Gardening
The record-breaking heat that’s striking many places around the country and the world is doing a number on gardens.
Atmospheric scientists say extreme rainfall is more frequent now, and many parts of the world have seen flooding this summer. What does that mean for plants and gardens?
ASHLAND, Va. (AP) — As work was getting underway at a new home site in Ashland, Hanover and King William Habitat for Humanity construction manager Jeff Ell thought to himself he ought to go over the property with his metal detector.
Ants are common in the garden, possibly even swarms of them. But are the tiny little insects harmful to our plants? The general answer is no.
Every day brings changes to the summer garden. Usually those are pleasant. But other times a plant that looked fine yesterday has pests or spots on it today.
Looking to plant something unusual, easy to grow and exotically delicious? Meet the pawpaw tree. This sadly underused fruit tree is sometimes known as Hoosier banana, poor man’s banana and false banana.
If you grow your own cutting garden, you can have beautiful flower bouquets all season long. Almost every flower can be cut and enjoyed indoors.
If you water your garden right, you can save water and money and make plants healthier. Watering with a hose allows you to direct water precisely where you need it, above the roots.
Smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada drove down air quality across swaths of the Eastern U.S. this week, a problem all too familiar in many Western states.
Years ago, when my now-grown daughter Justine was a toddler, we visited a U-pick farm where she plucked plump, ripe strawberries from a field of sprawling plants.
VERSAILLES, France (AP) — The Versailles flower gardens were once a symbol of the French king’s expeditionary might and helped water-deprived courtiers perfume their skin.
Have you ever gone to the grocery store for, say, milk, and left with a cartful of impulse buys? Well, I visited a couple of nurseries last week in search of one specific plant and left with nearly everything except that plant, which both retailers had sold out.
It’s prime planting time in many regions, and gardeners are flocking to garden centers for annuals, and herb and vegetablestarter plants.
Wildflower meadows have been growing in popularity among gardeners, and for good reason. They’re low-maintenance and drought-tolerant, provide food for birds, wildlife, pollinators and other insects, and they’re pretty.
You’re in your garden and notice a beautiful, new-to-you flower that has popped up somewhere unexpected — pull it or leave it?
When the blare of the year’s first leaf blower awakened me one morning last week, I realized spring cleanup had commenced -- no matter that March could still roar like a lion here in my Long Island, New York, neighborhood.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Upon entering the Philadelphia Flower Show space at the Pennsylvania Convention Center last week, I was entranced by a forest of stunning orchids suspended from the ceiling above the color-changing entrance garden.
If you’ve been thumbing through a gardening catalog or shopping at a nursery, you’ve likely noticed two names assigned to each plant, a common name and a botanical name, the latter of which might read like a sort of pretentious, unpronounceable gibberish.
Most gardeners have favorite go-to plants that perform well in their climate and simply make them happy.
Planning this year’s garden? My guess is you’re envisioning plants bathed in daylight.

But the problem is that by nightfall, when the sun has set and you’re ready to kick back at home, you won’t be able to see and fully enjoy the fruits of your gardening labor without flooding the yard with artificial lighting. And that’s not relaxing at all.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The University of Tennessee Gardens on Thursday announced a partnership with the American Horticultural Society to bring the 2023 National Children and Youth Garden Symposium to Knoxville.
When visiting friends or family who have both houseplants and young children, I’ve been compared to “Aunt Bonnie” from the Geico commercial “Aunt Infestation.”
Now that deciduous trees are bare, trunks and branches have taken center stage, and you might be noticing nuances and irregularities that evaded your attention over the summer.
Milan Fashion Week has closed on a note of tranquility after four days of mostly menswear previews for next fall and winter.
In much of the country, much of the landscape goes barren from fall through spring. Evergreens are typically the workhorse plants that carry us through.
Holiday horticulture tends to revolve around the same handful of plants. So if you don’t already have any or all of these five holiday plants, now is the time to get them:
It’s no secret that the key to healthy plants is healthy soil, and the best way to improve soil is by incorporating compost, which can take up to a year to make.
If you’re growing fig trees where temperatures drop below freezing for extended periods, then an ounce of protection can be worth a pound (or more!) of figs.
The landscape across much of the country has changed from green to vibrant shades of yellow, orange, red and even purple.