Ground Ideas, Tips & Guides

Take a tour of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and discover a meeting ground of natural beauty, expert design, and horticultural excellence. Nestled in the picturesque landscape of coastal Maine, this garden offers a symphony of colors, fragrances, and serene vistas that will surely captivate any nature enthusiast. In this video, director of horticulture (and frequent Fine Gardening contributing writer) Andy Brand takes us on a journey through three of his favorite gardens and gives insights as to what makes them unique. This tour barely scratches the surface of what CMBG has to offer, however, with its more than 300 acres and 16 unique gardens connected by well-maintained paths and trails. You can spend days at the garden and still find something new.

An enduring culinary mash-up that took TikTok by storm and continues to prevail combines two overwhelmingly popular dishes: burgers and tacos. This recipe has garnered so much interest that top food influencers, including Chrissy Teigen, have tried their hands at this viral dish. What exactly are smash burger tacos, and are they a must-try? Grab your fries and settle in as we learn all about it here.

Why do plants get sick? The simple answer is for lots of reasons, many of them similar to the reasons why we humans do. Take, for example, poor diet. Just as it’s one of the root causes of disease, poor growth and reduced life expectancy in humans, so it is with plants.

Q: Now that it’s late autumn, my dahlias are starting to die back. Can I leave the plants in the ground or do I need I lift the tubers and store them in my shed for the winter? I’d much prefer the first option if possible! MD, Kilkenny

Fall is an excellent time for planting and transplanting, provided there is adequate soil moisture to allow plants to reestablish their root systems. Because inconsistent watering or lack of rainfall during this crucial period can rapidly cause a new planting to fail, it is well worth your time to learn a few tricks to make watering easier, more efficient, and more effective.

Tips for Landscaping with Yucca Plants

Today we’re off to Canada to visit with Bas Suharto.

Garden fire pits provide a cosy campfire atmosphere in any garden. They can make the focal point of a patio for big gatherings or part of a quiet, comfy nook to curl up in.

As many of us gardeners know, tomatoes are a warm-season crop. Even a light frost can damage both the foliage and the fruit of tomato plants. In addition, many areas of the US can experience an early fall frost that is followed by several weeks of warm weather. Providing frost protection for tomatoes can extend their growing season.

31 of the Best Sedum Varieties

Garden cloches are low enclosures used to cover plants and, depending on their style, offer protection against a number of factors.

When the sun is shining, the garden is the place to be. Gardening with kids is a great way to get them outside and learning about the natural world. However, if your kids would rather spend time with a screen than a garden spade, it can be a struggle to get them outdoors. Luckily, there are plenty of kids’ garden toys to make being outdoors more fun – from toys they can play with by themselves to games for the whole family to enjoy.

While bird feeders are common in Britain’s gardens, bird baths are less so. Bird baths are a brilliant way of providing birds with a regular supply of clean water for both drinking and bathing. Bird baths become even more essential in the colder months when natural sources may be frozen or in the height of summer when water can be hard to come by.

Glass gem corn is a stunning heirloom variety that can be grown for both ornamental and practical purposes. These tiny gemstone-like corns are not only edible, but you can also use them in crafts, and if you have kids, this is the perfect crop to involve them in gardening.

Nicki Snoblin in Lake Bluff, Illinois, found a wonderful little treasure to share with us.

Discover all the tips and tricks to grow the timeless flower – Lilium candidum, commonly known as the Madonna Lily and enjoy its intoxicating fragrance in your garden!

Imagine strolling through your garden and stumbling upon blooms that uncannily resemble the curious eyes, pointed ears, or delicate whiskers of a cat. Yes, you heard it right—nature’s incredible mimicry has given us flowers that capture the whimsy, elegance, and enigmatic charm of our feline friends. Here’s a list of Flowers That Look Like Cats!

Bring the outdoors, indoors with a stylish and practical standing planter. Indoor plant stands are ideal for framing your succulents, cheese plants and other house plant varieties.

Swede (Brassica napus) is a delicious and nutritious vegetable that can be grown at home. Grow them yourself for organic produce with better flavour than shop-bought. Sown in spring, they’ll be ready to harvest for warming and hearty meals in the depths of winter.

How to Grow Magic Carpet Spirea Spiraea japonica ‘Walbuma’

Our fantastic selection of Mushrooms that Look like Flowers will surely surprise you with their colros, shapes, and forms!

Probably one of the most difficult tasks in the garden is hillside full sun landscaping. Slopes are prone to erosion, which makes full sun hillside erosion control ground cover a real challenge. The question is, what is the best ground cover for slopes in full sun? Keep reading to learn about hillside ground cover in full sun, as well as trees and shrubs suited to full sun slopes.

Buying bare root plants for the first time can feel a little strange. These are plants sold while they are dormant without any soil around their roots and no rootball of soil. The plants are not sold in containers. What do bare roots on a plant look like? They look like sticks! But, properly planted and cared for, they can grow happily in your landscape.

Storing amaryllis bulbs for the winter is simple, and saving them means you can enjoy them again year after year.

These tiny nuisances may seem insignificant, but left unchecked, they can wreak havoc on your beloved plants. If you’ve had enough and are ready to take action, you’re in the right place. Prepare for an in-depth guide that arms you with proven methods and Ways to Get Rid of Fungus Gnats!

Several times a year a visitor to our garden is shocked to find a rogue steak knife pierced downward in one of the beds, as if it were an escapee from our kitchen knife block. I’m always quick to tell them that it’s indeed where I meant to place it, and that I haven’t found any tool as great as a serrated knife when it comes to removing grass or root systems. It’s perfect for edging small areas or pulling up entire sheets of grass; all I have to do is start on one side and pull up as I carefully saw back and forth. It can be a cheap purchase from a thrift store—or in my case, the way I finally convinced my husband that we needed a new set of kitchen knives.

Winter in North America is typically an uneventful time of year for plants, when growing slows or stops and when most plants go dormant. Because of that, average winter weather has very little negative impact on a landscape’s health. Extreme winter weather anomalies, however, can do some serious damage. Heavier than average precipitation, significant and sudden drops in temperature, longer than normal durations of freezing temperatures and winds—these occurrences can injure, if not gravely harm, our valued plants.

Whether you’re drawn to its aesthetic charm or its deep-rooted meaning, a fern tattoo is more than just ink – it’s a statement about strength and transformation. These inspiring Fern Tattoo Meaning and Ideas will make you fall in love with the fern’s delicate allure.

Certain style classics are eternal—think the iconic little black dress, the perfectly tailored suit, or the tried and true, fitted button-down. In interior design, too, some features just never go out of style. Right now, the timeless checkered floor is having a moment—but tastemakers are trying a new spin on the look.

It can be hard enough finding suitable shade plants, and choosing the best plants for shady slopes is even harder. The plants need to be be sturdy enough to cling to a slope and also tolerate low light. They are out there, though, if you know where to look. Erosion control shade plants may be bushes, grasses or low groundcovers, and should be adaptable to the site conditions.

It’s a tentative start. We crack open wet soil, slot the roots of a small birch tree into the gap and firm it in. The blessings of Mother Earth on you, little tree. The birch is a bare slip of a thing barely anchored in the ground. One down, 23,999 to go.

The Home Edit seems to be able to make any space look good. A box of cords, reno tools, the pet supplies—it's clean, organized, and often color coded in the shades of the rainbow.

“Pots, that’s real mental health” says my neighbour, Charlotte. She loves her pots, despite having a big garden because, as she puts it, the work is instantly done, either by emptying and replanting, or by preening the existing plants and containers; it’s instant gratification. I suppose I could portray my pots as being that, as they have certainly witnessed enough of it.

Open-concept kitchens are wonderful for flexibility between rooms—for example, you can cook an amazing pasta dish in the kitchen and migrate right to the couch to eat it. But, if you're a bit stumped as to how you should decorate your open kitchen so that it looks top-notch, we have you covered.

Welcome to the intriguing universe of Piranha Plants! These iconic, carnivorous adversaries have been a staple in the Super Mario franchise, lurking in warp pipes and snapping at anyone daring enough to pass by. But there’s more to these vibrant, pipe-dwelling flora than meets the eye! We’ll explore the origins, behaviors, and fascinating lore of Piranha Plants, unveiling the secrets that have made them a legendary part of gaming history!

Whether you’re looking to brighten up a spring evening, help extend warm summer nights, or create your own winter wonderland, a garden lantern will help do the trick. They are great additions to your outdoor space and can be used to illuminate paths and doorways, frame dining spaces and water features, or simply provide a unique decorative addition to your garden.