Featured guide
Harvest Lavender for Drying
Harvest lavender while the buds are strongly colored and only partly open, then use loose bundles, darkness, and moving air to dry the stems cleanly.
Read the guide
Featured articles
Gardens · pollinator border
Late-Summer Pollinator Border: Bloom Gaps and Repeated Drifts
Map the border's actual August-to-fall bloom gap, then compose regionally appropriate drifts that fit the site, mature scale, and maintenance route.
Read the story
Grow · overwintering
Overwintering Rosemary Indoors
Move container rosemary inside before frost only if you can provide very bright light, cool conditions, drainage, and air movement through winter.
Read article
Grow · heat wave watering
Heat-Wave Watering for In-Ground Hydrangeas
Use repeatable root-zone checks before, during, and after extreme heat so an in-ground hydrangea receives slow, verified water only when the soil needs it.
Read article
Latest articles
Powdery Mildew on Hydrangeas: Identification and Management
Identify powdery mildew on both sides of hydrangea leaves, exclude scorch, spots, and residue, then match cultural management to spread and growth impact.
Repotting Rootbound Rosemary at Its Original Depth
Repot rootbound rosemary only after inspection confirms crowding, using a modestly larger draining container that preserves its original planting depth.
A Container Herb Garden Grouped by Watering Needs
Compose several compatible herb pots as one small garden, preserving separate root zones while repeating container finishes, forms, and access paths.
A Dry Herb Border with Lavender and Rosemary
Design a dry herb border as one sunny, free-draining hydrozone, using lavender repetitions, rosemary anchors, mature footprints, and an accessible edge.
Earlier this month
Seed Saving for Open-Pollinated Flowers
Select a known healthy flower, capture its mature dry seed head in a labeled paper bag, clean one lot, and seal only fully dry seed.
Mulching Around Perennial Crowns
Find every plant crown, measure the mulch already present, redistribute sound material, and add only enough to restore the intended final layer.
Home Garden Soil Tests: Match the Test to the Decision
A home garden soil test should answer a defined decision, from a narrow pH question to a recommendation-bearing or specialized analysis.
Cleaning Pruning Shears: When Disinfection Is Needed
Remove soil, sap, and plant debris first. Known disease exposure adds a separate, label-controlled disinfection step before drying and pivot care.
Deadheading Bigleaf Hydrangeas Without Cutting Old Wood
Remove faded bigleaf hydrangea heads with one tip-only cut, preserving the first healthy leaf or bud pair and the old-wood flowering framework below.
Pruning English Lavender at the Live-Growth Boundary
Prune established English lavender and lavandin while leafy shoots remain below every cut, shaping after bloom and delaying uncertain dead-stem decisions until live growth is clear.
Diagnose Hydrangea Leaf Scorch
Diagnose hydrangea leaf scorch by comparing brown margins, daily wilt, frost timing, leaf spots, and powdery growth before changing care.
A Leafy Hydrangea Without Flowers
Use five focused checks for a leafy hydrangea with few flowers: identify its bud-bearing wood, then review winter injury, pruning, browsing, nitrogen and light.
English Lavender Turning Brown: Diagnose Before Cutting
For English lavender and lavandin, separate normal woody structure and spent bloom from wet-root decline, drought, winter injury and pruning damage by checking pattern, tissue and soil together.
Watering Container Rosemary by Soil and Pot-Weight Cues
Use upper-mix moisture and pot weight to decide when container rosemary needs water, then wet the root ball fully and empty the runoff.
Pruning Roses by Flowering Habit and Season
Classify a rose by growth and flowering habit before pruning, then remove dead wood and make only the cuts that its framework can replace.
A Cottage Garden for a Small Plot
Give a small cottage garden a legible path and a restrained plant palette, then build abundance through repetition, layers and seasonal succession.
Improving Heavy Clay Soil: Drainage, Compost, and Cover
Protect clay structure by waiting for workable moisture, correcting true drainage failures and building aggregation with compost, roots and surface cover.
How to Divide Chives into Rooted Clumps
Divide common chives in spring. Prepare each new position first, keep five or more bulbs with attached roots in every section, replant at the same depth, water well, and pause harvest for several weeks.
Choosing a Watering Can for Containers
Choose a can by filled weight, reach and flow: a narrow spout serves established pots, while a fine rose protects seedlings and loose potting mix.
Propagating Woody Herbs from Stem Cuttings
Root rosemary, lavender and sage from clean stem sections by preserving nodes, limiting leaf loss and balancing moisture with air around the base.
Browse by subjectExplore by subject
Botanical Index A–Z
Find a plant by its common or botanical name.
Open the complete index