Clematis: Tips for pruning summer and spring bloomers

How to Grow and Care for Mexican Fan Palms Washingtonia robusta

Most gardeners would agree that the best pastime for cold winter days is looking through seed and plant catalogs imagining the growing season to come. With that in mind, consider these four strong summer blooming perennials for the midwest when you are ordering plants in the coming weeks.

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of handing someone you love a beautifully wrapped Christmas present. And though the gift itself represents your generosity and love, the presentation is the ultimate finishing touch, letting the receiver know just how much time and thought you put into making their gift extra special. But if you’re not careful, your lovely wrapping job can come at a price—and we don’t just mean the price of the supplies.

As winter approaches and we’re faced with another year of determining what's for dinner, we're sharing a glimpse at how BHG readers gather for a meal. Welcome to our new series, Dinner Diaries, where we're asking readers to anonymously share how they get dinner on the table including grocery shopping, budgeting, cooking, and their favorite family recipes. Here, a two-person household relies on garden-fresh produce and well-stocked pantry to get dinner on the table.

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. 

Collaborative post

Tips for Growing Strawberry Geraniums Outdoors

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). 

While growing plants from seed is less expensive, it does require extra steps when compared to growing plants or starts from your local garden center.

While these plants can take the cold, they may need special care to thrive in certain environments. Follow these guidelines to ensure that your hardy cacti and succulents last for years to come.