I think of indoor flower and garden shows as giant greenhouses where you can walk among the plants and pick up great ideas for your garden. I recently attended the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival in Seattle. Here are some terrific takeaways you can use from that show. Play with perspective –The multiple award-winning Asian-inspired […]

It’s well known that really obnoxious invasives can overpower our native plant populations. Now meet Nancy Lawson, garden columnist, habitat consultant, and author of the book, The Humane Gardener. She’s got great advice for how gardeners can assist natives to fight back—and win. In Nancy’s two-acre garden outside Baltimore, Maryland, a fallen tree allowed the […]

Right now, my breakfast table is piled with gardening catalogs for my reading pleasure. And yet, I must ask—in this digital age, why do nursery folks continue to go to the time, trouble, and expense to put these colorful collections of plant offerings into my hands? “Our customers aren’t futurized,” one nursery employee wryly notes […]

I confess—I’m a poinsettia composter. I tried growing them on after the holidays with my other houseplants, and the results were leggy and dismal. Now I’m talking with Kym Pokorny, a gardener, a 20-year veteran garden writer, and communications specialist at Oregon State University Extension Service. She’s always been interested in this iconic holiday plant. […]

It’s the time of year for giving thanks. And as a professional garden writer, I am thankful for the exciting new plants from growers and marketers that I get to trial and review. However, sometimes many seasons pass before plants demonstrate just how good they really are. So, I’d like to share a couple of […]

Recently, while walking through the aisles of the Independent Garden Center trade show in Chicago, I discovered a product I’d never seen before—containerized hedges. A row of neatly sheared plants outlined the booth. Clearly, they were field-grown and root pruned, their branches naturally intermingling. It was a living privacy wall you could buy. It would […]

It’s that time of year when horticultural trade shows deliver the best and brightest for next year’s market. I was lucky enough to attend several, including the Independent Garden Center Show in Chicago and the FarWest Show in Portland, Oregon. That’s where I met up with Nancy Buley, Communications Director of the wholesale company, J. […]

This month I’m looking at what can happen when private gardeners take their passion public. Streissguth Gardens is a private/public enterprise that could be duplicated in neighborhoods all over the country. Recently, I went for an urban hike with friends on the east side of Seattle’s Lake Union. On Blaine Street, we arrived at a […]

South Africa is a cornucopia of exciting plants, perfect candidates for the greenhouse or the garden in warmer parts of the U.S. Knowing and growing these rarely featured varieties opens up a whole new world of interesting designs. This month I’m talking to Sylvia Lukach, founder of Cape Lily, Floral Design and Travel. She’s originally […]

It’s the season when our gardens are overflowing with flowers. So, I asked garden writer and photographer Janet Davis to share her delightful tips for creating wearable floral art. And with a greenhouse, you don’t even have to wait for the bountiful season. You could get this look year-round. Here’s how she does it.   […]

I once received a breezy Christmas letter with the advice— “Everyone should take their family to the Galapagos.” I fell out laughing. Really? Everyone? What would the Galapagos look like then? And yet, when I walk into the garden of Marietta and Ernie O’Byrne, I understand that letter writer’s impulse. Everyone should see this acre-and-a […]

Plant lust. If you garden, you’re probably susceptible. You fall in love with a plant—or many plants—and then find yourself wandering your yard, not knowing how to fit your exciting new beauties into your garden’s design. So in anticipation of my own yearly plant lust, I’m turning to Portland, Oregon designer, Darcy Daniels. Would she […]