Are Petunias Cold Hardy? Tips for Outdoor Winter Care

Brussels sprouts are a healthy vegetable. They are a great source of vitamin K, vitamin C, folate, and dietary fiber. However, their flavor reputation is notoriously bad. Brussels sprouts often find their way onto “most hated vegetable” lists. A veggie rarely eaten and often derided only a decade or two ago has now found its way onto trendy restaurant menus as a signature side or a featured appetizer. It turns out we were cooking them all wrong. Boiled-to-death Brussels sprouts slathered with processed cheese (yuck!) of my youth have given way to roasted, braised, and grilled dishes, some bacon wrapped or with a balsamic glaze (yum!). Brussels sprouts are now one of my family’s favorite dishes! So naturally, I wanted to try my hand at growing them.

Forgetting that she’s not a vegetable gardener, I was recently lamenting to my daughter Lucy that at least a couple of my zucchini plants end up flopping over each growing season.“Oh, are they just being dramatic?” she asked, humorousl

If you held a flower popularity contest, petunias would certainly come away with a prize.Beloved for their masses of colorful blooms and

A tart gift from Mexico, tomatillos (Physalis philadelphica) are commonly used by chefs and home cooks throughout the United States and worldwide to add a piquant va-va-voom to sauces and chutneys.Beneath an intriguing yet inedible, papery husk lies a

Wait, ‘Kellogg’s Breakfast’ tomatoes?I bet you’re wondering how an heirloom tomato came to share a name with cereals

Some vegetables we grow in our gardens have names that may exaggerate a little. Take ‘Great White Northern’ beans, for example, which I’d argue are just a bit above average, but not necessarily “great.”‘Supersweet 100’ tomatoes go in the opposite direction.We link to ve

You never forget your first. Homegrown heirloom tomato plant, that is.Well, I haven’t, at least. It was a ‘Yellow Pear,’ purchased during one of th

Sometimes slow and steady does not win the race. Like all those little kid gardeners, there are occasions when even the adults tire of waiting long periods to see sprouts, or taste the fruits (or should I say greens?) of their labor.That’s where fast-growing vegetables and herbs can really co

The beauty of birds is all around us, but we don’t always slow down enough to enjoy their sounds and sights. Birdwatching is a great way to practice this sort of mindfulness, and with the hobby on the rise, now is a great time to get into it. While bird migration in North America typically happens during the fall and spring, you can still get into birdwatching during summer months.

It’s a testament to the ‘Dwarf Grey’ snow pea’s easy-going nature when I tell you one of the toughest issues is deciding whether to spell that name “Grey,” like the British and even most American distributors, or “Gray” as per common US spelling.Beyond forcing you to deliberate for, oh, 10 seconds or so over

Have you noticed that the foliage-oriented houseplants that will grow enthusiastically without a lot of effort on your part tend not to be particularly colorful? And the flowering ones that do well indoors are typically pretty labor intensive.That’s why I’m such a fan of a houseplant known as the flamingo lily. It’s

Did you know there’s a plant named after a time of day?And while you may recall the rather old-fashioned fo