Garden Design

It’s almost fall, and that means garden maintenance. Leaf cleanup, digging, dividing, spreading mulch, and one task we often forget—record keeping. There’s much to be done to get the garden ready for its winter slumber. That’s where having some specific garden tools for fall can be a big help. Below, you’ll find insider information on

This summer, friend of the GPOD Cherry Ong had a chance to visit the Allan Gardens Conservatory in Toronto. These are some shots from the tropical and arid houses. This conservatory isn’t just a collection of exotic plants, but they are arranged together as a beautiful garden. Here, members of the bromeliad family show off

What’s not to love about sedums? They’re drought-tolerant, they attract pollinators, and they flower later in the season when not much else is going on in the garden. But they also have their drawbacks—namely a proclivity to splay open (we’re looking at you Autumn Joy) and look rather awful in some cases. But rest assured

Today we’re visiting with Katie Verdieck in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Katie is a landscape designer, and she specializes in creating beautiful containers. They’re great inspiration for every gardener because no matter how big or small your garden space is, you have room for another container! This lovely container is focused almost entirely on shades of

Today we’re in Evanston, Illinois (just outside Chicago), visiting with Zita Swindells. A few years back I sent in pictures of my postconstruction garden (Surviving Construction in the Garden)—nice bones, but a bit bare. Since then I have retired, spent quite a lot of time in pandemic lockdown, and turned to the garden as sanctuary.

Today we’re visiting with Noah Donovan, who loves growing cacti. We’ve featured plenty of cactus-filled gardens on the GPOD, usually in places like Arizona or California. Noah is unusual in that he has mastered the art of growing these beautiful, living sculptures in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. The eastern prickly pear

Today we’re visiting Joanne Eddy’s garden. Our property is just outside Halifax, Nova Scotia, and when we bought the house, it was basically a big blank slate. A few trees were on the property itself, but they were surrounded by woods on the edges to give great privacy. I started all the gardens from scratch,

When summer is in full swing, most gardens are full of color and lush foliage. As the warm days continue, however, some plants start to flag and get tired looking—but not dahlias (Dahlia spp. and cvs., Zones 8–11). Late summer is the time of year when these bounteous bloomers really start to get their groove

Warm-season perennial ornamental grasses are well suited for the garden spotlight, with their subtle leaf hues, exuberant textures, and interesting habits. They put out substantial early foliage that adds textural interest to beds and borders from late spring through early summer, and their flowers and seed heads keep the display going well into fall and

Friend of the GPOD Cherry Ong is taking us along for another visit to the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific (HCP) in Victoria, British Columbia. This time we’re taking a look at the gardens around the HCP Library. Cherry visited in the spring, as the gardens were just waking up and coming into growth. This

Today we are visiting Nancy Martin’s garden. I will be 72 years old in September. I live in Apollo Beach, Florida. However, I am a native of Virginia and lived there most of my life. In the summer of 2016 we moved into our current home. This house was a new build on a small

Indiana Dunes National Park in northeastern Indiana is full of unique ecosystems created by the tall sand dunes along the shore of Lake Michigan. Lots of people visit this park for the beautiful sandy beaches, but hikes through the surrounding landscape are a must for any plant lover. South of the dunes are wetlands and

We’re visiting with Linda Grey-Martin today. Hello from Calgary, Alberta. Our climate is officially Zone 4a, although many Zone 5 plants survive in my garden. Calgary is close to the mountains, and we encounter quickly changing temperatures and weather patterns in all seasons, a challenge for gardeners. That being said, there are a lot of

It’s Joseph, your GPOD editor, here. In my northern Indiana garden the dahlias are in peak bloom, and there is a little chill in the air in the mornings. So I thought today I’d share some of my favorite plants for this time of the year. Gotta start out with Salvia azurea (Zones 4–9). This

Buying bulbs was one of those autumn rituals that I looked forward to. It was something to do just as the cooler, crisp days arrived in mid-September or October. It was a ritualistic, nostalgic annual event that went hand-in-hand with apple picking and pumpkin carving. But then my mailbox started getting stuffed with spring bulb

What gardener doesn’t like something a bit out-of-the ordinary, right? Especially when it’s a plant that puts on a serious show as the final curtain call is happening. Today we highlight some of our favorite unusual fall perennials, options that are interesting cultivars of a genus you may know, and weird oddballs you’ve likely never

Amy Birdsong is taking us along to this beautiful garden today. My husband and I moved our youngest back to college in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, this weekend and stayed overnight so we could visit Reynolda Gardens. This space was designed and built in the early 1900s by the Reynolds family, and much of the layout

We’re in Malvern, Pennsylvania, today visiting Lynn Crawford’s garden. We’ve been to Lynn’s garden before (Peonies and Other Favorites; Flowering Tonight Only!), and today we’re looking at some summer blooms. What is late summer without dahlias? In Zones 8 or warmer they can be left in the ground over winter. In colder climates they are easy

Tom VonIns is sharing his garden with us today. Tom and his wife started working on making a garden here in 1985. When they started it was mostly dirt with no landscaping whatsoever. As you’ll see, they’ve made a pretty amazing transformation! This pond is really beautiful. The little waterfall adds movement and the sounds

Lynda Truelove is sharing her new garden with us today. I am an avid gardener, and we moved to our new home on a 7000-sq.-ft. unlandscaped lot a little over a year ago. I have enjoyed Fine Gardening magazine and certainly get lots of enjoyment and ideas from the lovely photos. I thought I could

Jolene Wireback sent in today’s photos, which are of her mother’s beautiful garden in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. My beautiful mother has done it again and has created the most whimsical retreat in her backyard. Her name is Nunzia Tina, and she is a true artist with her potted plants and topiary design. Her space is whimsical

Evergreen plants contribute life, texture, and color to the landscape all year long. But these plants are particularly valuable during the winter months when deciduous branches are bare, most of the blooming annuals are spent, and herbaceous grasses and perennials have either entirely disappeared for the season or whose crispy, dead foliage is desperately in

As summer draws to a close, it is easy to fall into a passive and lethargic state. As we approach this somewhat idle period in the gardening calendar, we must not forget what’s around the corner: the sneaky and unceasing offensive weeds in late summer and early fall. There are numerous tools and methods you

Cherry Ong is taking us to visit Abkhazi Garden in Victoria, British Columbia. These photos are from a trip she took there this spring. Japanese maples (Acer palmatum, Zones 5–9) are always beautiful, but look at the incredible trunk on this old cutleaf variety. It is an incredible piece of living sculpture. Looking across the

Today’s photos are from Tom. Hello from Zone 6 near Buffalo, New York! I’ve been growing with my garden for more than two decades, and my garden has been a playground, a canvas, and a classroom. I’ve learned my ABCs in the garden: Appreciate the amazing. Be in the beauty of the moment. Connect with

Today we’re in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with Sharon and Michael Darga. When we moved into our home in 1982, the backyard was overgrown with scrub and poison ivy. Through years of hard work, we steadily cleared and planted, gradually expanding each year. The constantly evolving garden has now moved into “any space that we can

We’ve been to Sutton, Massachusetts, to visit Dale Coulter’s stunning garden before (Dale’s Greenhouse and Garden), and it is always a pleasure to visit it again! This marvelous greenhouse, made primarily from reclaimed materials, is a highlight of the garden. It is both a functional and a beautiful piece of architectural art in the garden.

We are looking at Peter Duffek’s garden today. My Zone 5B garden is on a ¾-acre lot outside the city of Waukesha in southeastern Wisconsin. When my family moved here six years ago, the yard was lacking anything that resembled a garden. Only grass and some trees were present on the site. Over the past

Many gardeners who have tried to use a strawberry jar for patio plantings have been frustrated by the challenge of keeping it evenly moist. Most jars are made of clay, which tends to dry out easily, and they are usually filled with sun-loving plants and positioned in the sunniest (and, therefore, fastest-drying) spot in the

Nearly everyone can grow tropical plants outdoors during the summer months, but when the first frosts are forecasted gardeners in colder climates know there will be some tough decisions ahead. Which plants will be moved to those coveted spots by a south-facing window for winter? Is it worth the trouble to dig dahlia tubers and