6 Must-Know Tips From Pros for Shopping for Leather Furniture

Kathy Sandel sent in just a few more photos of hercurrent garden in Sacramento, California, and I couldn’t resist sharing them:

As the thick of winter settles on our patios and yards, you might not be thinking about gardening yet. But if you look forward, you’ll see that 2024 is poised to be the year of the wellness garden.

There’s a Christmas tree hack working its way through TikTok and promising to make your tree grow healthier and happier but, as is the case with many rumors online, there's not much truth to it.

Last week Kathy Sandel shared her former garden in Calabasas, California, and today we’re back visiting her current garden in Sacramento:

I have stored my seeds in many ways—in jars, in plastic storage containers, in used bubble mailers, in cute “binder” gift books, in Ziploc bags. Keeping seeds organized can be a challenge, especially when you grow an extensive vegetable garden. There’s the question of how to organize and categorize. But did you know that your seed storage conditions can also affect the viability and germination rate of your seeds? In this article, I’m going to share some tips on how to keep seeds and container options for storing them.

Seed saving is the art of collecting the seed from your crop and using it in subsequent seasons to grow new plants. Even if you save only small quantities of a few crops, understanding more about the life cycle, breeding tendencies, and botany of your crops will help you manage and care for them more effectively. 

Every fall, the United Nations holds a global meeting to discuss the state of climate change and necessary actions. This two-week gathering is for the signees of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and is called the Conference of the Parties, or COP, for short. Also in attendance are policymakers, NGOs, lobbyists, scientists and more.

It is claimed that some houseplants purify the air of our homes. They are said to rid the indoor environment of pollutants, in turn improving our breathing, our mood, and our overall health. So, is it true, and, if so, how many plants does it take to clean a room?

While some may be familiar with Japanese sacred lily (Rohdea japonica, Zones 6–10), Rohdea pachynema is an uncommon species that is indeed a Rohdea less traveled. Found only in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan, it is an intriguing member of the Asparagaceae family that is slowly becoming more available to gardeners. It was formerly known as Campylandra sinensis or C. pachynema, but recent DNA work has moved it into the genus Rohdea, whose name commemorates German botanist Michael Rohde. We can find no documented common name for this species, so we have dubbed it “yellow thread rohdea” since pachynema means “thick thread” (referring to the colored central stripe on the leaves). 

If you're curious about whether your home's boiler room—which contains your furnace and water heater—can serve as a storage space for common household items, the answer in most cases is no, pros say.

Would you like to maximise your cantaloupe harvest? This list of good companion plants for cantaloupe will help you give your plants the best chance of thriving and fruiting.

‘Marian Sampson’ hummingbird coyote mint