How to plan a fun-filled family staycation that everyone will enjoy

Planning a home’s private outdoor retreat for relaxation and social gatherings involves more than imagining how it will look. Much like interior redesigns, the focus first must be on functionality, and practical logistics like how the space will be used and how many people it should or could accommodate.

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Kaleidoscope Ginnel Garden by Petrus, RHS Tatton Flower Show 2024

Does location still matter most? Should you remodel your home to suit your tastes, or for resale value? Are starter homes still a thing? We all have plenty of questions about the ever-changing world of real estate. In our Ask an Agentseries, we’re partnering with experts at Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate to answer your biggest questions about finding, buying, and selling a home.

Tough on the outside but softies inside? Snake Plants are the most solid and resilient houseplants that even purify indoor air! But occasionally, cunning bugs and pests get to even these hardy succulents!

A cayenne pepper plant is a productive, easy-to-grow hot pepper perfect for anyone that wants medium-hot fruits. Grow them in garden beds or pots and expect each plant to yield dozens of slender glossy peppers. The 4 to 6 inch long fruits are typically green maturing to red and can be eaten fresh, dried, or used for hot sauce. In this article you’ll learn all about how to plant, grow, and harvest cayenne peppers from your garden. Cayenne pepper plant facts Cayenne pepper plants (Capsicum annuum) are incredibly popular in home gardens thanks to their

In Hannah Muller’s debut book, Designing With Dried Flowers ($22.31; Penguin Random House), she shares expert advice straight from the fields on how to create beautiful, everlasting works of art for any season and occasion. It’s packed with gorgeous photography, handfuls of tips, flower growing and harvesting suggestions, plus inspiring dried flower crafts that go well beyond vase arrangements.

Image: Hampton Court Flower Festival. Credit: RHS

Professional organizers agree that while aiming to tackle one's entire bedroom in a single day is a gargantuan task, it isn't an impossible one.

This year Chelsea Flower Show was full of interesting trees and shrubs with lots of dreamy woodland-edge planting in dappled light underneath leafy canopies. Native trees such as hawthorns, hazels and silver birch were the favoured choices in many of the show gardens, with a mixture of native and non-native ornamental plants selected for resilience and sustainability. In Ula Maria’s Forest Bathing Garden, white foxgloves, cow parsley and other umbellifers like Baltic parsley (Cenolophium denudatum) and valerian (Valeriana officinalis) were mixed with the simple shade-loving grass Melica altissima ‘Alba’ while Tom Stuart-Smith showcased intricate tapestries of interesting foliage in different shapes and textures. In other gardens, orange was a popular colour in many shades, from deep rusty orange irises to pale orange geums, especially in Ann Marie-Powell’s exuberant Octavia Hill Garden. As always, the Grand Pavilion is the ideal place to discover new and interesting plants showcased by some of the country’s leading nurseries.