This Pastry Chef's Brilliant Trick Makes Frosting Cakes and Tarts Easier

Color coordinating your Christmas tree can be a hassle—especially if you ever decide you want to change your color scheme.

How to Propagate Houseplants from Stem and Leaf Cuttings

When and How to Repot Swiss Cheese Plants (Monstera)

Christmas is only a few month away, and falling back on the same decor as last year (or even the past five years) is oh-so-boring. Instead, try bringing some new style into your holiday decor. 

Do you want to support wildlife in your garden – but you don’t want a ‘wild’ looking garden? You’d like beautiful borders and gorgeous pots? Even, perhaps, a short neat lawn?

Mandevilla, also known as Dipladenia, Brazilian jasmine and rock trumpet, is a woody climber native to tropical Central and South America. It has gently scented, vibrant blooms and makes a fine conservatory plant in the UK.

We’re back in New Zealand today to see more of Jill Hammond’s beautiful garden. She has spent the last 28 years transforming a 7.5-hectare (18.5-acre) piece of land in rural Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. When she and her husband moved in, it was a completely bare piece of land, so she’s created this entire garden from nothing.

Today we’re visiting with Jill Hammond.

The garden may be in the thrall of autumn, but there is still a fair bit of colour around in patches, with the promise of more to come. Colour is concentrated most in the dahlia beds, where the blooms show little sign of stopping – we, and Jack Frost, know better! There are still roses in bloom, with ‘Strawberry Hill’ the main contender, continuing to delight:

Interior design trends have an intriguing way of reflecting the world we live in outside of our homes and even inside our phones. 

Fall is a great time of year to think ahead to a new plot, and sheet mulching can get you started on that vision. Though it can be done at any time of the year, autumn is ideal because the area will have a chance to break down over the winter. I’ve used this technique to create a garden in my backyard after digging up invasive plants, to establish pathways between raised beds, and to keep weeds out of a new area on my front lawn for galvanized raise beds. The process of sheet mulching enables you to put yard waste, like lawn clippings, fallen leaves, and wood chips, to good use. And by spring, you should have a diggable area, ready for plants.

Believe it or not, 2023 is nearly over, and on the horizon, we have a sneak peek into the captivating home trends set to dominate in 2024.