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Horticulture6 min read
A Big Role for SMALL GRASSES
When you experience a landscape dominated by grasses, something magical happens. The wind is made manifest in undulating waves as it sweeps across their blades and blooms. The sound and movement are mesmerizing. Grasses can transform and elevate our
Horticulture2 min read
Editor’s Note
GARDEN ALL-STARS! That’s the thread running through this summertime issue of Horticulture. Although I hope that all is going and growing smoothly in your gardens, it’s highly possible something is faltering. That’s just a reality of gardening, one th
Horticulture3 min read
Flying Colors
Here are some top performers from just a few of the plant evaluations led by Richard Hawke over the past three decades, as he described them in each trial’s Plant Evaluation Notes, which can all be viewed in full at www.chicagobotanic.org/collections
Horticulture2 min read
The Garden Center’s Grip
SOMETHING WEIRD HAPPENS when gardeners enter a garden center. We change. Suddenly, somehow, we’re overcome with this vague yet powerful, transcendental feeling of liberation, and we become aware of money we probably have and hopefully won’t otherwise
Horticulture8 min read
Prized Perennials
As any gardener past year one knows, sometimes plants fail. It could be from extreme weather, browsing deer or rabbits, an increase or decrease in sun or reasons simply unknown, but holes develop and replacements become necessary. Particularly when c
Horticulture8 min read
Richard Hawke
AS DIRECTOR OF Ornamental Plant Research at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Richard Hawke evaluates perennials and woody plants for garden merit. In 2023, he received the Arthur Hoyt Scott Medal & Award, which recognizes someone who has made an outstandi
Horticulture4 min read
Weeding Out Worry
AS GARDENERS, we know we feel better when we’re working in the garden. Nothing pulls weeds faster than a few frustrations, but it’s much more than that. When we work in our gardens, we get physical activity in the outdoors; we have a front-row seat t
Horticulture1 min read
Horticulture
The Art & Science of Smart Gardening Editor Meghan ShinnContributing Editor Jennifer Howell COLUMNISTS Scott Beuerlein | Thomas Christopher | Greg Coppa Jeff Cox | Niki Jabbour | Mary Purpura DESIGN Associate Art Director Carrie ToppExecutive Editor
Horticulture5 min read
Changes & CHOICES
If you’re confused about what to plant now, you’re not alone. Rapidly shifting climate conditions, from drought to floods and fires to ice storms, have many of us rethinking our approach to gardening. I asked industry experts across the country to sh
Horticulture4 min read
Succeed With Succession
BY JULY many of the early-planted vegetables in my garden are finished and it’s time to get serious about succession planting. Once a crop like spring turnips or snap peas has finished, I tidy up the bed, amend the soil with a thin layer of compost a
Horticulture7 min read
New Plants
EACH YEAR plant brands release exciting new cultivars to market, the results of years of breeding, selecting, trialing and propagating. New plants are bred to enhance traits that make them stand out against comparable cultivars—and in your garden. On
Horticulture6 min read
Outside Of The Box
What shrub would you recommend for structure in the garden? Some of us might suggest boxwood (Buxus), and for good reason. These popular evergreens have been cultivated for thousands of years, beginning with the Egyptians and continuing into the 21st
Horticulture11 min read
An Annual Affair
New Jersey garden designer and educator Laura Janney works from the premise that plants bring happiness. Through her design studio, The Inspired Garden, she helps homeowners determine their preferred garden style, then draws up a plan that will creat
Horticulture7 min read
A Toast To Cork
RECENTLY I WAS FORTUNATE enough to visit Portugal during a late, golden fall when the weather was still quite mild. We did most sightseeing along the legendary Douro River Valley but made a dash into Spain and spent time in the beautiful capital city
Horticulture6 min read
Goldenseal
WHEN EUROPEANS stepped off their boats onto the land of the Native Americans in the early 1600s, there were no drugs or doctors as they had known them in their homelands. For healing drugs, they turned to the Native Americans who had been relying for
Horticulture1 min read
Horticulture
The Art & Science of Smart Gardening Editor Meghan ShinnContributing Editor Jennifer Howell COLUMNISTS Scott Beuerlein | Thomas Christopher | Greg Coppa Jeff Cox | Niki Jabbour | Mary Purpura DESIGN Associate Art Director Carrie ToppExecutive Editor
Horticulture7 min read
Looking Ahead
I ENJOY TAKING A BREAK from yard maintenance over a New England winter. It gives me time to enjoy other pursuits, travel and reflect on what I would like to do with my yard in the future. While getting revitalized last year in the land of palms and p
Horticulture5 min read
Ribwort Plantain
I KNEW OF A HIDDEN POND that I figured would be full of fish, so one day I loaded up my car with fishing gear and set out. There was no path to this pond, and you couldn’t see it from the road. You had to know it was there to know it was there. Getti
Horticulture4 min read
New Plants
EACH YEAR plant brands release exciting new cultivars to market, the results of years of breeding, selecting, trialing and propagating. New plants are bred to enhance traits that make them stand out against comparable cultivars—and in your garden. On
Horticulture7 min read
PLANTS from PIECESS
Like most passionate gardeners, I am always looking for new plants. Whether I’m visiting a friend’s garden, hiking a nature trail or just driving down the road, when I spot an interesting plant, I must check it out. This usually leads to wondering if
Horticulture4 min read
Films With Flowers
SOMETIMES THE SETTING in a tv show or movie is such a prominent part of the story that it almost becomes another character. Examples include coastal Cornwall in the BBC series Poldark and the Rocky Mountains in Robin Wright’s movie Land. Sometimes ev
Horticulture2 min read
Hangdog No More
I’M A CURIOUS and impetuous guy. Good at thinking but terrible at remembering. And dammit if I’m not impatient. My history of jumping in and starting on ideas rather than thinking them through is legion. I suppose I just plain fear ideas falling thro
Horticulture2 min read
Editor’s Note
There isn’t much I miss about the garden at our old house. I best loved the lessons it taught me, which I brought with me when we moved. But one highlight—sometimes—was the saucer magnolia (Magnolia ×soulangeana) that stood near the front door. I did
Horticulture4 min read
Total Tomato-growing Guide
IS ANY CROP AS BELOVED by gardeners as the tomato? It’s certainly the most anticipated harvest in my garden. Each spring I plant my family’s favorites as well as a few new-to-us varieties. My go-to’s include ‘Sungold’, ‘Galahad’, ‘Cherokee Purple’, ‘
Horticulture8 min read
Change Of Plans
Gazing outside your home, have you ever thought, My garden could be so much more? Whether you’re facing overgrown plants, unsightly problem areas or a lack of entertainment space to enjoy, that thought means it’s time to renovate. But then you think,
Horticulture7 min read
Full Sun Foliage
The shade tables at your favorite garden center offer a full gamut of perennials with foliage as their main feature. (Picture the intricate fronds of hardy ferns, the bold, broad leaves of giant hostas, the polka dots on pulmonaria.) We’ve learned we
Horticulture13 min read
Jared Barnes
JARED BARNES is an award-winning professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He also hosts The Plantastic Podcast and publishes a weekly e-newsletter called plant•ed, both of which can be found at his websit
Horticulture4 min read
Around The World With Herbs
When I talk about herbs with fellow gardeners, their first thought is “basil,” followed by parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme—like the Simon & Garfunkel song. For many, culinary herbs are synonymous with Mediterranean plants. My herb books list the sa
Horticulture5 min read
MODERN Magnolias
Magnolias continue to be one of the most popular of all the ornamental trees. This versatile genus is best known for the myriad of cultivars that bloom in the spring, and also for its many evergreen species, including the southern magnolia (Magnolia
Horticulture6 min read
The Right Start
WHEN I STARTED my first vegetable garden more than 30 years ago, I puzzled over whether to direct sow my seeds in the soil or start them indoors on a windowsill. “Or maybe I should just buy a bunch of seedlings from a local garden center and plant th
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