Horticulture

I LOVE THE FIERY KICK of hot peppers like cayennes, jalapeños and habaneros, but they can be a challenge to grow in my northern garden, where summers can be short. Over the years, I’ve found a few tricks to help these heat-loving plants establish qui

BOB OSBORNE started Corn Hill Nursery in the 1980s, with an interest in grafting. He began with apples, but later shifted to roses. (The New Brunswick mail-order and walk-in nursery also offers a full range of trees and shrubs, fruiting plants, peren

LET’S SAY THAT the fundamental currency for exchange in the universe is energy. Even paper and digital money we handle each day is a proxy exchanged for and representing the energy we spent on someone else’s behalf. The plant kingdom (with extremely

SO MY FRIEND BOB, who’s a landscape architect and arborist, and I are sitting at an outside table at a Greek food fair, knocking back skewers of souvlaki, when I ask him, “What’s your favorite landscape plant?” “I like that little Hinoki cypress,” he

THE LOT ON WHICH my house is built is shy of half an acre. For more than 40 years I’ve enjoyed growing edibles on bushes, trees, vines and other plants here. And I’ve collected a good variety of ornamental trees and shrubs, some flowering and some ju

When you think “wildflower,” what vision comes to mind? For the vast majority of American gardeners, it’s certainly not a 12-inch, hot pink, pinwheel-like hibiscus blossom. Yet there are hibiscus species native to much of temperate North America, and

Most of the time I do not know what I will be writing about next for Horticulture, but a good number of stories are literally found in my own back yard, or at least very close by, like this one. A one-time neighbor and forty-year gardening friend of

Those of us who love cosmos know one of the plant’s many amazing qualities is its willingness to bloom and rebloom all spring and summer. All it asks to keep this show going is regular deadheading. I gladly oblige until mid-fall or so. Then, as growt

there are five types of nearly flat plants in my garden. Each one suppresses weeds like a champ, remains durable under foot and returns year after year with no tending or fuss. Three of them were planted by no one, biding their time in the soil’s see

Wind can be a problem in gardens because it can dry out the soil, break delicate plants and, if consistent, stunt growth or produce a deformed, leaning, lopsided shape. A garden open to frequent breezes presents a unique advantage, however. It’s the

PERCHED NEAR the end of a peninsula in mid-coast Maine, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is set in one of the most stunning and unique landscapes imaginable. Officially opened to the public in 2007, our botanical garden is the largest in New England a

DANIEL STOWE Botanical Garden provides visitors with an inspiring, unforgettable garden experience that instills a love of nature and its beauty. Located within 30 minutes of uptown Charlotte in North Carolina, the Garden offers an oasis and invites

THE LONGER WE GARDEN, the more we know. Only makes sense, right? Sadly, this “more” we know is offset by a couple of cruel factors. First is an up-close and personal awareness of the ravages of time. Yep, the longer we garden, the older we get; and,