Gardening Know How Ideas, Tips & Guides

Choosing the Christmas tree is a highlight of the festive season, with the whole family often taking part.

Juniper ground cover is a great way to fill in garden gaps around borders, patios, pathways and rockeries. Different juniper varieties offer a wide range of dense, mat-forming foliage in heights to suit any need. These plants come in steely blues, minty greens, cheerful golds and variegated options. In winter, juniper foliage takes on purple, burgundy and copper tones to add interest to quiet corners.

Many backyard gardeners avoid planting cover crops because it seems so hard to till them into the soil the next spring without all of the appropriate equipment. That’s where it pays to read about no-till cover crops. These crops give you all the benefits of cover crops, improving your soil over winter, but you don’t have to worry about blending them in.

Attractive, mature trees boost a property’s curb appeal, and offer shade and privacy for residents.

Chances are it will take a while for you to notice any parlor palm problems, because these plants are so relaxed and easygoing. Capable of thriving in low light and sometimes crowded conditions, Neanthe Bella palms (as they are also known) are relatively unfussy and well adapted to indoor culture. If you give them a little care now and then, they won’t cause you much trouble.

A festive wreath welcomes guests into your home and sets the tone for the rest of the decorations. 

The most magical Christmas gift wrap ideas incorporate natural elements, evoking the feel of an enchanted woodland.

Mushrooms in the garden can be an unsettling sight, indicating changes in the soil and in growing conditions generally. While growing mushrooms is becoming more popular as a home interest, fungi can be unpleasant in gardens when they arrive out of nowhere. These unplanned garden guests can also be toxic, so you’ll want to remove them if you have curious children or pets.

A great tree for multi-season interest, Lagerstroemia fauriei adds a decorative flourish from summer to winter. The Japanese crepe myrtle, as it is also known, is a deciduous tree with gorgeous fall color. This crepe myrtle also develops beautiful summer blossoms and attractive peeling red and brown bark.

If you love cedar trees and have a large space for growing one, an atlas cedar tree (Cedrus atlantica) is a fine ornamental choice. One of the true cedar trees, it takes its common name from its home region, the Atlas Mountains in northern Africa. It is an evergreen conifer with a pyramidal shape when young, but it develops spreading branches and becomes more flat-topped as it matures. 

Summer hyacinth (Ornithogalum candicans) is a delicately pretty flowering plant which adds dynamic interest to flower beds and mixed borders. Though this unique bulb is relatively easy to grow, becoming familiar with its needs and growth habit will ensure that plants thrive for years to come.

Poinsettias are such a cheery symbol of the holiday season. However, all too often these festive houseplants don’t outlast Christmas and are thrown away once the colorful bracts have faded.

If you have never heard of blueberry sod, this is your chance to simplify the way you approach lawn care. Beautiful and delicious, using blueberry sod as ground cover is a great alternative to planting a new lawn. It is much easier to grow and care for, and a unique way to enhance your garden’s fruiting potential.

Did you know that your garden can be too tidy? It’s hard work to keep everything neatly trimmed and clear of natural debris – and it can also do more harm than good.

Nothing adds a rustic festive flourish more than the humble pinecone – and these pinecone Christmas crafts are brimming with seasonal charm.

Cultivating Verbena bonariensis gives you a chance to add a top-flight ornamental beauty to your garden. If you crave striking vertical flowers that can hold their own in borders or prairie-style displays, growing these verbena plants guarantees height, structure and drama. They also attract butterflies.

Choosing the sweetest squash can be a challenge, as there are so many varieties available. You can grow both summer and winter squash, and between them, they encompass over 100 varieties. Many are tasty and satisfying, with flavors ranging from nutty to buttery, but which are the best for sweetness? If your experience of growing squash has only resulted in the occasional slice of zucchini bread or carving of pumpkin, this is your chance to cultivate and harvest some of the most divine varieties available.

Some houseplants are easy to grow and tolerate neglect, while others are pickier. It can be frustrating to try to grow plants indoors only to find they wilt, yellow or even die. While several factors go into growing a healthy plant, watering properly is often the most critical. We all know it is possible to kill with kindness where our watering cans are concerned. Knowing how often to water indoor plants and how much, is essential for success. 

It’s little wonder people find it hard to pick their favorite salvia varieties. The choices are seemingly limitless, even if you can narrow it down to a particular color. As well as being vibrant and cheerful, their tall spikes of easy-to-grow flowers are often fragrant. This makes them irresistible to pollinators, bringing in butterflies and hummingbirds.

There are so many beautiful DIY winter wreath ideas that you can make using natural materials. Collect foliage, flowers, berries, fruits, and other interesting items from your garden – or forage for them on seasonal walks.

If you love the sharp flavors of arugula and radicchio, you’ll adore puntarelle chicory. Also known as Catalogna chicory, puntarelle (Cichorium intybus) is a member of the chicory family popular in Italy. It is not commonly grown in North America, but if you enjoy growing chicory then its unique hearty greens are well worth your time. Read on to find out how to incorporate puntarelle into your home garden. 

When you grow pearlbush, you are adding a flourish of rare beauty to your garden. With its brilliant white flowers, this shrubs makes a beautiful plant for a border or hedge. Common pearlbush (Exochorda racemosa) is known for its dazzling display of bright white flowers in early spring. These flowers blossom from pearl-shaped buds which gives this shrub its name.

Every gardener knows the frustration of having too much seed left over at the end of the growing season. All that wasted potential sitting in half-empty packets, that you have neither the time nor space to use.

Feeding the birds is such a rewarding activity, and a great way to support local wildlife. However, too many gardeners are making potentially harmful mistakes when trying to appeal to feathered friends.

Many campanula varieties make a beautiful addition to gardens and borders with their delicate purple or white blooms. Also known as bellflowers, campanula plants add a quaint and dainty charm to any home landscape. Ranging in form and growth habit, several campanula species are ideal in containers and formal beds. Learning more about each of these types will help you select and grow campanula bellflowers that are best suited to your needs. Here, we’ll explore some of the most versatile. 

Deciding to grow common privet (Ligustrum vulgare) is an easy choice if you need an easygoing standalone shrub or plant for hedging. Indeed, the common privet (also called European privet or wild privet) has long been a popular hedge plant. If you’re looking for the fastest growing shrubs, this one is really fast. It grows as wide as it is tall, and it is also fairly cold-hardy.

Terracotta is such a classic choice for garden pots. It has been used in pottery for millennia, and today there are designs available to suit all styles and budgets.

We are all switching on to the healing power of plants and flowers. Many of the plants we grow have the potential to act as sources of healing, as well as being profound mood-boosters. Some of the simplest floral arrangements of posies (or nosegays) have transformative powers. And while these small fragrant arrangements seem innocent enough, they have hidden depths which date back centuries.

If you are a beginner, knowing some easy fruits to grow can get you on the path to self sufficiency and well being. Growing our own food allows us to control what’s in it, making us healthier. Fruit is one of our main dietary requirements and a pleasure to grow in a home garden.

Peonies are a cherished addition to the home landscape. Long-lived and dependable, peony plants are prized for their gorgeous blooms and seasonal beauty. Despite their ease of growth, however, they need some special attention. This is especially true as temperatures begin to cool. How to care for them in the fall depends greatly upon the type of peony.

Green hawthorn (or Crataegus viridis as it is also known) is a slow-growing native tree, dense with dark-green leaves and small thorns. It is a popular choice if you are interested in defensive shrubs for landscaping and its growth habit makes it perfect for hedges and screens.

I’m Liz Baessler, the Senior Editor at Gardening Know How. I’m temporarily stepping from behind the curtain of my job to tell my readers that I have five Vego garden beds in my front yard and, hand on my heart, I absolutely love them.

Friluftsliv is a Norwegian concept. What is friluftsliv? The term means open-air living. Walking, cross-country skiing, hiking, fishing or just getting out into nature, all these and other in-the-wild adventures are included in the friluftsliv definition in Norway, but it is not limited to Norwegians. Might friluftsliv be something you could benefit from? Read on to learn more.

There is no other spring flower filled with as much color and optimism as the tulip. However, in order to create a dazzling seasonal display in the garden, you must give some careful consideration to planting your bulbs.

The humble shed should be the hub of activity in the garden. But all too often, this room outdoors becomes a dumping ground for clutter – serving as an overspill for the attic or basement.

Fritillaria persica, Persian lily or Persian fritillary, is a member of the lily family and is native to Western Asia. It is a striking addition to sunny borders and naturalized areas of gardens. The racemes of bell-shaped purple-brown Persian lily flowers cluster on spikes up to three feet (0.9 m) tall.