How to Grow and Care for Sweet William

How to Grow and Care for Lupines Lupinus spp.

Flanking our waterways in great mops of silver green, the willow is the most poetic and mysterious of trees. In many cultures – including ancient Egypt and ancient Greece – it was associated with immortality, death, and the underworld; old English folklore states that if you sit beside a willow and shed tears, the tree will cry with you. In China, where the weeping willow hails from, it represents strength and resilience, reflecting the instruction in the Tao Te Ching to have a flexible attitude: 'A tree that won't bend, breaks easily in storms.' Being pliant and strong, willow is used for weaving, and its light weight and hardness make it the best wood for cricket bats.

Blooming along the Nile, this sacred flower was a potent symbol among ancient Egyptian royalty and deities. Even found in the famed tomb of King Tutankhamun, it is treasured for its psychoactive blue blooms. Let’s uncover the meaning of the intriguing blue lotus flower!

Heucheras are shade-loving plants, native to the woodlands of North America. Grown for their foliage, their leaves come in a huge range of colours from red, purple, vivid green and even silver, and they bear attractive flowers in summer, too. Heucheras make excellent ground cover plants, and work well in winter pot displays. Members of thesaxifrage family, heucheras are also known as coral bells and alumroot.

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.

11 Reasons (and Solutions!) for Yellow Hibiscus Leaves

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.

Over the past few years, Pamela Anderson has had more time to contemplate life. That is, until things kicked into high gear again—but more on that later. At the start of the pandemic in 2020, she moved from France, sold her house in Malibu, and headed north to the small town on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where she was born and raised. She hunkered down with her two grown sons, Brandon and Dylan. She bought her grandmother’s old motel, renovated it, and set up her parents there. A lifelong cook, she perfected her baking skills. She reclaimed and expanded her grandfather’s garden on the same land where she had run barefoot as a self-described wild child. It’s the site of both her greatest childhood joys and harrowing traumas, which she describes candidly in her 2023 autobiography, Love, Pamela, and Netflix documentary, Pamela, A Love Story. Almost poetically, for Pamela has journaled and written poetry her whole life, she has reclaimed her true self and her youthful creativity on the exact spot where they were born. When I had the chance to sit with her and talk over Zoom recently, our conversation quickly moved beyond her new cookbook, I Love You (due out in October), to all aspects of life—and her ability to find the deepest of meanings in even the tiniest of seeds.

The sunflower, known for its striking yellow bloom and impressive height, is a favourite plant in many gardens. Originally from North and South America, the sunflower has gained symbolic meaning over the years, often associated with sunshine, happiness, and loyalty. Caring for this beautiful plant is relatively straightforward, but there are a few key considerations to keep in mind to ensure your sunflower grows and blooms optimally.

How to Plant and Grow Swiss Chard Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris, (Cicla andFlavescens Groups)

How to Grow and Care for Candle Anemones Anemone cylindrica

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Dill Weed and Seed Anethum graveolens