20 Landscaping Ideas with Hydrangeas and Hostas

Growing in the harshest and most hostile conditions, cactus is the undisputed metaphor for resilience, inner strength, and endurance. From its tough, thorny exteriors to its rich and treasure-filled pads, discover what does a cactus symbolize and more behind its meaning!

We like it when anything and everything around us reminds us to rush to the garden and love up the flora in our space—even letters of the alphabet! Today, we’re focusing on trees that start with the letter R.

One of the secrets to producing big, bushy basil plants is trimming. Many gardeners are shy about harvesting from their herbs and don’t want to cut them back in case it damages the plants or reduces yield. I’m the opposite, constantly trimming herbs like basil to use fresh, or preserve by drying or freezing. Not only does it promote bushier growth it also increases stem and leaf production. Are you ready to learn how to trim your basil plants for maximum yield? When it comes to pruning basil, it doesn’t matter if you’re growing basil in containers or garden beds. It doesn’t matter if you’

Most of the problems balcony gardeners face are universal, so we’ve compiled basic and common problems with their answers, hoping that these tips and answers will help you create a wonderful balcony garden.

A conversation with Sarah Price about how she designs her planting schemes is fascinating. She works in an unfettered way, with no specific planting plans but an intuitive sense of the plants that will work well together to form the nature-inspired compositions she is known for. Her gardens are like exquisite paintings, comprising layers of detail with a gentle succession of plants that provide interest for most of the year. This summer combination comes from Sarah’s own garden on the edge of Abergavenny. Here, she has created different areas and habitats, including a dry garden in the old walled kitchen garden.

Blooming along the Nile, this sacred flower was a potent symbol among ancient Egyptian royalty and deities. Even found in the famed tomb of King Tutankhamun, it is treasured for its psychoactive blue blooms. Let’s uncover the meaning of the intriguing blue lotus flower!

It’s August already, and the holiday season is just around the corner! If you want your Christmas cactus to bloom extra pretty during the festive season, now’s the time to act. As summer peaks, this is the prime time to coax your cactus into producing more flowers. Here’s what you do!

The coastal region and Pee Dee saw lots of rain and flooding in places from Tropical Storm Debby last week. As field conditions improve this week, please document any crop or infrastructure impacts from the storm by using the ESF-17 form. The information collected will be used to estimate the statewide agricultural impact of TS Debby. Please note this form is for agricultural impacts only. Extension agents will also be helping to collect this information this week.

Coneflowers or Echinacea are classic daisy-like perennials that lure in the prettiest butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds to their honey-scented, nectar-filled blooms! Perfect for landscaping, coneflowers practically grow themselves and appear in stunning hues!

This small woody shrub belonging to the mint family is grown for its fragrant, edible, and medicinal leaves and flowers. Growing hyssop has a host of health benefits and is also useful in maintaining a thriving, pest-free garden. Let’s dig in!

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.

Several years ago while shopping at a big-box store, I spotted this tote in the household-cleaning section. In addition to carrying cleaning supplies, it can be used as a shower caddy, but I envisioned it as a garden-tool tote—balanced, sturdy, comfortable to carry, and with holes in each compartment for drainage. I’ve used it for a few years now, switching tools as needed so that I’m always ready for the current job. Cleaning the tote in spring or fall is as easy as removing the tools and spraying it out with a hose.