Plant Care & Maintenance

Lantana Care for Containers and Garden Beds

If you have a spot that bakes in summer and makes other flowers wilt dramatically by 2 pm, lantana is your plant. It thrives on sunshine, shrugs off heat, and blooms like it is trying to impress the whole neighborhood. I love it in containers by the front door and in garden beds where I want color...

Chrysanthemum Care for Fall Blooms and Rebloom

Chrysanthemums are the cozy sweater of the garden world. When so much else is fading, mums show up with fireworks in bronze, butter yellow, ruby, and wine. The trick is knowing what kind of mum you brought home and what season the plant was grown for (and what you're asking it to do). A fall mum in...

Fuchsia Care for Beginners

Fuchsias are the jewelry of the shade patio: dangling buds like tiny lanterns, blooms that look like ballerinas, and colors that practically hum. They are also one of those plants that gets labeled “fussy” when really most popular container and basket fuchsias just have two big requests: cool...

Black-Eyed Susan Care and Division

Black-eyed Susans are the kind of plant that makes you feel like you know what you are doing, even on the weeks when the weeds are winning. That golden yellow daisy face with the dark center is pure summer. But “black-eyed Susan” is a common name that gets used for several Rudbeckia species and...

How to Grow Nasturtiums from Seed

Nasturtiums are the kind of flower that makes gardeners feel like magicians. You tuck a few chunky seeds into the soil, and suddenly you have cheerful blooms, lily pad leaves, and a plant that forgives you for not having “perfect” dirt. They are famously happy in lean soil, they are gorgeous in...

Sedum Care for Beginners

Sedum is the plant I recommend when someone tells me, in a worried whisper, that they have a “black thumb.” Most sedums are happy with bright sun, lean soil, and a little benign neglect. They store water in their leaves and stems, so the most common beginner mistake is loving them to death with...

How to Grow Cosmos from Seed

Cosmos are the kind of flowers that make you feel like a gardening genius. You sprinkle a few seeds, give them a little sun, and suddenly you have airy ferny foliage and blooms that bob like confetti in a breeze. They are also wonderfully forgiving, which is my favorite trait in a plant and in...

Forsythia Shrub Care and Pruning

Forsythia is the shout of spring: those bright yellow bells that make the whole yard look sunnier, even on a chilly day. Then the flowers fade, the leaves show up, and suddenly you are staring at a green shrub wondering, “Now what?” This guide covers landscape forsythia care after the spring...

Russian Sage Care and Pruning

Russian sage (now often listed as Salvia yangii , formerly Perovskia atriplicifolia ) is one of those plants that makes a garden look intentionally designed, even if you are just doing your best and watering when you remember. Some nurseries and labels still use Perovskia , so do not be surprised...

Amarillas: How to Grow Golden Blooms and Brighten Your Garden

“Amarillas” is the plural form of “amarilla” (yellow) in Spanish, and it is usually used as an adjective, as in flores amarillas (yellow flowers). In the gardening world it often pops up when people are searching for yellow flowers , golden foliage , or even specific plants sold with...

Amarillas (Yellow Bells) Care and Growing Tips

In some garden conversations, amarillas is a casual name people use for the bright, sunny shrub commonly sold as yellow bells , yellow trumpetbush , or esperanza ( Tecoma stans ). If you have ever seen a hedge covered in golden trumpet flowers while everything else is wilting in the heat, there is...

Dendrobium Orchid

Dendrobium orchids are the kinds of plants that make you pause in a doorway and just stare for a second. Their blooms can look almost too perfect to be real, and then you realize, nope, they are real, and yes, they can absolutely live on your windowsill. The secret is understanding one simple...

Amaryllis Flower

Amaryllis is my favorite kind of “instant garden magic.” One chunky bulb, one bright windowsill, and suddenly you have these trumpet blooms that look almost too dramatic to be real. If you have ever stared at a boxed bulb in December and thought, I am going to mess this up , I promise you:...

How To Revive An Orchid Plant

Orchids have a dramatic flair. One week they look like they belong on a magazine cover, and the next they are slumped over like they have given up on civilization. The good news is that most “dying” orchids are just stressed, not doomed. If you can get the roots happy again, the rest of the...

How To Rescue A Dying Orchid Plant

If your orchid looks like it is actively plotting its own demise, you are not alone. Orchids have a dramatic reputation, but most “dying” orchids are simply stressed. The good news is that the fix is usually a handful of small, specific changes, not a miracle. Many big-box and grocery store...

Amaryllis Rebloom

Amaryllis has a way of making us feel like gardening geniuses in the dead of winter. Those huge, trumpet blooms show up when everything outside is asleep. Then the flowers fade and a quiet little panic sets in: Wait, how do I get it to do that again? Good news: an amaryllis can rebloom for years,...

Pruning Clematis

Clematis pruning has a reputation for being confusing, but here is the comforting truth: you do not have to be perfect. Clematis are tough, and many “mistakes” simply shift when you get flowers, not whether you get them at all. The one big exception is timing on spring bloomers. A hard prune at...

When to Cut Back Amaryllis Leaves

Amaryllis has a flair for the dramatic. One week it is all trumpet blooms and winter cheer, and the next it is sitting there with a ponytail of green leaves like it is asking, "Now what?" The secret to getting those big blooms again next season is surprisingly unglamorous: letting the leaves do...

Amaryllis Bulbs

Amaryllis is one of my favorite plant confidence boosters. You tuck a very ordinary-looking bulb into a pot, and a few weeks later it sends up a thick, sturdy stalk topped with trumpet blooms that look like they belong in a florist cooler. If you have ever sworn you have a “black thumb,”...

When To Trim Wisteria

Wisteria is the friend who shows up with a gorgeous bouquet and then redecorates your entire house. Give it the right trims at the right times, though, and it becomes a well-behaved, bloom-covered dream instead of a vine that tries to eat your gutters. The simplest answer is this: trim wisteria...