13 of the Best Basil Varieties | Gardener's Path

The fascinating garden at Knepp Castle in Sussex, home to ‘Wilding’ author Isabella Tree, reopens for the scheme this year. Credit: NGS 

We aren’t all blessed with acres and acres of land. Most of us have to make do with a smal

No other plant native to South Carolina has such fragrant and beautiful spring blooms and stunning fall color as the witch-alders. Fothergilla was named after Dr. John Fothergill, an English physician and gardener who funded the travels of John Bartram through the Carolinas in the 1700’s. These beautiful shrubs have been planted in both American and English gardens for over 200 years, including gardens of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

As a new year begins, educators at the South Carolina Botanical Garden at Clemson University are excited for a new season of classes and events for all ages. Our entire new calendar is here.

‘IT’S ENDLESS,” plantsman Michael Dodge (former owner of Vermont Willow Nursery) was saying over the phone a few years back. He was alluding to the possibilities of the genus Salix—the willows to which he has been devoting the recent chapter of his impressive horticultural career.  We narrowed it down to some best-of willow selections from about 200 in his collection—best willows for outsmarting deer; winter interest; abundant flowers and even best for making honey if you’re a beekeeper—and I also got a brutal tutorial on willow pruning (also known as coppicing) to share with you.best of the salix: michael dodge’s picksBest cut flowers:  Pink ‘Mt. Aso’ has “such a dense stem of flowers,” says Michael—some have 30 catkins along a space of 2 feet of stem.

Background: My keenest gardening friends–some really tough customers–make annual pilgrimages across Massachusetts to Dartmouth (not to be confused with the college in New Hampshire, but under an hour from Newport, and just a bit farther from Boston). They’d come back from Avant Gardens having outspent their budgets, with one gem after another packed into their cars.I eventually called owners Katherine and Chris Tracey, plant collectors since the 1980s (who have in recent years become seasonal sponsors on A Way to Garden, too). Katherine says the nursery was born “when it really got out of control with our hobby.”  They’ve got 25 years of nursery experience–selling both retail and mail-order—and a particular passion for foliage and especially succulents, two big loves of mine.Listen to our entire conversation on my public-r

Lamium is native to Asia and Europe and is called red dead-nettle, purple archangel, purple dead-nettle. If you want to grow a beautiful plant that can cover your garden without being so invasive, choose from our guide on 20 Best Lamium Varieties!

Each year the Royal Horticultural Society runs comprehensive trials of popular garden plants to find those that are the best to grow. A three-year trial of sanguisorba came to its conclusion recently, and lots of excellent garden-worthy varieties won the Award of Garden Merit (AGM).

Echinaceas are real dazzlers in the late-summer border: sturdy daisies standing erect with flowers that resemble sets of spinning saucers. The colourful sun-ray petals surround bronzed, almost metallic cones. These prickly centres also give echinacea its name, for Ekhînos is Greek for hedgehog.

Echinaceas are real dazzlers in the late-summer border: sturdy daisies standing erect with flowers that resemble sets of spinning saucers. The colourful sun-ray petals surround bronzed, almost metallic cones. These prickly centres also give echinacea its name, for Ekhînos is Greek for hedgehog.

Not so long ago, the idea of shipping roses across the country was almost unheard of. If you wanted a particular type, you bought it locally or you couldn’t buy it all.While I’m all for supporting local businesses, this

Each year the Royal Horticultural Society runs comprehensive trials of popular garden plants to find those that are the best to grow. A three-year trial of sanguisorba came to its conclusion recently, and lots of excellent garden-worthy varieties won the Award of Garden Merit (AGM).