Recommendations Ideas, Tips & Guides

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Since entering horticulture professionally over a decade ago, I’ve noticed a correlation on the Colorado Front Range between wood mulch (also called arborist chips) and water-wise gardens. A beautifully designed garden goes in, with appropriate irrigation and plant palette, and the garden looks great—briefly—before languishing. Plants in these beds never quite take off, or they fail before their natural lifespans are over. I casually refer to this as plant/mulch mismatch, and it’s an issue I see too often, maybe because mulch is anything but exciting to the average homeowner.

<a href=«https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=» https: target="_blank" rel=«noopener»>Crassula ovata

If the latest whirlwind of social media-fueled interior design trends has you feeling a bit dizzy, you’re not alone. These fresh and splashy trends can be fun to try out in your own space, but if you plan on selling your home in the next several years there are some trends you may want to avoid.

Best Small Battery-Powered Garden Tools Try one of these small battery-powered garden tools to finish garden tasks in a flash! Small battery-powered tools for the garden

While it's all too easy to track in debris from the outdoors or fall victim to other common winter messes, professional cleaning and organizing experts are determined to help you keep your space looking as fresh as possible this season.

Ryan Phillips; Design: Diedre Doherty

Named after Achilles, who is said to have used it as a treatment for his wounds (Compositae). Yarrow, milfoil. Hardy perennials, for the border or border rock garden.

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What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with a classic bouquet of freshly bloomed roses? Not only are they the most sought-after flower for gift-giving (especially when it comes to romance), they’re practically synonymous with the holiday. 

While it's all too easy to track in debris from the outdoors or fall victim to other common winter messes, professional cleaning and organizing experts are determined to help you keep your space looking as fresh as possible this season.

When was the last time you cleaned your dishwasher filter? If your answer is never, then you're in the right place.

The next time you empty a glass jar of pasta sauce, you may wish to think twice before tossing it into the recycling bin—there are many creative ways to repurpose empty glass jars to add function to your home without spending a penny in the process.

We aren’t all blessed with magazine-worthy kitchen layouts. Maybe your kitchen is cluttered with appliances because you lack counter space, or maybe a closed-off footprint makes entertaining tricky. Unless you’ve renovated your kitchen exactly to your liking, kitchen layouts can be luck of the draw, and some are better than others.

You can’t talk about the new year without hearing “resolution.” The term is polarizing—it inspires hope for some while evoking dread in others. When it comes to the home, cleaning and organizing are particularly top of mind.

Q: Could you please recommend a good peat-free seed compost? I’ve tried a few over the last few years but haven’t had great results. I’d really like to do the right thing environmentally but am now at the point where I’m sorely tempted to go back to using a conventional peat-based compost. CF County Kerry

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Matthew Clark

With TikTok and Instagram churning out new micro-aesthetics fast enough to give you whiplash, the number of new design trends that popped up in our social media feeds throughout 2023 was seemingly endless. Unsurprisingly, not all of these trends were a hit among the professionals.  

Trim, from crown molding to window casing, offers an air of elegance and dimensionality that many homeowners desire. But sometimes they’re so eager to incorporate such detail that they don’t think through some of the faux pas they may be committing.

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To extend the time frozen foods taste fresh, package foods in material intended for freezing and keep the freezer’s temperature at 0 degrees F or below. It’s recommended frozen vegetables be eaten within about eight months for the best flavor and to maintain quality.

Not all shades are fair game in every room of the home—interior designers are adamant that some home decor items are better off left neutral in color. If you're planning on purchasing some accent decor or piece of furniture for your home, you'll want to be mindful that bright colors are not always the answer.

On the one hand, the start of a new year is an excellent time to update your home. With fresh eyes and your goals for the months ahead in mind, you can assess your living space and see how you can make it better. On the other hand, though, upgrading your home can quickly become expensive—especially after the excess of the holidays.

If your basement just isn't serving you but you're not looking to invest a ton of money to make over this space, note that there are many budget-friendly hacks you can take on to make this room of the home feel brand new.

Using the right kind of soil for your spider plant is important to keep it happy and healthy. While they’re not too fussy, they do prefer a nutrient-rich mix that drains well.

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If there’s one kitchen essential that shouldn't be sitting on the sidelines when it comes to throwing a game day viewing party, it’s a slow cooker. 

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To grow big Calathea Orbifolia plants, start with a piece from a big plant. Keep them in a humid place and give them bright, indirect sunlight. You can also try using small amounts of plant growth products like Miracle-Gro.

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If you're wondering whether your dining room is designer-approved, you'll want to keep reading. The pros often notice a variety of mistakes in this room of the home, pertaining to lighting choices, furniture size, and much more.

If your closet is in desperate need of a good re-organizing, you’re not alone. Professional organizers spend tons of time helping their clients come up with practical closet organization systems that will last—it's one of their most in-demand services. Whether you are dealing with a bedroom closet, linen closet, or front hall closet, the right closet organizing products can make all the difference in the final result. 

Q: I have a winter flowering jasmine, growing profusely on a 3m-high north-facing wall. For most of its six years, it has produced an abundance of flowers, from early November until March. During the recent summer, I took a lot of its stems, which had bunched at about 2m, and gently stretched them out along a series of horizontal wires. This November I can only see a handful of flowers (less than 10). Did my gentle summer manipulation cause this drop in flowers and if so, how? CD, Co Dublin

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