Most gardeners spend April wandering the nursery aisles, picking up potted plants that are already in bloom, and paying five to ten times what it would cost to grow the same flowers from seed. Here is the thing: the flowers that will make your summer garden genuinely spectacular are the ones you start yourself, right…
Most gardeners are still hunched over seed trays under grow lights this April, nursing fragile seedlings indoors, when the best thing they could do is walk outside and push seeds straight into the ground. Here is the part the seed catalogs don’t emphasize: some seeds don’t just tolerate direct sowing, they prefer it. There is…
Most gardeners are still hunched over seed trays under grow lights this April, nursing fragile seedlings indoors, when the best thing they could do is walk outside and push seeds straight into the ground. Here is the part the seed catalogs don’t emphasize: some seeds don’t just tolerate direct sowing, they prefer it. There is…
If you’ve been waiting until Memorial Day to plant your perennials, you’ve been handing away the best advantage spring has to offer. April is the sweet spot serious gardeners know about — and most beginners miss entirely. Cool soil temperatures, consistent spring moisture, and mild days give new perennials something summer simply cannot: a stress-free…
Every Easter, millions of perfectly good perennial bulbs go straight into the trash. If you’ve been tossing your potted Easter lily once the blooms fade, you’ve been making one of the most common and easily fixed mistakes in the spring garden. That $10 or $12 plant from the grocery store isn’t a temporary decoration. It’s…
April is the month most home gardeners have been waiting for. Days are getting longer, soil is waking up, and the nursery shelves are stocked with temptation. But what you should plant in April depends entirely on where you live. A gardener in Minnesota and a gardener in Texas are not gardening in the same…
March and April are two of the most important pruning windows of the year. Dormancy is lifting, sap is moving, and the choices you make in the next few weeks will shape your trees and shrubs for the entire growing season. Get it right, and you set your garden up for a spectacular spring. Get…
You’ll be shocked to learn that the United States is home to some of the most acclaimed Japanese gardens in the world outside of Japan. If you have been waiting for a reason to finally visit one of the United States’ extraordinary Japanese gardens, this spring, with cherry blossoms opening and strolling paths at their…
Most houseplant problems aren’t caused by neglect; they’re caused by too much care at the wrong time. Feeding your plants on the wrong schedule is one of the most reliable ways to damage roots, stunt growth, and undo months of careful tending. And yet the seasonal timing of fertilizing is the one thing most plant…