Star Ideas, Tips & Guides

Daniel Brown, Nottingham Trent University

Sara Tramp

Autumn is approaching, and you know what that means: It’s time to watch (or maybe rewatch for the 10th time) Gilmore Girls, the classic cozy TV show set in charming Stars Hollow. Rory and Lorelai’s lives offer more than just quirky hometown characters, book recommendations, and nostalgic fashion inspiration—you’re forgetting about all of the beautiful settings the show has to offer. 

Ben Fink Shapiro | Design: Better Homes & Gardens

These Cool Looking Mushrooms can be a great addition to your garden, thanks to their striking colors and weird shapes. Explore the fascinating world of fungi!

Chaz Dykes | Design: Better Homes & Gardens

Dennis Leupold | Design: Better Homes & Gardens

At this time of year, many outdoor growers are winding down their plots. It’s time to clear away tender plants before the first frost, gather in the last of the harvest and make sure the hardy brassicas that can survive the winter weather are protected against marauding pigeons.

What Do Leaf Bugs Eat? Curious about the diet of leaf bugs? Let’s find out the interesting foods that keep these special insects going!

Carson Downing. Food Styling: Kelsey Moylan

Egypt Sherrod | Design: Better Homes & Gardens

Living and working in northwestern Oregon, garden designer Wesley Younie is no stranger to dealing with challenging environments. When presented with this garden’s elevation changes, drainage management, and extreme climate conditions, he devised a plan that addresses it all—along with a specific functional wish list from the homeowners. Want to know which plants he used? Here are the plant IDs for this beautiful, sustainable landscape.

There are many great Houseplants That Can be Used as Christmas Tree Alternatives, and apart from that, they look good as well.

Flowers have their own special place in our culture. There are different legends and myths about lovely blooms, fairy tales, and even special language of flowers. Enchanting blossoms have found their from the gardens to the field of astrology. Birth flowers offer a blooming perspective of our characters while they match our star signs at the same time. Find out your zodiac bloom bellow and learn why it suits your star sign:

We’re sick of the Carrie Bradshaw slander. Say what you will about the Sex and the City and And Just Like That lead, but a woman that orders her Cosmopolitan with a side of fries? That’s our kind of girl. We are of the opinion that the iconic Cosmopolitan cocktail—and its counterparts, like the Porn Star Martini or vodka cranberry—deserve the reputation they’ve acquired over the years. The internet has classified these classic, sugary-sweet beverages as “cringe cocktails”—a label that maybe shouldn’t be taken as wholly negative.

All cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti—and of course, no two species are exactly alike. Many cacti, as well as other succulents, can make great houseplants, and once established, they don't require a lot of water or extra care. While all cacti are different, keep in mind that many will have a dormant period in winter where you reduce watering and lower light levels. Some may bloom gorgeous flowers (although it may require patience).

Instead of fresh-cut flowers, give your valentine a potted houseplant that will thrive well beyond the winter season. If your partner is wooed by sweetly scented flowers, you might consider giving them aromatic star jasmine; if it’s visual beauty they crave, offer them a stunning bleeding heart. Whichever plant you choose for your loved one this Valentine’s Day, rest assured that it will be admired for far longer than a box of chocolates or standard bouquet of roses.

Some parts of the UK have seen their wettest ever July, although that wasn’t the case here, where much of the rain has been very light, but there have certainly been more wet than dry days. It has left the garden a little dishevelled and even I have had to duck in places to avoid overhanging growth, but order is gradually being restored. The cutting beds and clematis have been the stars of the garden this month, as you will see in the photographs for this end-of-month view, starting with the usual view from the back of the house (above), and roses are just beginning to bud up again for a second flush.

Fritillary, Buttercups, Bluebells, Tulips and Narcissus all in the same shot, what more could you ask.

A red ‘Lily Flowered Tulip’ creeping above the late spring snow.

Allium christophii, common name Star of Persia or Persian onion. Perhaps they have dropped the religious ‘h’  to become Allium cristophii as a nod to the Iranian roots.

Cool hothouse sculpture!

The Royal Horticultural Society produce many books and this one, RHS Gardening Month by Month by Ian Spencer contains over 1,300 seasonal tasks. Covering tasks for every part of the garden, expert plant advice and lists of star plants from January to December it is a great confidence booster. When you have finished those tasks it will be time to start a new year!

Reliable flowering can be expected from summer bulbs and tubers.Early Summer Flowering Alliums flower May-July, I like those that look like a burst of stars Anemone start in April with the woodland varieties then come the blousy De Caen and larger corm types through summer

The best Foxtail Lilies can grow to 7 feet tall and form clumps of outstanding spires of star shaped flowers with showy stamens.

2018 has been a remarkable year for tree books and the publishing trade has done a good job listing new and older titles. There is now a forest of books to acquire and collect and I hope they have been printed on paper from sustainable sources.

Super Star is one of my star picks when it comes to late blooming roses. The petal colour is a luminous vermillion, a reddish orange with some slight veining to add mystery. Heavily scented, Super Star spreads its perfume on still September evenings. Super Star is free flowering with a vigorous growth habit that will see it reach 3-4 feet tall. The buds and double flowers have a high center that opens out as the flower matures. As a Hybrid Tea rose, Super Star is a good bedding rose that flowers through the season.

There is no reason why you should settle down for an empty, boring backyard when there is so much that can inspire you. Check out our post on how Your Backyard Can Be the Best Hang Out Place with these DIYs!

If you had asked how I felt about geometry when I was a high school sophomore preparing for final exams, I would have had an immediate and firm answer: “No, thank you.” But as soon as that geometry had anything to do with food, I’d correct my answer to “Count me in for all the research!”

Earth stars (Cryptanthus species) are different from most bromeliads. They are terrestrial which means they are grown in rich, organic soil. Cryptanthus means “hidden flower” in Greek because the flowers are produced between the leaves and are not easily seen. The common name, earth star, was given because of the shape of the plant. They come in a variety of different shapes, colors, patterns, and sizes.

Butterflies have this unexplainable allure that seems to appeal to people of all ages. The key to enticing these winged beauties to your yard, is utilizing adult nectar sources and larval (caterpillar) host plants in your plant palette.

Here, at the beginning of 2022, some of us may resolve to make meaningful life changes. At midnight on December 31st, marketing campaigns switch from ‘indulge in holiday cheer’ to ‘new year, new you.’ For me, after the past two years, the wellness industry can keep their diets and gyms, and the self-help industry can sell their ‘ten-step program to be the best version of me’ to someone else. These days, I’m over here just trying to be.

Hydrangeas Are The Stars of a June Garden

IRECEIVED MY FIRST REVIEW FOR MY UPCOMING MEMOIR, and it came with its own gold star. The details of what “Kirkus Reviews” said about “And I Shall Have Some Peace There.”TagsMargaret Roach memoir

I HAVE TO HAND IT to extra-early and extra-late garden performers for knowing to do their thing when it’s really needed—just when the gardener may be giving up hope. Today’s star: Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon,’ just beginning to turn brilliant butterscotch seven months after flowering, then sporting chartreuse foliage since; the butterscotch phase will last till around Christmas, when the leaves will drop).

I don’t know why I waited so long to add Clematis ‘Roguchi’ to my garden, but I finally did so a couple of years ago, and then bought another plant this spring. (It’s also found as ‘Rooguchi’ in various catalogs, and don’t ask me which is correct. What everyone agrees upon: it’s one of the best small-flowered clematis there is.)  I quickly learned that it is long-blooming—in North Carolina, Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery says May through September; for me, it starts a little later but goes all summer long, and into fall. To the delight of me and the bees, who love to crawl inside its spectacular 2-inch purple bells, it just keeps on producing.Clematis ‘Roguchi’ performs like a herbaceous perennial—it’s more of a scamperer than a climber, and it doesn’t become some crushing woody vine. Because of that neighborly demeanor, it’s beautiful w