Gardenig in Canada. Tips & Guides

I just finished reading the recently published gardening handbook, Midwestern Native Shrubs and Trees: Gardening Alternatives to Nonnative Species, by Charlotte Adelman and Bernard L. Schwartz. It’s available on Amazon, and I can’t wait to tell you about it.I first learned about Charlotte in another book I reviewed, The Humane Gardener

The New York aster, Symphyotrichum novi-belgii, is a showstopper in the late season garden, taking center stage as summer flowers fade to memories.We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our l

Perennial asters are members of the large Asteraceae family of plants that includes chrysanthemums, daisies, and sunflowers.And while many have a bushy growth habit, only on

Goldenseal, Hydrastis canadensis, is a prized medicinal plant native to North American woodlands.Because this perennial has been among the top best

The squash bug is a pernicious insect, one of the most common and serious pests of cucurbit plants like squash and pumpkins, as well as cucumbers and melons, though typically to a lesser degree.Unfortunately, these bugs are widespread throughou

Do you know the old saying about how good things come in small packages? Creeping junipers rarely stretch above a foot or so tall, but they make an outsized impact.This species of evergreen comes in some unusual colors like y

Whether it’s a stack of pancakes or a bowl of piping hot oats for breakfast, I’m always ready and waiting with a Basque-style glass bottle of maple syrup.The ol’ pancreas may not appreciate my carbolicious me

The heath aster, Symphyotrichum ericoides, formerly Aster ericoides, is native to central and eastern regions of the United States and Canada, where it is often spotted along the highway.We link to vendors to help you find relevant produc

Is this a familiar scenario? You get up after a good night’s sleep and check your garden. It looks like there are notches on your bergenia leaves that weren’t there yesterday. Could that be…?While bergenia is generally resistant to pests,

You know those fruit flies that hover and get in your face when you have fruit that got too ripe? The ones that scientists use as model systems to advance medicine?They are highly annoying but don’t do much harm. The common fruit fl

They may not be actual weevils, but there is no question that these pests are sneaky. Hiding inside the pea seeds within the pods, they can ruin an otherwise beautiful, bountiful crop.We link to vendors to help you find relevant product

Want to play a little game?Name a plant that boasts the ability to do w

It’s commonplace for gardeners in the Ohio Valley region and Central gardening states to see or hear birds while they’re working in the garden. Several species of Midwest birds like robins, blue jays and cardinals are easy to identify. Others may be more difficult. Read on to learn how to spot them all.

We all want beautiful but tough perennials in our gardens this year.

Box moth caterpillars – also known as box tree moth caterpillars- can strip the leaves from your box plant or hedge.

Denizen of roadside ditches, marshy edges, and wet pond shores, spotted joe-pye weed is the stand-out inhabitant of some often overlooked locations.This tall member of the sunflower family, Asteraceae, can grow

Many flowers are bright, upbeat, and in your face with their cheerful color… but an angsty gardener looking for a dark, brooding, and hooded bloom will find plenty of satisfaction in a jack-in-the-pulpit.We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If yo

What’s round, pear-shaped, or oblong, and often a rich purple color? If you live in the United States, English-speaking Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, you know it as eggplant (Solanum melongena).Or maybe “guinea squash,” if you

If you’re hoping to create a more sustainable yard or garden, using native plants in the landscape is a no-brainer: these locally adapted species are beautiful, low maintenance, and waterwise.And some native wildflowers are wide-ranging and high

While butterfly collectors may rejoice that the cabbage butterfly now lives in all 50 states and southern Canada, people who grow cole crops and crucifers do not share their joy.Also known in their adult form as small white, cabbage white, white,

The first time I saw one of these mowing through a leaf like I attack a chocolate bar, I couldn’t believe the size of it.The presence of a horn on the back end of the green and white cat

It’s easy to think of a garden as a delicate place that’s free from danger… wimpy-sounding plant names like “baby’s breath” certainly don’t help.But if you’re trying to add an air of deadly elegance to your

They're only a few inches long, but hummingbirds flap their wings so fast they create an actual humming sound that gives them their name. These little birds are stunning creatures who make the environment — and your garden — a much brighter place. Learn more about these incredible animals and find out how you can welcome them to your own yard with these tips, including a few from Geoff LeBaron of the National Audubon Society.

There’s a reason why rhododendrons are so popular. The riot of color that a well-placed plant can produce is replicated by few other shrubs out there. But beyond that, they come in a massive range of sizes, leaf shapes, and growth habits as well.There are rhododendrons for shade and some for full s

I absolutely love milkweed. When the towering stalks pop up each summer, I get to watch my garden turn into a monarch butterfly paradise!Milkweed is a central feature in my gar

Odorous house ants (Tapinoma sessile) are native to the continental US and are distributed from Mexico to Canada.These ants eat an unusually broad variety of fo

On a small vegetable farm in Georgia, Shad Dasher used to grow watermelons every year. 

I grew up enjoying snowy winters every year in Montana, so when I moved to southern California for college, I missed the snow. A lot.But then came graduate school in Vermont, where not only

Anet Aguilar traces her passion for corn back to her grandmother.

Growing vegetables in the Pacific Northwest can be challenging due to varying temperatures and weather conditions. The Pacific Northwest is a large region. This means that the best vegetables to grow in Washington state may not be the best vegetables to grow in Oregon. That said, the following contains general information on vegetable gardening in the Pacific Northwest along with some of the easiest vegetables to grow in the area.