Gardenig in France. Tips & Guides

There's a perpetual flip-flopping of trends when it comes to interior design, and there are two styles in particular that always seem to be playing a popularity tug of war: minimalism and maximalism.

Native to the Mediterranean, lavender is a hardy medicinal herb from the mint family, comprising over 30 species. This evergreen shrub is all the rage in gardening because its utility extends beyond good looks and amazing fragrance.

Courtesy of Crate & Kids

When you picture the perfect fall-styled front porch, it’s safe to assume there are a few staples: a few pumpkins, gourds, and some potted mums.

Whether you own or rent your home, anyone who has ever moved into a new place knows that decorating can be more than a little daunting.

The first half of Emily in Paris season 4 dropped on August 15, and to say we're obsessed with the set design would be un peu of an understatement. While Emily in Paris is best known for its characters' bold and colorful fashion looks, we think its interior design deserves just as much love.

Left: unpict / Getty Images; Right: bluestocking / Getty Images | Design: Better Homes & Gardens

Meet the Pets of the HGIC Staff!

Le Creuset

The name ‘caterpillar’ comes from the old French word chatepelose, which means ‘hairy cat’. Caterpillars are the eating and growing stage of butterflies and moths. Many are green but others are intricately patterned, which makes them straightforward to identify.

Jewelry designer Maya Brenner wanted a room in her Los Angeles home that was a retreat just for her. After raising kids for 21 years and running a business for 25 years, she wanted a space of her own that could be used for “dreaming, designing, reading, and being with myself or people I love.” So she decided to take over a room that was originally built as a nursery for her youngest child and then used as a home office. Joanna Williams of Kneeland Co. was tapped to help transform the space.

Over the past few years, Pamela Anderson has had more time to contemplate life. That is, until things kicked into high gear again—but more on that later. At the start of the pandemic in 2020, she moved from France, sold her house in Malibu, and headed north to the small town on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where she was born and raised. She hunkered down with her two grown sons, Brandon and Dylan. She bought her grandmother’s old motel, renovated it, and set up her parents there. A lifelong cook, she perfected her baking skills. She reclaimed and expanded her grandfather’s garden on the same land where she had run barefoot as a self-described wild child. It’s the site of both her greatest childhood joys and harrowing traumas, which she describes candidly in her 2023 autobiography, Love, Pamela, and Netflix documentary, Pamela, A Love Story. Almost poetically, for Pamela has journaled and written poetry her whole life, she has reclaimed her true self and her youthful creativity on the exact spot where they were born. When I had the chance to sit with her and talk over Zoom recently, our conversation quickly moved beyond her new cookbook, I Love You (due out in October), to all aspects of life—and her ability to find the deepest of meanings in even the tiniest of seeds.

The Summer Olympics are here, and for the ninth time, Ralph Lauren has dressed the U.S. competitors in his All-American designs, including jeans, a navy blazer with white and blue piping that’s emblazoned with the iconic Polo logo, a blue and white striped shirt, and a navy knit tie for a timeless—and truly American—look.

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A verdant garden in Corfu with views all the way to Albania

If you're aiming to design a contemporary looking bathroom, you will want to make an effort to steer clear of the six following features, which professionals say will instantly make the space look dated.

There may be no French cheese more familiar to Americans than brie, also appropriately known as the “Queen of Cheese.” Its popularity can be credited to its versatility, its visually appealing look when plated, the delightful way it oozes appetizingly when sliced, or even its charming name—it’s a lot more fun to say than, roquefort (though gouda is almost as entertaining).

Gardens are abuzz and harvest baskets are full. Here’s how to soak up the last of the season while prepping for the next.

Lavender is a Mediterranean evergreen shrub, grown for its fragrant leaves and bee-friendly flowers. There are hardy, half-hardy and tender species of lavender to choose from.

Header image: ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet playing with an arrival of French delicacy macaroons on the International Space Station during his six-month Proxima mission in 2017. Image credit: ESA/NASA

How to Grow and Care for Queen Palms Syagrus romanzoffiana

Meet Addison Sapp, also known as DesignsByAdds: a biology major with a serious passion for dorm design, who transformed her Wofford College dorm room into an adorable space inspired by her South Carolina surroundings and the French Riviera, drenched in bright blue hues.

Creeping cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans) is a native wildflower with pretty, bright yellow blooms and fresh green foliage. It’s commonly found growing as a ‘lawn weed’, where it brightens up flowering lawns in summer. It’s an excellent plant for wildlife, with flowers that attract pollinating insects and foliage used as a foodplant by the grizzled skipper butterfly. Creeping cinquefoil is tough, drought tolerant and deep rooting, and can be used to provide colour and ground cover in low-maintenance areas like banks and wild gardens, as well as to help stabilise soil on slopes. However, in borders, its spreading growth is less desirable.

Shake Shack

Happy Friday GPODers! We’re on the road again, this time seeing a slice of an expansive botanic garden in Texas with Frances Watson.

Happy Friday GPODers!

In Hannah Muller’s debut book, Designing With Dried Flowers ($22.31; Penguin Random House), she shares expert advice straight from the fields on how to create beautiful, everlasting works of art for any season and occasion. It’s packed with gorgeous photography, handfuls of tips, flower growing and harvesting suggestions, plus inspiring dried flower crafts that go well beyond vase arrangements.

As gardeners, we’re very aware of the environment around us. We notice the impact of the changing climate as our plants struggle through drier summers, or are able to over-winter with less protection than in previous years. But we’re also in a uniquely fortunate position. The decisions we make in our own gardens can make a difference to the wider environment. Here, Frances Tophill shares why it’s so important to garden sustainably, and how she does this in her own garden.

There's perhaps no vegetable more humble than the potato. This starchy spud grows quietly underground but, once you've dug up your harvest, you're treated to everything from sides dishes like perfectly crisp homemade french fries to scalloped potatoes to recipes from breakfast to dinner. Potatoes are the versatile workhorse of the kitchen and, depending on the variety you plant, your harvest season could last several months.

There are lots of plants native to the UK that you can grow together to create beautiful combinations. In doing so, you’ll be supporting native fauna that rely on these plants for food, shelter and to reproduce.

Perched above Los Angeles in the Mount Washington neighborhood is a home that rivals Barbie’s Dream House. The Spanish Revival home, owned and transformed by celebrity hairstylist Rob Talty, is truly a sight to behold with its ombré pink exterior and lush garden that’s a habitat for butterflies and hummingbirds. And did we mention that it was just put on the market?

If you’re short on space, you often have to get creative with your layout. In the kitchen of a small apartment, an island might not fit or feel the most practical. However, many designers and decor influencers have opted for a different choice: modular kitchen islands. 

Summer is arriving and, all of a sudden, the kitchen garden is coming into its own. I am harvesting masses of salad leaves, broad beans and strawberries, and hopefully the first new potatoes. I can almost see things growing before my eyes, including the weeds, which I make an effort to keep on top of every few days (although I leave self-seeded dark pink poppies and some mauve linaria to encourage insects and add colour). To make the most of a small space, I grow salad leaves in large galvanised metal troughs, making sure that I sow a new crop every few weeks so I have a constant supply through the summer. Salad leaf mixes, including swift-growing, cut-and-come-again lettuce, rocket and mustard leaves, are available from almost any seed company, or at garden centres. Winter salad leaves, including mizuna, are best sown after midsummer, as they tend to run to seed quickly. I grow my salad leaves in the least time-consuming way, scattering the seeds thinly on the surface of the prepared soil or compost, and raking them in gently with a hand rake. Keep them watered and they will germinate within a few days and be ready to harvest in about six weeks. If you want to grow them in your vegetable beds, it is better to sow them in drills, so that the emerging seedlings are easily distinguishable from the weeds.

French fries, French kisses, French perfume—how about another one for the list? Best French Flowers! Slip on your beret, and let’s go on an adventure florale through your backyard!

Container gardening is a bit different from traditional gardening, requiring a bit more attention. But the results can be incredibly satisfying. We’ve compiled some plants that you might consider growing in containers that are just a foot wide.

A shady corner is often seen as a problem area in a garden, but it needn’t be so. There are masses of gorgeous plants that will thrive in shade. Silver or variegated leaves work really well to brighten a dark spot, as do white or pale flowers, which almost seem to glow in shade. There is a plant for every shady garden and here we share some of our favourites. Included are plants for both dry and moist soils, evergreen perennials to provide interest all year round, as well as deciduous plants that seem to appear from nowhere in spring to brighten the garden with their delicate beauty. Our choices include recommendations from the Gardeners’ World team and familiar faces from across the gardening industry.