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Tag: Gaura

  • 10 Plant Partnerships That Will Triple Your Harvest (Gardeners Shocked!) –

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    I learned that one simple gardening trick can boost harvests quickly while cutting pest numbers almost in half. The trick is companion planting: nature’s way of helping plants work better together.

    After many seasons of trial and error, this method turned my weak veggie beds into a healthy, busy garden in no time.

    No need to stress about fancy layouts. These 10 plant partners work well with little effort. Ready to match plants the easy way? Let’s go.

    Plant Partners That Work Wonders

    1. Tomatoes & Basil: A Reliable Match

    This pair isn’t just delicious on the plate. Basil’s strong smell helps keep away pests like aphids and hornworms that usually bother tomatoes.

    Growing them together can even make tomatoes taste better. (Seriously. My tomatoes tasted so much better once I planted basil beside them.)

    2. Carrots & Onions: A Simple Defense

    Carrot flies can wipe out a crop fast, but onions help block them. In return, carrots help loosen the soil for onion bulbs. They just work well together.

    3. Corn & Beans: The Old “Three Sisters” Duo

    This old planting method makes sense. Beans add nitrogen to the soil, which corn needs. The corn stalks give the beans something to climb. It’s a natural setup that works smoothly.

    4. Cucumbers & Nasturtiums: The Decoy

    Nasturtiums act like bait, pulling pests like aphids and beetles away from cucumbers. They also have pretty flowers that you can eat with a pepper-like taste.

    5. Peppers & Marigolds: Root Protectors

    A common mistake is planting peppers without help. Marigold roots release compounds that chase away nematodes that damage pepper roots.

    Some studies show that marigolds can reduce nematode populations by up to 90%. Their blooms look nice, too.

    6. Lettuce & Radishes: Soil Helpers

    Radishes break up compacted soil, allowing lettuce roots to grow deeper. This makes lettuce stronger on hot and dry days. Radishes also grow fast, so you get an early harvest while waiting for your lettuce.

    7. Squash & Borage: Bee Magnets

    Squash needs more bees, and borage attracts them. These bright blue flowers pull in loads of pollinators and help keep pests away from squash. Knowing this pairing gives you better fruit.

    8. Potatoes & Horseradish: A Surprise Team

    This pair sounds odd, but it works. Horseradish contains natural compounds that help keep potatoes strong and beetles away. Plant horseradish at the corners of the potato bed for protection.

    9. Strawberries & Thyme: Berry Guards

    Slugs love strawberries, but thyme helps stop them with its strong scent. Thyme also acts as ground cover, keeping berries off the soil and reducing fungal problems. Simple and smart.

    10. Cabbage & Dill: Friendly Bug Attractors

    Dill doesn’t chase pests. Instead, it brings in helpful insects like ladybugs and lacewings that eat cabbage worms. It’s like having tiny guards watching over your cabbages.

    Why Companion Planting Works

    Companion planting is more than old advice. It’s backed by how plants interact. They use scents and root signals to communicate with one another. The results can be big:

    • Less pest damage, fewer sprays
    • Better pollination
    • Grow more in small spaces
    • Better soil use
    • Shade where needed

    When you match plants well, everything grows better together.

    How To Start

    Try just two or three partner groups this season. Watch how plant health, pest problems, and harvest amounts change.

    Remember: it’s not just about putting plants next to each other. It’s about letting them support each other. Keep them close but not crowded; about 12–18 inches apart works for most pairs.

    With the right partners, your garden becomes a group that works together instead of single plants growing alone. That’s the goal for most of us anyway.

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    Gary Antosh

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  • A Santa Monica Backyard by ORCA Inspired by Mediterrannean Landscapes

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    For those familiar with Los Angeles, the words “Santa Monica” will likely conjure up a very Californian version of the all-American idyll: an iconic pier and long stretches of boutiques surrounded by tree-lined streets and quaint homes with tidy lawns and the occasional shrub or agave. The scene is so picturesque that you can’t blame most homeowners for choosing to simply cut and paste these same elements onto their own landscapes.

    So when Molly Sedlacek, the founder of ORCA, was contacted by two prospective clients seeking a Mediterranean-inspired garden for their Santa Monica property, she was intrigued. And when they mentioned the idea of ripping up the existing driveway and replacing it with more garden, she knew immediately she would accept the job. In the world of landscape design, it’s typically the designer finding, and sometimes fighting for, more green space—not the other way around.

    What proved problematic was the site itself. A relatively small footprint meant that every square inch, including the aforementioned old driveway, had to be put to good use, especially since a new outdoor kitchen would also be required. So Sedlacek went about designing programmatic areas that would blur the lines between each other and the home’s interior. “The client needed a garden that is connected to their everyday lives: an art room that spills into the entry courtyard, a living room that opens up onto the dining patio, and a dining room that overlooks the pool.” To better define these areas, Sedlacek leaned heavily on the home’s existing white stucco and Spanish-influenced exterior to select hardscaping elements that would feel “naturally weathered” and right at home on a Balearic island.

    Her inspiration: Potter’s House Mallorca, the retreat made instagram-famous by European garden designer Luciano Guibbelei. “We studied it for plants colliding with the water’s edge, groundcovers feeling very effortless, and also the use of fruit trees, bees blossom, and Ligularia dentata.” But while the resulting garden may look just like an arid landscape pulled from the coast of Gibraltar, it is primarily composed of U.S. natives and nativars, with a sprinkling of Mediterranean species for effect. Sedlacek and team brought in deep-green species like Ceonathus ‘Snow Flurry’, Frangula californica and Dryopetris arguta to contrast with the lighter palette, while Oenothera lindheimeri and Carex pansa create languorous drifts in sunnier areas.

    The whole effect is of something wild and slightly forgotten. Sedlacek’s favorite element is tucked in the back corner of the garden, next to the site of a brand new pool, where the native Rosa californica clambers up a brick wall from the early 20th century to form a near-perfect simulacrum of an old European villa. “Seeing something built in 2025 that highlights something that has [already] lived here for a century is very special.”

    Photography by Justin Chung, courtesy of ORCA.

    Sedlacek carved out new beds and added permeable paving in what used to be the entry driveway. The new space functions as a courtyard where kids can play, and still has enough hard surfaces to squeeze in a car if necessary.
    Above: Sedlacek carved out new beds and added permeable paving in what used to be the entry driveway. The new space functions as a courtyard where kids can play, and still has enough hard surfaces to squeeze in a car if necessary.

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  • The Best Low-Maintenance Flowers for Your Garden: 8 Sun-Loving Favorites

    The Best Low-Maintenance Flowers for Your Garden: 8 Sun-Loving Favorites

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    In general, flowers are probably less important than form. Some have a fleeting season, perhaps blooming just once before doing nothing for the remaining eleven months of the year (I’m looking at you Iris germanica). Others have an important support act, providing an abundance of flowers or beautiful foliage for the majority of the year.

    Yes, I want plants that are beautiful (and that work well together), but I also want them not to be too much trouble. So increasingly, as I’ve realized that you can never really fight the existing conditions in your garden, I just plant more of these low-work plants. If something does well, and needs little to no TLC then it’s very welcome in my garden.

    Earlier this week I read a quote from the late plantswoman Beth Chatto, about her much-copied borders in Essex, England. “The point I need to stress,” she wrote in her ground-breaking book Drought-Resistant Planting, “is that copies of my gravel garden will not necessarily be successful or suitable if the principles underlying my planting designs are not understood. When visitors to my garden tell me they have attempted to make a gravel garden but the plants don’t look or behave as they do in mine, they wonder what they have done wrong. I ask ‘What type of soil do you have?’, ‘Very good,’ they reply. The amount of rainfall? ‘Twice what we have here,’ they tell me. I laugh and tell them if I had good soil and adequate rainfall I would not be growing drought-resistant plants.”

    Favorite plants should always come with this disclaimer—what works in one garden may not work in another, because the soil, moisture, and conditions will vary immeasurably. Some of my most cherished plants will flourish in all conditions, but some do particularly well because they are especially suited to my garden, which has very free-draining sandy soil and is largely in full sun.

    With that in mind, here are the plants I would not be without.

    Photography by Clare Coulson.

    Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’

    Above: I love almost all salvias and they all tend to love my garden, too, so long as I put them in a sunny spot. ‘Caradonna’ has the most intense deep purple flowers that will be smothered in bees for weeks on end. Once it’s finished flowering I cut it back and it will re-flower again, although less prolifically. This is a very upright salvia and looks best softened with hazy grasses or more unruly perennials such as Knautia macedonica.

    Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’

    Above: Arguably the most prolific, no-trouble plant I grow. Catmint springs into life early in the season, often flowering well before any other herbaceous perennial. It’s healthy, seems to cope with almost any conditions, and is particularly beloved by bees that smother this plant while it’s in flower. As soon as it starts to go over, I cut the whole plant back to a few inches from the base and it will usually regrow and flower again within a few weeks. It’s also very easy to divide and replant and looks fabulous flopping over a pathway.

    Verbena bonariensis

    Above: All the verbenas work really well in my garden, but the tall, billowing Verbena bonariensis is a brilliant border plant, emerging in mid-summer amongst other perennials and grasses. It’s a favorite of many butterflies and has an extremely long season. It looks wonderful though the autumn and winter as it holds its structure, but it will also happily self-seed so I am normally selective in how much of it I leave standing. Finches love to eat the seeds in winter, too.

    Stipa tenuissima

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  • A Garden from Scratch: How to Choose the Plants and Put Them Together

    A Garden from Scratch: How to Choose the Plants and Put Them Together

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    After all the planning for the garden layout is done, being able to buy (or grow) your plants feels like something of a victory, the fun bit when you can finally get to see a garden taking shape. In my previous column in this series on making “A Garden from Scratch,” I broached the bigger picture of the types of plants you might want to consider for your garden. In this column I get up close to the plants themselves and investigate what to choose and how to put it all together.

    Your own tastes are key here—it’s all very well meticulously planning, but ultimately you want to step into a garden full of things you love. (A chaotic jumble, in fact, can feel just as magical as a considered design—often more so.) Ideally as you plan your garden you will have drawn up a wishlist of everything you love that will also thrive in your garden conditions. The goal for most gardeners is to find a space for as many of the plants on that list as possible.

    Below, my tips on how to choose your plants wisely.

    Photography by Clare Coulson.

    1. Sketch a planting plan.

    Above: This border has a line of Chanticleer pear trees and is enclosed by copper beech hedge. The borders are filled with perennials in blue and apricots, including Geranium ‘Rozanne’, Baptisia australis, hardy geraniums, and Iris pallida, as well as textural grasses and hydrangeas for later in the season.

    If I’m planting a big area from scratch, I draw out a flat plan that roughly marks out the plants, taking into consideration both how those plants will look mingling next to each other and how much space they will ultimately need. It’s not an exact scale drawing but an approximation of the size (height and spread) I think a plant could take up. If you’re not familiar with the plant, you can usually get a good sense of its growth habit and mature appearance from its nursery label.

    2. Put perennials on repeat.

    Above: The same border seen from the opposite direction. Alchemilla mollis, catmint, and pennisetum are repeated all along the border, which makes it feel visually cohesive. Peppered between them are plants with a shorter season, including alliums, camassia, foxgloves, asters, and hydrangeas.

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