A Love Letter to Sanguisorbas – Gardenista
I came to gardening, as many of us do, not necessarily out of a love of the natural world but because of a fascination with flowers. In the…
Read more A Love Letter to Sanguisorbas – GardenistaTag: Plants & Seeds
Gardening 101: Oro Blanco Grapefruit Tree – Gardenista
The first thing to know is that Oro Blanco is not your grandma’s super tart grapefruit, the kind that puckers your lips and makes you squint like you’re…
Read more Gardening 101: Oro Blanco Grapefruit Tree – Gardenista10 Things Nobody Tells You About Narcissus – Gardenista
Nobody ever says “I should have planted fewer narcissus bulbs” when the flowers start blooming in springtime. With their cheery bobbing heads, these happy harbingers of spring lift…
Read more 10 Things Nobody Tells You About Narcissus – GardenistaThe Garden Decoder: What Are ‘Seed Banks’? (And Why Are They Important?) – Gardenista
Native Plant Trust Above: Inside Native Plant Trust’s rare plant seed cooler, one of several repositories that make up the rare plant seed bank. Photograph by Alexis Doshas…
Read more The Garden Decoder: What Are ‘Seed Banks’? (And Why Are They Important?) – GardenistaVernonia lettermannii ‘Iron Butterfly’: Plant of the Year for 2026
The Garden Club of America (GCA) has named Vernonia lettermannii ‘Iron Butterfly’ Plant of the Year—which, according to its website, “is awarded annually to acknowledge the cultivation and…
Read more Vernonia lettermannii ‘Iron Butterfly’: Plant of the Year for 2026Winterberry 101: Native Berries to Brighten Winter – Gardenista
Despite being natively at home in bogs and on the edges of kettle ponds and other wetlands, winterberry, a native holly species, does not require wet feet in…
Read more Winterberry 101: Native Berries to Brighten Winter – GardenistaGardening 101: Opium Poppy – Gardenista
Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum The notoriety of Papaver somniferum, the “sleep-inducing poppy,” is only partly to do with its outlaw family. Opium poppies are grown for their edible seeds and…
Read more Gardening 101: Opium Poppy – GardenistaPerennials for a Shade Garden: Our Favorite Native Species and Hardy Flowering Plants
All week, we’re revisiting the most popular stories of 2025, including this one from July. A shade garden is a green and contemplative refuge. It can also be…
Read more Perennials for a Shade Garden: Our Favorite Native Species and Hardy Flowering PlantsThe Best Plants to Attract Hummingbirds to Your Garden
All week, we’re revisiting the most popular stories of 2025, including this one from March. The humble hummingbird has always been a pollinator favorite among gardeners, but lately…
Read more The Best Plants to Attract Hummingbirds to Your GardenPoinsettias: Rethinking a Christmas Cliché – Gardenista
Happy holidays! This week we’re revisiting our favorite festive stories from years past, like this one: The poinsettia revolution was a long time coming. But worth waiting for.…
Read more Poinsettias: Rethinking a Christmas Cliché – GardenistaThe All-Star List: 5 Plants I Want More of In My Garden – Gardenista
December is the month for year-end reviews. There’s already a deluge of best-of lists for books and movies, but what about plants? I think they deserve accolades, too.…
Read more The All-Star List: 5 Plants I Want More of In My Garden – Gardenista8 Favorites: Houseplants for the Bath – Gardenista
The best room in the house for your plants is…the bath. Houseplants perform well with natural light and shower mist; as an added bonus, they also purify the…
Read more 8 Favorites: Houseplants for the Bath – GardenistaThe Beauty of Decay: 10 Perennials to Add Structure to a Winter Garden – Gardenista
As gardens fade and the days darken, it’s tempting to forget about what’s going on outdoors until early spring when everything jolts back into life. But this is…
Read more The Beauty of Decay: 10 Perennials to Add Structure to a Winter Garden – GardenistaGardening 101: Common Fig – Gardenista
Common fig, Ficus carica The next plant I plan to buy for myself (and not for a garden client) will definitely be a fig tree. I usually harvest…
Read more Gardening 101: Common Fig – GardenistaGardening 101: How to Store Dahlia Tubers in Winter – Gardenista
I don’t know any gardeners who casually grow dahlias. Their fireworks riot of color has an intoxicating effect. You may start with one dahlia, but before you know…
Read more Gardening 101: How to Store Dahlia Tubers in Winter – GardenistaAmerican Persimmon Tree: How to Grow the Native Tree
Growing American persimmon trees checks several horticultural and culinary boxes. American persimmon—Diospsyros virginiana and hybrids of this species—are very cold hardy fruit trees, with deliciously sweet fruit, and…
Read more American Persimmon Tree: How to Grow the Native TreeDatura: How to Grow Devil’s Trumpet Flower, a White Bloom with a Sweet Perfume
Devil’s Trumpet, Datura Some of the last flowers to bloom as the growing season draws to a close are Halloween-ready: the headily scented trumpets of Datura are as…
Read more Datura: How to Grow Devil’s Trumpet Flower, a White Bloom with a Sweet PerfumeMoonflower Vine: How to Grow Ipomea Alba, a Night-Blooming Flower
Moonflower vines are a quiet delight of the waning season. They are morning glory’s nocturnal cousin, and their wide, near-luminous white blooms begin to unfold every twilight at…
Read more Moonflower Vine: How to Grow Ipomea Alba, a Night-Blooming FlowerExpert Advice: 10 Tips from Old House Gardens for Planning a Spring Bulb Garden – Gardenista
In Chicago, where I grew up, tulips were pretty much the only thing that kept us going through the winter. You can survive snow, and you can survive…
Read more Expert Advice: 10 Tips from Old House Gardens for Planning a Spring Bulb Garden – GardenistaAll-White Gardens: 15 Favorite Examples of White-on-White Landscapes
Nature abhors a monoculture, but not necessarily a monochrome culture. Against a leafy green backdrop, a single color stands out dramatically—particularly when that hue is white. Here are…
Read more All-White Gardens: 15 Favorite Examples of White-on-White Landscapes