A Different Strategy for a Sloped Garden in Pennsylvania

Happy Monday GPODers!

How to Grow and Care for Weigela Shrubs Weigela spp.

There is no way to sugarcoat the challenges many of us in the Mid-Atlantic region have faced this summer. The inconsistency of rainfall and the extreme high temperatures have greatly impacted our efforts to garden successfully. Even with valiant efforts to apply supplemental irrigation, I have witnessed a wide range of plant material showing signs of drought stress that I have rarely witnessed in my 15-plus years of gardening in this region. To say it is cause for concern would be an understatement. As a result, in the last few months I have been repeatedly asked how we can prepare our beloved gardens to reduce heat and moisture stress for future growing seasons. One answer to this conundrum is to add organic matter to the soil in the form of compost.

Hey GPODers!

Hi GPODers!

If you’re a fan of the quintessential indoor-outdoor Western lifestyle that comes along with expansive floor-to-ceiling glass, a warm wash of natural light, breezeways that maximize airflow, and surrounding serene landscape, you can thank famed architect Cliff May. Regarded as the founding father of the iconic California ranch house, May’s work has been repeatedly published in Sunset since the 1930s. What made his work stand out at the time was how he designed homes not so much based on architecture but on the way people wanted to live in them. Making the most of the Western climate, his goal was to provide a closer relationship with nature through garden courtyards and blur the line between how we use interior and exterior spaces. May in turn created private sanctuaries where families could relax and enjoy a lifestyle of informal outdoor living. He invented the way most people want to live in the West, and his influence is felt throughout the region some 90 years later.

Hi GPODers!

Hi GPODers!

Join us this summer as we explore some of the UK’s best 2-for-1 Gardens to visit in August, for fun days out with all the family. Whether it’s an adventure playground or woodland trail for the kids, or a rose garden or restored Elizabethan garden for the horticulturalists, there is plenty to enjoy at these gardens. Visit using your 2-for-1 Gardens card to save money on your trips to all these wonderful gardens.

Encountering a wasp nest on your property can be quite alarming. These nests, often built in hidden or hard-to-reach places, can pose a significant risk, especially if you or your family members have allergies to stings. A wasp nest is typically constructed from paper-like material that wasps create by chewing wood fibres mixed with their saliva. Knowing where these nests are most commonly found can help in planning an effective wasp nest removal strategy.

Lana Williams, owner of Oakland, California-based plant shop and design company The Tender Gardener, is known for her gorgeous step-by-step plant recipes for creating lush outdoor planters. In Lana’s latest book release, The Container Garden Recipe Book, she’s revealing fabulous floral and frond combos that will have you making plant and pot pairings like a pro. Here she shares a few seasonally appropriate tips on the types of statement plants and containers to use as we transition from late summer into fall.

“Impossibly unaffordable” are two words that Californians are probably less than thrilled to hear. In a recent report from Chapman University in Orange, California, and the Frontier Centre of Public Policy (FCPP) in Canada, that’s exactly how four California metros are described. The 2024 edition of Demographia International Housing Affordability shows San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego listed among the top 10 least affordable housing markets—not just in the United States, but worldwide.