, broken fencing, soil, and years of accumulated debris quickly mount up. Managing all of this waste can become a frustrating bottleneck that stalls DIY garden projects. That’s why hiring a skip represents more than just convenience; sometimes it’s essential to comply with all applicable regulations.
Choosing the right skip size before hiring
Make sure you correctly estimate the weight and size before hiring a skip. Getting the skip size right is crucial. If you choose one that’s too small, you’ll have to pay for a second skip. If you get one that’s too big, you’re wasting money on unused space.
The size of the skip determines its maximum capacity – in other words, how much weight you can actually load. The size is measured in yards. You can get skips in sizes like the mini skips (2 yards) or the big skips (16 yards).
If you’re doing some jobs in your garden, such as clearing the borders, doing a bit of landscaping, or cleaning out your shed, you’ll probably need a skip that’s 2-4 yards in size. These skips can usually fit in your driveway without taking up much space.
Mid-range 6-8 yard skips suit more substantial work. Removing patios, clearing significant amounts of soil, or tackling multiple garden areas simultaneously demands this extra capacity. The 6-yard skip represents excellent value for medium-sized renovations, because it’s large enough to handle serious work without requiring excessive space.
An 8-yard skip is really good for getting rid of a lot of waste. It’s perfect for things like taking down a deck or completely redoing your garden borders. It’s also a good option for cleaning up really overgrown gardens.
For very large gardens and bigger projects, you might need skips with capacities of 12 to 16 yards. You usually see these skips on big building sites. Most home gardens don’t need skips of these sizes unless you’re doing a larger renovation, for example, if you’re rebuilding your whole garden, tearing down a big shed, or getting rid of significant amount of waste that has been piling up for years.
Understanding permits and placement
Where you put your skip is important. If you put it on your property, like your driveway or garden, you usually don’t need a permit.
If you need to put the skip on a public road, pavement, or grass verge, you must get a permit from your council, as outlined in waste disposal regulations.
When you hire a skip, the company will usually handle the permit application for you, although it’s advisable to confirm this with them before hiring. The cost for this service is usually included in the total hire price. The cost of the permit and the time it takes to process the application can vary widely from one council to another.
You need to consider access when hiring a skip. Big delivery trucks need a lot of space to drive and turn around, plus narrow roads and tight corners can cause problems with access.
The skip also needs to be put on level ground. If you put it on a lawn, it will sink in, especially if it’s been raining. A moderately sized skip can be really heavy, especially if it’s filled with dirt or stones. To stop the skip from damaging your driveway you can put boards under it to spread the weight.
What can actually go in your skip?
While a skip is essentially a container for unwanted items, certain types of waste are prohibited by law.
You can usually put furniture and household items in a skip. Garden waste is also allowed. This includes things like leaves, branches, paving, bricks, concrete, timber decking, fencing panels, garden furniture and plant pots.
The list of items usually not allowed to be disposed of in a skip includes asbestos, sheds from buildings that may contain asbestos, patio heaters, garden lights, electronics, and chemicals (such as paint tins, pesticides, or herbicides). Batteries from things like cordless tools or solar lights aren’t allowed either, and should be recycled properly through other means.
Other items, such as tyres, fluorescent tubes, old mattresses, fridges, freezers, and liquids (including paint and oil) also need to be disposed of separately.
Weight limits and costs
Skips have weight limits, which is another factor that affects the hire price. The amount of weight you’re allowed to put in a varies depending on the size of the skip.
For example, a small skip usually lets you put in one to two tonnes of waste. A medium sized skip is usually okay for four to six tonnes. A big skip can handle eight to ten tonnes or even more.
When choosing skip size, do bear in mind that soil is heavy. Dry soil weighs about 1.3 tonnes per cubic metre, and when wet, it can exceed 1.7 tonnes per cubic metre. If you fill a skip with soil, you will likely exceed the weight limit. The same applies to rubble, paving, and bricks.
Skip companies aren’t allowed to transport skips that exceed weight limits. They will either refuse to collect the skip until you remove the excess waste, or charge you for the extra weight. If your skip is severely overweight, the fine can cost as much as the skip hire itself. To avoid this, try to mix heavy materials like soil and paving with lighter items, like wood and branches. This helps keep the total weight within the limit.
Legal responsibilities and licensed carriers
When you hire a skip, you are legally responsible for making sure your waste is disposed of properly. The government has strict rules regarding waste disposal. You must always verify that your skip provider holds a valid waste carrier license.
Legitimate companies are required to provide a Waste Transfer Note, a document that proves exactly where your waste is going. Always ensure you receive this documentation, as it is your proof of legal disposal.
In conclusion, hiring the right skip for your garden project is crucial for managing waste efficiently and avoiding unexpected costs. By carefully considering the size, weight, and placement of your skip, as well as understanding the relevant regulations, you can ensure your project runs smoothly. With the right preparation and attention to detail, hiring a skip can simplify your DIY project and help you focus on achieving the desired results for your garden.
Recently spotted, admired, and pinned: Little Greene’s new “In the Garden” wallpapers. The eight botanical designs that comprise the collection were all inspired by the landscapes, individual plants, and real-life plant obsessives championed by British conservation group National Trust.
“With ‘In the Garden,’ we wanted to celebrate the restorative power and timeless beauty of nature, bringing the serenity and optimism of the outdoors into our homes,” says Little Greene’s creative director, Ruth Mottershead. “All of the designs have been created from scratch, drawing inspiration and reinterpreting elements from National Trust gardens and landscapes. This collection allows us to honour and protect Britain’s remarkable design and horticultural heritage, while inviting people to create interiors that feel both restorative and inspiring.”
Two more reasons to consider this new collection: A portion of every sale goes to the National Trust to support their conservation work across 500 properties and 890 miles of coastline. And the wallpapers are printed on responsibly sourced paper and with eco-friendly pigments.
Below, a peek at some of our favorites from the collection.
Above: “Rhododendron Walk”, shown in Hicks Blue, is inspired by the rhododendrons and azaleas that “have famously accompanied woodland and lakeside walks in the grounds of National Trust properties as far reaching as Cragside in Northumberland, Castle Drogo in Devon, Rowallane in Northern Ireland and Sheringham Park in Norfolk,” reads the website.
As a lifelong New Englander, it can be hard to imagine winter as anything but a season of subdued colors and skylines of bare branches. However, gardeners in other regions of the United States, and throughout the world, don’t expect any part of their gardens to slow down during this time of year. This is exactly the case for Barb in Oakland, California (Zone 10). While snow has transformed my landscape into a sea of white, winter rains have brought fresh foliage and vibrant blooms to Barb’s coastal California garden.
I’ve been gardening at this location since 2013. While the rest of the country is struggling with cold winter temperatures, California is just greening up with our winter rains. My garden is mostly native, and I wanted to show some of my early blooming flowers, both native and non-native.
Fuchsia-flowered gooseberry (Ribes speciosum, Zones 7–10). It begins to leaf out on the first rain of the year. We had October rain, and it started leafing out then. Blooms started shortly after that.
Mushroom found in Marin on a hike
A sticky monkeyflower (Diplacus aurantiacus, Zones 8–11) with bright orange blooms
Close-up of Ribes speciosum flowers: The hummingbirds love these early bloomers.
Dutchman’s pipevine(Aristolochia californica, Zones 8–10): another early bloomer
Another currant, this one from the Channel Islands. Catalina currant(Ribes viburnifolium, Zones 6–10)is evergreen. This is the first year it bloomed, so I don’t know what I’ll get or what the berries will look like.
Silk tassel bush (Garrya elliptica, Zones 8–11) makes a wonderful screen against a chain-link fence.
Common manzanita (Arctostaphylos manzanita, Zones 7–10) is another California native with beautiful blooms. These delicate, urn-shaped flowers emerge in spring and become blush-colored berries later in the season.
Non-natives but still blooming this time of year: Fuchsia (Fuchsia ‘Delta’s Sarah’, Zones 7–10)bloom with begonia in the background.
First daffodil flower (Jan. 8)
Thank you so much for sharing your plants with us, Barb! For those of us with gardens buried under piles of snow, it’s fascinating to see landscapes that come to life during the winter.
Whether your garden is nothing but funky forms created by a thick blanket of snow, or already bursting with life thanks to an assortment of winter bloomers, consider sharing your winter garden with the blog. Follow the NEW directions below to submit your photos to Garden Photo of the Day!
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!
You can also 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
Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes
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Featuring gorgeous photography and advice for landscapers, Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can nourish in our cities and suburbs.
Pruning Simplified: A Step-by-Step Guide to 50 Popular Trees and Shrubs
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Pruning Simplified shows you exactly how to do it. This must-have guide offers expert advice on the best tools for the job, specific details on when to prune, and clear instructions on how to prune. Profiles of the 50 most popular trees and shrubs—including azaleas, camellias, clematis, hydrangeas, and more—include illustrated, easy-to-follow instructions that will ensure you make the right cut the first time.
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Above: Photograph by Matthew Williams for Remodelista.
To our readers here in the US and elsewhere,
We want to be a place to rest your eyes or find a moment of beauty—to deliver a daily dose of inspiration to hold onto—and we’ll continue to do that.
We also believe that everyone has the right to create a home, to feel safe and welcome in their cities, and to live free from fear. We are all neighbors, and we are with the people of Minnesota and Maine and every community rising up to take care of one another.
If you’re looking to help, here are some resources working to get rent relief, food, and other mutual aid to those who need it.
In the halcyon days of the Great North Florida Food Forest, when our family was young and our food forest dreams were endless, we planted multiple varieties of figs.
And we actually managed to live in one location long enough to enjoy the fruit of our labors. Here are some pictures from back in the day:
The most delicious of these figs came from our Celeste tree, with their soft, refined flesh, dainty size, and delectable sweetness.
Brown Turkey and Celeste are most common figs in the Deep South.
Right now I have four varieties for sale at the store as bare root trees: Brown Turkey, Celeste, Texas Everbearing and LSU Purple. All are well-suited to this area, but I do have a particular fondness for Celeste figs.
The five easiest fruit trees to grow in this area are Japanese persimmons, sand pears, mulberries, chestnuts and figs.
Start your orchard or food forest with those trees and you’re much more likely to have success.
As a bonus, figs grow quickly and often fruit in their first or second year.
I’m not moving again any time soon, so I’m looking forward to getting lots of figs from our land. There are gigantic old trees around here that are just loaded with figs.
At St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Chickasaw there’s a great big fig behind the parish that bears an abundance of sweet figs. My guess is that it was planted by the nuns when there was still a convent there. I wish other churches would have the same forethought and plant fruit trees. Especially trees that love this area and won’t take much if any work to maintain.
Take five minutes and plant a fig today, then reap sweet results for decades. Especially if it’s a Celeste.
Without a doubt, community is invaluable. But in this day and age, you have to build it. Luckily, you have a community just waiting to come together right in your neighbourhood. This actionable 10-step plan will help you build a meaningful community right in your own backyard.
When writing The Wild & Free Garden, I wanted it to be so much more than a book about using found materials to create a thrifty garden. Because in the process of foraging, hunting, and gathering for these materials, something much larger happens.
You become engaged with your community.
You’re shopping local rather than buying online. You’re engaging in your neighbourhood’s sharing economy. You’re reaching out for help trying to source some free plant cuttings or scrap wood to build your raised bed. All of this helps you to meet and connect with people.
So I consider The Wild & Free Garden a gardener’s guide to building community as much as it is a book about repurposing and closing the consumption loop.
Today, I want to share another, very direct approach for how to build community. Graham McBain is the creator of HeyNeighbor, an Instagram account on a mission to transform 10,000 neighbourhoods into communities. He’s created a 10-step framework (which I’ll share with you today) and hosts a free virtual class every Friday.
What I love most about Graham and HeyNeighbor is that it’s one simple message and framework. He’s not trying to sell anything, but just genuinely wants to help others build their own community as he has.
“After turning my neighbourhood into a community, I saw how powerful it was, and how much it changed my life and the lives of everyone in the neighbourhood,” says Graham.
“It became so apparent how much people needed this, because friends started trying to move into our neighbourhood to be part of it. I looked to see if anybody else was teaching this information, and I couldn’t find it. So, I figured, why not me, and started making videos.”
I love the work Graham’s doing to help end this loneliness epidemic that many face. And so, I’m happy to feature his framework and messaging in today’s post.
My front wildflower lawn is a way I contribute to my community.
The HeyNeighbor 10 Step Plan
Every Friday, Graham hosts a free community-building class where he documents a ten-step framework for you to turn your neighbourhood into a community.
“I think a lot of people want to live in neighborhoods where they know everybody, but there’s no framework for how to do it, and so that’s why I created my 10-step plan. I think that’s helped a lot of people,” says Graham. “I know it’s helped a lot of people go from desire to action.”
Below is a general outline of his 10-step framework for you to get inspired. However, I highly recommend that you check out his weekly class to truly get all the tips and tricks for how to foster a community.
Step 1: Define Your Neighbourhood
Start by choosing your neighbourhood size. Set the parameters for how large you want your “neighbourhood” to be. Graham recommends starting with 200 homes or fewer. “Too big feels overwhelming and impersonal. Too small can feel limiting and exclusive,” says Graham.
Your neighbourhood will often have natural boundaries, which make it easier. My current neighbourhood group chat spans just two street blocks, and it has over forty people in it.
Step 2: Be Friendly and Vulnerable
The next is arguably the most intimidating. You’re going to knock on some doors and invite people to a neighbourhood event. It’s single-handedly the best way to reach your neighbours. And no, an event poster on the telephone poll or mailbox won’t cut it!
Be vulnerable, explaining the reason why you’re interested in creating a community. Take it one step further by trying to engage in meaningful conversation, so the conversation feels natural. Drop off a flyer with all the event information.
“The biggest obstacle that most people have to overcome is the fear of being rejected, the fear of looking silly, and the fear of being brave and knocking on a door to ask people to be your friend. It’s a very uncomfortable thing,” says Graham.
You may be lucky in that there are already connections within the community that you can build on. In my first neighbourhood, I met my back alley neighbours during a garage sale. We bought their mismatched vintage dishes (which I still use today), and they bought our cheese grater. From there, I started to get to know the other neighbours and became closer to those who lived on our street.
Step 3: Host Your Event
Host your first event! Make sure to keep the stakes of the event low and on neutral ground. Avoid hosting in houses for your first event so that people feel comfortable. Make the event casual and approachable, like front yard coffee or happy hour.
Choose times that work for most people and avoid elaborate planning. It should be easy to stop by.
Step 4: Make One-on-One Connections
During the event, make an effort to talk to everyone. Chances are, you’ll find at least one person that you genuinely connect with.
“Look for people who linger after others leave, who ask thoughtful questions about future events, or who volunteer to help clean up. These are often the community-minded individuals who will become your co-conspirators in creating something special,” says Graham.
When you’ve identified your one person, ask them to help plan the next event or simply to grab coffee. You’re going to change your community venture into a shared vision rather than a solo mission.
Step 5: Create a Virtual Hub
During your event, try to gather everyone’s contact info to make it simpler to organize your next meeting and maintain these new connections. From this info, you can create a virtual hub that allows everyone to easily communicate. Depending on what your community is like, this can be a WhatsApp group, a Facebook Group, or some other messaging tool.
My community uses a WhatsApp group chat. In it, we organize events but also share musings on what’s happening in the neighbourhood, some items we’re giving away or looking for, share our child’s fundraiser, etc. It makes it super simple to connect.
Step 6: Host Recurring Events
Keep the momentum going! Make events an ongoing practice in your neighbourhood. Choose something that not only do you like planning, but that others in your community would also like to take part in. This can include monthly happy hours, seasonal potlucks, outdoor movie nights, and more.
To this day, I still stop by the annual events in my old neighbourhood. It’s been fifteen years since I lived in my first home, but I still participate in the yearly Christmas wreath-making afternoon. And from my second house, where I no longer live, I just went to the annual cookie exchange.
Bonus tip: Look for community grants. Many communities will have small neighbourhood grant programs to provide funding for small events like block parties, skill-sharing workshops, neighbourhood beautification projects, etc. In their eyes, a connected community will work to keep it beautiful, safe, and more comfortable for residents.
Last-minute events work too! “Last night we got a text that one neighbor set up a projector to watch the playoff games, and a few families were over there hanging out around a fire pit. It was less than 30 minutes from invitation to hang out, which I feel like is pretty impossible in our modern society,” says Graham.
Captured at one of the many wreath-making parties I’ve had over the years.
Step 7: Organize Annual Planning Parties
After a few events, people will really start to feel engaged. Having a planning party will help encourage others to get involved in planning activities and allow everyone to be on the same page.
“When people have input into the calendar and ownership of specific events, engagement increases dramatically,” says Graham. “The planning party itself becomes a cherished tradition that reinforces relationships and shared vision.”
At this point, your community is slowly turning into a well-oiled machine. Here’s how to keep the momentum going:
Step 8: Give Out Micro-Roles. People may not want to lead events, but they may want to help in other ways. Distribute as much work as you can to help others feel a sense of ownership.
Step 9: Welcome New Neighbours. One of those roles could be the welcome committee! I was lucky in that my current neighbourhood already had many connections, and someone came and knocked on my door to welcome me to the neighbourhood. It makes things much less intimidating as a newcomer.
Step 10: Live It Up & Spread the Word. Always remember why it is that you started this in the first place. Enjoy the community you’ve created and share with others how they can do the same in their own neighbourhood.
“The biggest benefit is just how content I am in my social life,” says Graham. “I used to have a lot of low-level anxiety around having friends and having a community for a kid to live in. But now my cup is very full all the time. Different things happen almost every day that remind me how lucky I am.”
Thanks again to Graham for generously sharing his HeyNeighbor framework with us! Be sure to register for his next free class to learn more about how you can do the same in your neighbourhood.
A city girl who learned to garden and it changed everything. Author, artist, Master Gardener. Better living through plants.
Only a handful of gardens around the globe are real must-visits for garden lovers. Ayrlies, on a large country estate near Whitford, southeast of Auckland on New Zealand’s North Island, is one.
This masterpiece was begun more than 60 years ago by Beverley and Malcolm McConnell. As a young couple, they purchased a large rolling pastoral terrain, meant for cattle, to start their family. They were amateur gardeners with big ideas. They began by turning three acres into a garden, and over the years it grew to 12 acres of heavily planted informal gardens, with several ponds and water features.
Beverley has the eye, and a natural sense of color, texture, and combinations. Her late husband, Malcolm, who headed up a large engineering and construction company, was keenly interested in water. And several years in they hired Oliver Briers, knowing it would take more than just the two of them to realize their dreams. Working by Bev’s side, he helped bring a sense of design to the property, now a lush garden of Eden.
Beverley has been called the Vita Sackville-West of our day, working with a sub-tropical palette of exotics and native plants. Building a garden like this takes a lifetime, and to have a soul it needs an artist at the helm. Now in her 80s, she is still a vital force. If creating the ornamental garden wasn’t enough, in 2000 she embarked on a 35-acre wetlands project to restore five acres of swampland that connects the garden to the Hauraki Gulf.
Above: The ponds and water features at Ayrlies were all created by Malcolm, who was fascinated by the effects of water in a garden. Here, tree ferns and aquatic plants create a lush scene, somehow making the pond look as if it’s been there forever. Above: Many areas of the garden are delineated by theme, plant selection, and color. In the Lurid Border, Beverley plays with hot Gauguin-like colors: orange day lilies ‘Flaming Nora’, black-leafed castor bean, and variegated canna with striking orange blooms, underplanted with silver stachys, or lamb’s ear.
As we plan ahead for this year’s garden and reflect on last year’s displays, it’s great to consider the challenges we face in the garden and whether we’re successfully overcoming them. Based on these photos sent in from Carla Garfield in Easton, Pennsylvania (Zone 6b), she is having good success battling one of her biggest garden challenges: deer. By utilizing physical deterrents and deer-resistant plant selections, she has created a wonderful woodland landscape that looks luscious and lively throughout the growing season.
I’ve been gardening since 1977, the year I graduated from college. I have moved 13 times since then and tended gardens everywhere I lived. Now I’m retired and likely to stay here in Easton, Pennsylvania (along with the 20-30 deer who also love my gardens!). I rely heavily on the Rutgers deer-resistance chart and various types of fencing.
Carla’s poolside garden in September: Despite Carla’s many deer visitors, she has cultivated a garden that is lush and flower-filled throughout the gardening season.
The garden in August: Fencing is essential for keeping deer away from some of the most irresistible plants, but is also a hardscaping element that can add to the beauty when the right material is used. Carla’s rustic split-rail fencing gives her garden protection and style.
While fencing is helpful for deterring deer, they can easily jump over barriers that are less than 8 to 10 feet tall when food is tempting enough. Sticking to plants that deer don’t enjoy—like a long row of fuzzy lambs’ ear (Stachys byzantina, Zones 4–8)—is a safe bet, even within a fenced garden.
Finally, a photo from the early days in Carla’s garden—with lots of young plants coming into their own. It’s clear that Carla had a vision for her landscape from the beginning and executed it marvelously.
Thank you for sharing your gorgeous space with us, Carla! Your experience gardening in your various homes absolutely shows in your landscape.
What challenges do you face in your garden? Let us know in the comments, or consider sharing your garden story with the blog. Follow the NEW directions below to submit your photos to Garden Photo of the Day!
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!
You can also 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
Berry & Bird Rabbiting Spade, Trenching Shovel
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Gardener’s Supply Company Summerweight Fabric Plant Cover
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Ideal for summertime pest control, this garden cover effectively screens out Japanese beetles, potato beetles, cabbage worms, leaf miners, carrot flies and most vine borers. It transmits 97.6% of the light to your plants without allowing heat build-up, and it provides cold protection down to 41° F, to extend your growing season.
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– 8′ to 15′ radius with an adjustable arc of 90° to 210°, radius can be reduced by up to 25% to fit landscape needs
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It’s a good idea to use a moisture meter so you’ll know when to water, and this can help to prevent overwatering and root rot.
Temperature
Indoors or out, these plants also need nighttime temperatures of at least 60°F. Daytime temperatures around 70°F are ideal, though they can tolerate temperatures much warmer.
If you’re growing container kalanchoe in regions north of Zone 9 or 10 where they aren’t hardy, beware of the onset of cooler weather.
Make sure to bring potted plants into the house or place them in a heated greenhouse before temperatures dip below 40°F.
These are tough plants, but they can’t withstand freezing temperatures.
Species to Select
With over 100 species in the Kalanchoe genus, most of these are not in cultivation. But the ones that are readily available to the home gardener are still quite diverse.
Here are a few of the most popular varieties you might want to opt for to grow at home:
Florist’s Kalanchoe
K. blossfeldiana, or florist’s kalanchoe, aka flaming katy, is known for being one of the easiest varieties to grow among flowering houseplants.
With a max height of about 12 to 18 inches and spread of about a foot, it produces clusters of flowers that may be white, yellow, orange, or pink, depending on the variety.
The foliage is fleshy and green, with scalloped edges.
Bear in mind that while you can force plants grown indoors to bloom again, the process takes about 12 weeks, beginning the previous fall.
Mother of millions produces plantlets on the top of its leaves, while mother of thousands may grow them all along the leaf margins.
Mother of thousands is hardy in Zones 9 to 11. Outdoors it flowers in winter and then dies, producing bell-shaped red-orange blossoms that hang down in a ring from a tall stem.
Planted in the ground, it can reach three feet tall. If its pot is large enough and it receives ample light, it can also grow to this size in a container.
Make sure to move your plants indoors in the winter well ahead of frost if you live in a region with cold winters, or if a rare cold snap is in the forecast.
They’ll tolerate drought, but frost and freezes will kill them.
If you can’t move the plants because they’re growing in the ground, row cover or plastic might help prevent an unexpected freeze from claiming the plants.
