The first dark-leafed astilbe with purple flowers, a red-blooming delphinium, and a native alternative to salvia and lavender top the list of interesting new perennials debuting in the 2023 growing season. Growers, local garden centers, and other plant experts picked the following 14 choices for the Best New Perennials installment of my annual […]
One of the best-blooming petunias yet, four striking new begonias, and a pair of disease-resistant impatiens are among a slew of interesting new annual flowers debuting in the 2023 growing season. Growers, local garden centers, and other plant experts picked those and more for the four-part, best-new-plants series that I compile each January […]
Seedless peppers, a basil that fights off a troublesome disease, and a tomato bred for dipping highlight the list of what’s new in home-garden edibles for 2023. Those are just a few of the many interesting new plants debuting this year. I’ll zero in on some of the year’s best new introductions […]
The early 2000s were more about self-indulgence, but heading into 2023, gardeners are making a turn toward self-reliance. That’s the view from Katie Dubow, president of the Chester County-based Garden Media Group, a garden-centric public-relations company that each year produces a Garden Trends Report. “We’re fighting to establish ourselves in a crazy, […]
2022 was another busy and eventful year on the gardening front. Lanternflies showed up en masse (at least in some favored areas), lots of excellent new plants debuted, and Pennsylvania banned more plants and enacted new rules that affect how we’re allowed to fertilize our lawns. I thought I’d close out the […]
I reached another “maturity” milestone this fall – my official Social Security retirement age. That means I’m now in the dual-old-fogey class of qualifying both for Medicare and full Social Security benefits. It also means there’s good reason why I’m tired these days after spreading just two yards of mulch and why […]
Five more invasive landscape plants are about to bite the dust in Pennsylvania. Come Jan. 10, the state Department of Agriculture is adding burning bush and four species of privets (the Japanese, European, Chinese, and border types) to the state’s Controlled Plant and Noxious Weeds list. Burning bush is a widely planted […]
Lots of new houseplants (gift and otherwise) show up in living rooms this time of year, which can spell bad news for curious pets. And I’m not talking poinsettias either. Many popular holiday plants are toxic to dogs and cats, including peace lily, amaryllis, mistletoe, cyclamen, and lilies, says Anastasia Zygarowicz, who writes […]
Two springs ago, I took a shot at growing what’s known as “sedum carpet” – a tray of short, dense, perennial, creeping sedums of several varieties. They’re cut into pieces and intended as a fast, weed-preventing way to cover the ground, especially in hot, sunny areas where you need something short, such as […]
If you’re back in the traveling game again, you’ll find several good gardening destinations on a trip into America’s Midwest. I’m just back from leading a Lowee’s tour that took us through Nashville, into St. Louis, and back through Louisville and Columbus. We ogled a diverse group of visit-worthy gardens at each place. […]