Smart Garden

Early Spring Flowering Shrubs Spring-blooming shrubs and bushes add color to backyards early in the season, attract pollinators and more. 1. Carnelian cherry dogwood Cornus mas, zones 4 to 8 Size: Up to 20 feet tall and wide Welcome spring with bright yellow flowers that appear earlier than those of forsythia. These spring-blooming shrubs prefer full sun or partial shade and prefer rich, moist, well-drained soil. Leaves turn purplish red in fall, and scaly bark adds winter interest. Why we love it: Red fruits are edible, but they're also made into preserves, jellies and slices. Or leave them for the birds to enjoy. 2. Dwarf Russian Almond Prunus tenella, zones 2 to 6 Size: 2 to 5 feet tall and wide This moderate-sized shrub records the growing season with showy rose-red flowers and yellow-orange fall color. It prefers full sun, tolerates a variety of soil types and is very drought tolerant. Ruth's 100 produces lots of flowers on a small plant. Why we love it: Flo...

Indoor plants that haven't been used yet on Instagram It's a familiar story: You pluck a beautiful houseplant from the nursery, and after a few months it wilts, your horticultural hopes plummeting with each fallen leaf. But this does not mean that you should completely abandon houseplants. There are plenty of indoor plants that thrive with little fuss (and can even survive with less-than-optimal light or occasional watering). You don't have to stick with a common spider plant. Here are some of the best stylish, easy-care and under-the-radar houseplants for beginners. These choices can bring drama to a room—but not your life. 1. Ficus Alii High-impact like the ubiquitous fiddle-leaf fig, but not as high-maintenance, the Ali ficus usually has a bushy or lollipop shape, sometimes with a twining trunk. "Tall specimens really provide a focal point for a room," says Baylor Chapman, stylist and author of Decorating with Plants. This ficus likes bright, indir...

Climbing Vines That Don't Take Although far from the only unruly things growing in our gardens, vines always seem to be the poster children for invasive plants. Years ago, when Brushwood Nursery was young, we participated in on-site sales events at the public gardens. A few visitors walked past our tables and shouted “Oh, flags!” I distinctly remember commenting that. and "Can you even imagine that in my garden?" It's true that the mature size and habits of any plant should be considered when adding it to your landscape, but many of the best vines and climbers fit in well and beautify themselves in a way that other plants can't. The following are some of the best choices for not using your car when you retire. Some are surprising, others are known garden bullies or "good cousins" to invasive vines. I think it's a shame if an entire race is disparaged because one or more races are bad choices. Whether you're looking to add interest to...

succulents to grow  Succulents have attracted a lot of interest in recent years, and many people have taken up growing them in their homes as a hobby. As gardeners expand their succulent collections, they face a learning curve. Many people put succulents outside in the summer, but bring them inside when the weather cools. At this point, most gardeners' main goal is to keep their succulents alive. If you want to grow succulents year-round, there are a few key factors to keep them healthy. Provide proper light, humidity and circulation The first factor to consider when growing succulents indoors is the amount of sunlight your plants will receive. In the wild, succulents grow in bright environments from full sun to open shade. Place them near a south-facing window for optimal light. An east-facing window is the second best option, with a west-facing window a close third. North-facing windows usually don't get enough light. Watch how the sunlight changes throughout the...

Better Homes and Gardens Every plant deserves its place in the Better Homes & Gardens Test Garden. Pretty flowers are plentiful, but long-lasting blooms, flowers with decorative seed heads, plants with nice-looking foliage, plants that thrive with little fuss, and pollinators are favorites of Test Garden Manager Sandra Kertesz. . She prefers hardy, drought-tolerant plants with colorful foliage and plants that deer and rabbits will leave alone. Perennials and shrubs are the backbone of the Test Garden. For the garden's 25th anniversary, Kertesz selects varieties that have truly stood out from the crowd over the years. 1. ‘Sugar Tip’ Rose of Sharon Rose of Sharon can be a self-seeder that spreads aggressively in the garden. 'Sugar dip' is not a genre. Green leaves splashed with creamy white give the plant star status even when not in bloom. Heat and drought tolerant, this plant requires full sun for best blooms. It grows to about 6 feet tall and wide, but can...

Combinations in purple and yellow On the color wheel, purple and yellow are opposites, making them complementary. That's why this pair will always look good in your home and landscaping. A list of some of our favorite flowers in these two vibrant colors will inspire your horticultural creativity, including lupine and yarrow, foxglove and delphinium, and hyacinth and anemone. As far as we're concerned, you can never have too much color in a flower garden! 1. Hanging Planters Draw the Eye Yellow attracts the eye, and purple keeps it there. Superbells Lavender calibrachoa and Bidens ferulifolia pair well in a hanging basket, where they both need full sun and die to themselves. Let the soil dry out completely before watering, as these drought-tolerant annuals do not like consistently wet soil. But on hot summer days, you may need to water daily. 2. Dynamic Dios Lilies and clematis can be best friends because they grow at the same time and bloom at the same time. Both p...

Outdoor planters to window boxes Container gardening doesn't have to stop once the growing season is over. Use strong plants and seasonal cuttings to get your pots going in spring. During the cold months of January and February, when the setting is dark and the sky gray, winter containers can cheer the soul and provide a colorful punch to the landscape. Many gardeners leave their potted creations in the fall, but that can be a terrible waste, because color and interest are so important in winter. Creating a winter design is not difficult. A general rule of thumb for container-plant survival in winter is to use plants that are at least two colder zones than your USDA hardiness zone; However, this is not always an absolute rule. Many trees, shrubs and perennials that are hardy in your zone will live and thrive in containers in all four seasons. In this case, a frosting pot with a drainage hole is important. The best weatherproof containers to use are fiberglass, lead, st...

This low-maintenance front yard proves you don't need turf  Is there a gardener anywhere who doesn't appreciate a beautiful space designed to keep maintenance needs realistic and manageable? I recently designed such a landscape for a client who wanted to transform his front lawn into a garden for his family of six to play, socialize, and gather with their extended family and friends. Wanting to maintain the space without hiring outside help, the goal was to strike a balance between beauty and ease of maintenance. The design we came up with is a great example of a hard-working landscape that looks good, but doesn't require hours of labor or a landscaping crew to keep it that way. As a bonus, a new garden needs half the water that turfgrass does. Get rid of the lawn, but keep it family friendly The key to creating a low-maintenance and visually appealing garden lies in careful planning and thoughtful design choices. In this case, it's important to create plac...