Topics
Special Series
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Designing with Summer-Flowering Bulbs
Summer-flowering bulbs come into bloom at the same time that many perennials and annuals are at their best, and by adding them to your garden you can multiply the colors, textures, scents, shapes, and contrasts in your palette.
By Brent and Becky Heath -
Native Azaleas
North American azaleas have soft-colored blooms and loose, natural-looking growth habits. Some species bloom in summer and even early fall, and many have colorful autumn foliage.
By Richard L. Bitner -
Saffron Crocus—Conjuring Color and Flavor in the Autumn Garden
Long before flowers were cultivated solely for their good looks, they were grown to serve some practical, or even preternatural, purpose. This was especially true in the good old days of Minoan Crete, about 1500 BC, when a thriving industry and religious iconography grew up around Crocus sativus, the corm better known as saffron crocus.
By Ilene Harfenist Sternberg -
Unusual, Antique, and Collectable Containers
Anything that can hold soil can serve as a home for plants—which expands the selection into realms far beyond the standard terra-cotta flowerpot or ubiquitous plastic window box.
By Scott D. Appell -
Curbside Gardens—Transforming Your Hell Strip
Heated by pavement, often assaulted by salt and sand during winter, these ribbons of city-owned real estate are not prime gardening spots. Indeed, they have been dubbed "hell strips" by writer Lauren Springer.
By Claire Hagen Dole -
Authenticity in Japanese Landscape Design
There are two quite different paths to authenticity in Japanese gardening. The quickest way to tell them apart is to consider two key aspects of the design process—the sources of inspiration and the choice of materials.
By David Slawson -
Grape Tomatoes: Giving the Cherries a Run for Their Money
Grape tomatoes combine a number of desirable tomato qualities, including very sweet flavor, firm texture, and at least the semblance of having been ripened on the vine.
By Niall Dunne -
Columbines—Elegant Flowers Spurred to Greatness
When folks hear the word "spur," many of them invariably think of cowpokes in the Old West and the jangling metal boot contraptions they wore to urge on their horses. For us plant lovers, however, the word can conjure up something a little more serene. We can think, for instance, of the architecture of a columbine flower, with its distinctive spurs curling outward like the necks of graceful birds in mid-flight.
By Katherine Gould -
Four Indoor Garden Designs
The indoor landscape can form an integral part of your interior and, naturally, reflect your personal preference and style.
By Bill Shank -
Bamboo: Graceful Grass or Jungle Giant
Imagine yourself enclosed deep within a bamboo grove, a "living room" of green, with walls enveloping but breathing, a cathedral of vertical stems stretching to the heavens above, the shadows delicate and swaying. You feel quiet, contemplative and calm, protected. Are you in Kyoto, Bangkok, or Bali? No, you are at home, surrounded by bamboos in containers. It is not difficult to create your own bamboo grove indoors—try it!
By Susanne Lucas
