8 Mistakes to Avoid When Shopping for Thrifted Decor

In the world of gardening, the practice of companion planting has gained popularity for its remarkable ability to enhance the health and productivity of crops. When it comes to spinach companion plants, the strategic selection of plants to grow alongside this leafy green can make a significant difference to your harvest.

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.

When designing a monochromatic space, there are many considerations to keep in mind to ensure that the room looks as elevated and sophisticated as possible, and we asked designers to share their top tips.

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Clipped all-green shrubs look chic, but for seasonal cheer fill them with pastel shades: think primroses, pulmonaria and wallflowers, and even potted supermarket bulbs such as hyacinths and narcissi.

Kathy Sandel has shared her gardens with us before (More of Kathy’s Calabasas Garden, Kathy’s Garden Transformation in Sacramento), but today she’s sharing the garden she created for her daughter in Sacramento, California.

Poinsettias are ubiquitous holiday plants. I always feel like I need at least one to complete my Christmas decorating. Some years I go for the traditional red hue, others I opt for something more unique, like variegated leaves or bright pink bracts. Poinsettias are native to Mexico and Central America, so these tropical plants often don’t last in a home beyond the holidays. However, if they survived, it is possible to keep them for the following year and, after a period of darkness, get them to rebloom for you. So, if you’re wondering, when should I put my poinsettia in the dark, I will explain how to care for your plant throughout the year, until it’s time to display it once again for the holidays.

Winter is, broadly speaking, the ideal time to prune most trees and shrubs.

Planting ginger is easy, but you have to do it properly and at the right time if you want to get a decent crop.

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I have given up indoor seed starting completely on several occasions. The first time it happened I was a novice gardener. I had ordered seeds of just about every plant that I saw in the garden catalogs without thinking about such practical things as gallons of potting soil, hours of daily watering, and square feet of windowsill space. It also did not occur to me to determine whether or not I had room in my garden for even a fraction of my seedlings. My chaotic efforts eventually produced some wonderful plants, but the process was so exhausting that I said: “Never again.”

Hardy perennial and annual plants of varying heights which bloom in June and July chiefly; the original species or wild types from which the modern beautiful varieties are descended are natives of California, Siberia, Syria, India and other countries. Delphinium Ajacis, originally from eastern Europe is one of the plants from which the annual Larkspurs have been raised. Delphinium belongs to the Buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. The name is an old Greek one.