These Dogs are in Crisis. Who Looks After the Guardians?

MY, HOW TIMES have changed. That’s what I keep thinking, looking around my own garden in recent years. I’ve been struck by the same thought over and over as I read “The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year,” the latest book by Margaret Renkl (illustrated with gorgeous collages by her brother, Billy Renkl, like the one above), which takes us through a year in her garden 1,000 miles to the south of mine in Nashville.

It’s officially peak guest season and if you’re like us, you’d want your entryway to look swoon-worthy from the minute guests step in. Whatever the occasion may be—whether a Thanksgiving dinner, a Christmas party, or a book club gathering—nothing beats a well-designed entrance that leaves a lasting impression. 

Want to refresh your space—but don’t have the budget (or the desire) for a shopping spree? A primpover might be overdue.

Several times a year a visitor to our garden is shocked to find a rogue steak knife pierced downward in one of the beds, as if it were an escapee from our kitchen knife block. I’m always quick to tell them that it’s indeed where I meant to place it, and that I haven’t found any tool as great as a serrated knife when it comes to removing grass or root systems. It’s perfect for edging small areas or pulling up entire sheets of grass; all I have to do is start on one side and pull up as I carefully saw back and forth. It can be a cheap purchase from a thrift store—or in my case, the way I finally convinced my husband that we needed a new set of kitchen knives.

If you have a dog, you might be interested in growing a lawn that’s not only pleasing to the human eye but also to your pet. Below are some of the Best Grass for Dogs that are generally pet-friendly and tips on how to grow each one.

Would you like to grow healthy and beautiful lavender plants in your garden? This guide to the best companion plants for lavender will help you to do just that.

WHEN YOU SHOP for food—whether produce or meat or eggs—and see a label that says “organic,” what do you think that means? At its most fundamental level, I guess I always thought it meant vegetables grown on the fields of an organic farm—like, in the soil, or animals raised in its pastures.

It’s a tentative start. We crack open wet soil, slot the roots of a small birch tree into the gap and firm it in. The blessings of Mother Earth on you, little tree. The birch is a bare slip of a thing barely anchored in the ground. One down, 23,999 to go.

With sloping hills that form a dramatic escarpment as they slip into the plain of the River Severn, the Cotswolds, spanning Gloucestershire and parts of Wiltshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, epitomise rural charm. Rivers like the Windrush flow swiftly through pretty villages, gigantic yews fill the yards of churches built in the Middle Ages, and scattered across it are lovely gardens, both grand and modest, all of them embellished with beautiful flowers.

Nerine ‘Sparkle’ is a hybrid derived from the more tender N. sarniensis, the original Guernsey Lily. Ideal for growing in a conservatory or glasshouse, the sarniensis hybrids have a wider colour range than the hardier species, and typically their flowers appear before their leaves, on a tall, elegant steam.

We have all heard the saying “Fall is for Planting,” but this adage does not hold true for all plants. Autumn is an excellent time to establish many trees, shrubs, and perennials, thanks to cooler temperatures and more frequent rains. These conditions put less stress on plants as they establish their root systems. Yet despite these advantages, not all plants benefit from fall planting. As the autumn weather draws you back into the garden it’s important to consider which plants you should never plant in fall.

IT IS NOT TIME quite yet here for what I call the mad stash, storing those non-hardy plants for the winter that we wish to keep alive for another year of service. But it is time to make some plans to do just that.