Do you have piles or pots filled with rocks that you've collected over the years? Perhaps you've walked on the beach or stream bed and particular stones called to you. "Pick me up! Take me home!" Or you've dug rocks from your garden as plants are put into the ground,...

Last night I went into my zinnia bed and started clipping off the flowers that were starting to fade and brown. Zinnias benefit from either cutting flowers for bouquets or clipping off the spent blooms as they go by; either approach stimulates the production of more...

One of the things I appreciate about having my gardens open in September for the benefit of a local non-profit is that it pushes me to get out and do some of those little garden tasks that make the difference between tired and terrific. It's only natural that as we...

If you love the coneflowers as much as I do, or use Echinacea for your cut-flower business, be on the lookout for this pest: sunflower moth, aka Homoesoma electellum. My friend Roberta told me about it the other day and so I took a close look at the coneflowers that...

Deadheading summer phlox (Phlox paniculata) is a good example of how even within the same species plants can behave very differently, and our treatment of them might need to vary as well. In mid-August the plants that came into flower in July are beginning to either...

Some plants don't die of natural causes. Sometimes they are murdered. Strangled, in fact, often by the people who planted them and care for them in the first place. Most gardeners don't intend to strangle their plants, of course. In fact, it often happens as a result...

Sometimes we need plants that are full and solid, and other times it's good to have plants that aren't as heavy. Don't think of these as "leggy." Remember these plants for the times when you need something that doesn't block the view of the garden beyond. Here are...

You Can Grow That! There are so many plants that are fragrant, especially on summer evenings. Be sure to put plants that are fragrant where you're likely to be sitting late in the day. Place summer's sweet-smelling flowers under bedroom windows as well. Some of my...

When live gives you lemons, make lemonade, the saying goes. And using the same philosophy, when you're basil looks sick and you know it's all dying, pick it quickly and make pesto. That's what I did yesterday. Last week I realized that my basil plants were failing....