A few years ago, I found a shopping cart full of foxgloves sitting outside the grocery store doors. I bought every last one of them. That impulse buy turned into one of my favorite garden obsessions. I’d always admired foxgloves but avoided growing them. They’re biennials, and I wasn’t sure I understood what that meant…
If you’ve been dreaming of a garden that feels relaxed, romantic, and full of charm, these cottage garden design ideas will help you create a space that feels both beautiful and effortless. Cottage gardens are known for their informal style, overflowing blooms, and collected, lived-in feel. But even though they look carefree, there’s a thoughtfully…
If you’ve ever stood in a garden center holding a bag of dahlia tubers and wondered if you were in over your head, I’ve been there. My first season, I second-guessed every decision: depth, spacing, whether to water, whether to wait. Now, after growing dahlias for years here in my Zone 8b Pacific Northwest garden,…
You don’t need a big yard to have a beautiful garden. A few well-planted containers can transform a deck, a balcony, or a front step into something that stops you in your tracks every time you walk past. Container gardening is also the gentlest way to start. The scale is manageable, the commitment is low,…
May is the month everything finally starts moving at once. The days are longer, the soil is warming up, and the to-do list somehow doubles overnight. Here in Zone 8b, May is one of the best months in the garden and one of the busiest. The last frost is behind us, summer annuals are calling…
Dividing perennials is one of the easiest ways to keep your garden healthy, full, and thriving year after year. If your plants are producing fewer blooms, looking overcrowded, or starting to thin out in the center, they may be asking for a little attention. The good news is that fixing the problem is pretty simple….