How to Grow and Care for Bamboo Palm (Rhapsis Excelsa)

Growing sweet potatoes in sacks and bags is a super easy and successful way to bring homegrown goodness to your table. From saving space to getting bigger tubers, this method is about to become your new favorite gardening trick. Let’s dig in!

About 70 miles south of Jackson Hole, 2150 Robinson Lane is a sprawling property with a castle, fully outfitted with tunnels and towers—and it can be yours for the cool price of $14 million. It hit the market in April, and since then, all eyes have been on this extraordinary real estate opportunity. 

When one thinks about a production garden designed to yield copious amounts of vegetables and flowers, it’s not often one with perfectly manicured rows overflowing with color and paired with thoughtfully organized spaces for gathering. Practicality and function are usually the focus, not a dedication to stunning surroundings. This is where the team behind Oakland-based Pine House Edible Gardens stands out with their impeccable layout and design philosophies, showcasing the ability to implement important functional garden systems with incredible style.

Love the minimalist architectural plant trend but only have a small space for styling indoor greenery? There’s no need to lug in a 6-foot specimen tree to add bodacious botanicals into your home, because even the smallest planters can make a big impact when intentionally pairing striking foliage with a unique vessel. Think the graceful curves of a sphere planter paired with round rosy fronds, or curating a juxtaposition of a bonsai-esque statement plant with delicate saucers—the combinations are endless! 

Oliver Furth, a fourth-generation Los Angeles native, A-List interior designer, and AD100 winner, is best known for his irreverent ability to blend different styles and eras seamlessly. He is a firm believer that making a home for oneself is in itself an act of optimism and the most important ingredient when designing any space is joy. 

Gulla Jónsdóttir is an Icelandic architect known for her dynamic forms that have found their way into award-winning projects in the West like the La Peer Hotel, Palmilla in Newport Beach, and Sandbourne Santa Monica, the latter of which just opened. From her Los Angeles-based design studio, she shares insights on how to integrate organic beauty and function into your own home.

There is a certain day in the calendar year, a date that marks the dividing line between its two halves, whose significance as an important horticultural turning point is not lost on experienced gardeners. Known as the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere it was yesterday, June 21st, the longest day and shortest night of the year, when the North Pole was at its greatest tilt towards the sun.

My family didn’t grow asparagus when I was a child. We found it. My dad had a sharp eye for the tender green spears that grew wild along roadsides near our home in Piqua, a wisp of a town in southeastern Kansas. He could spot even a single spear when he took the family on Sunday afternoon drives, stopping our Plymouth Fury to gather the crop.

I had never met a fava bean until I moved to Northern California in the early 1980s and started my market garden. I noticed that the local Italian folks seemed to love these strange, giant, puffy-looking beans, so I decided to try growing them. The real eye-opener came when I took my crop to the farmers’ market. It wasn’t just Italians who were enthusiastic about them; I was amazed at how excited customers of Middle Eastern descent got over the favas. They bought bucketfuls! So I figured favas must be a great vegetable.

There is much to love about passion flowers (Passiflora spp. and cvs., Zones 6–11). There are over 550 different species in the genus; some are shrubs and trees, but the ones that are most familiar to gardeners are the tropical-looking, tendril-bearing, climbing, flowering vines. These are the passion flower varieties that fall into my category of favorites. Some of these beauties even produce deliciously complex-flavored, fragrant, sweet-tart fruit.

Monstera andansonii is officially known as the Mexican breadfruit plant although it’s more commonly known as the monkey mask plant. There are a few theories as to where this name comes from – that the shape of the leaf and its hole resembles a monkey’s face, or that monkeys use the leaf to hide behind, like a mask, peering through the holes. It’s a tropical perennial that makes a bold and beautiful house plant in the UK. Monstera adansonii is less vigorous than its relation Monstera deliciosa, and a good choice if you love architectural foliage plants but are limited on space.

There’s a new product that seemingly everyone has been turning to lately: microcement. In the season of the home remodel, it’s no surprise that homeowners are looking for new ways to upgrade their style this summer. It’s the perfect time for outdoor or indoor projects, and microcement can cover both.