Tips to Create a Water-Wise garden

References to pumpkins date back many centuries. Native Americans dried strips of pumpkin and wove them into mats. They also roasted long strips of pumpkin on the open fire and ate them. The origin of pumpkin pie occurred when the colonists sliced off the pumpkin top, removed the seeds, and filled the insides with milk, spices and honey. The pumpkin was then baked in hot ashes. University of Illinois Extension

What do people look forward to the most about the fall? Is it the cooler temperatures and bonfires? The changing color of the leaves? The slathering of pumpkin spice flavor in every product imaginable? If you said “no” to these fall favorites, maybe for you it is the return of college football and tailgating. One thing for sure that no one looks forward to is severe stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and spending several hours or days hugging their toilet as a result of preventable foodborne illness.

Plan a Visit to the Fort Hill Plantation on the Clemson University Campus, Home of John C. and Floride Bonneau Colhoun Calhoun and later Thomas Green and Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson.

A tour of Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana. The house was built in 1834 and was completed by May 1835. It was the home of Daniel and Martha Turnbull.

The Japanese Garden, ‘”Tsukiyama” at Gibbs Gardens covers over 40 acres. it is the largest in the United States.

Congaree National Park is a 26,692.6 acre park near Columbia and is the only national park in South Carolina. It preserves the largest tract old growth bottom hardwood forest left in the United States. Part 1

His garden was not so far away from where I live, and were he here to welcome spring this year, I suspect that he, too, would be hoping for the best while poking about in the dirt as he cleaned up the beds.Every spring since then, in memory of Geoffrey Charlesworth, and of all the garden’s great creatures who haven’t made it to the newest season, I make a tradition of sharing a poem of his: “Why Did My Plant Die?”more about geoffrey charlesworth‘WHY DID MY PLANT DIE?’ is just one piece of the wisd

I’ve been open as part of their Open Days scheme for 15 years (hard to believe) and even before all that am proud to have introduced the Conservancy to what has become a signature project, the John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden (which was part of my “beat” when I was garden editor of “Newsday” on Long Island). Later I visited and covered many of their other projects in the pages of “Newsday” and then “Martha Stewart Living.” Read all about it–along with details of extra goodies like plant sales and guest lectures at this year’s open garden days at my place.And join me in saying a giant thank you to the Conservancy for all they have done for American gardens and gardeners.

Now Joseph Tychonievich, the sought-after Michigan-based garden writer and author, has confidence-building advice for me in his just-out book, “Rock Gardening: Reimagining a Classic Style.” Joseph is also author of “Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener.”Read along as you listen to the Oct. 24, 2016 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).my rock-garden q&a with joseph tychonievichQ. How did you get the rock-garden bug? Did you catch it in your time working at Arrowhead Alpi

David, also known as the Xeric Gardener, is chief horticulturist of High Country Gardens in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The former garden center, now closed, began in 1984, but you can visit anytime online, or in the print catalog (published since 1993; the catalog-request form is here).I first met David through my work years ago at Martha Stewart Living, in the days when almost nobody even knew what terms like or water wise, let alone xeric or even sustainable meant as they pertained to our gardens. I’ve been thrilled and impressed to watch David teach and inspire the nation–earning the

Whether we call them black-eyed susans or coneflowers, there are a couple of dozen species of Rudbeckia, an American genus in the Compositae or Asteraceae or simply “daisy family” that has produced many popular garden perennials, biennials and even annuals.I long ago stopped growing ‘Goldsturm,’ from the species R. fulgida, probably the most familiar Rudbeckia of all. Like many gardeners, I planted lots when ‘Goldsturm’ was first popularized (along with Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ and purple coneflower, remember?) and guess I OD’d on it. A good plant, but here are three I like better:rudbeckia ‘herbstsonne’MY LONGEST Rudbeckia relationship has proven to b

What special innovation in technique, exceptional plants, or flair with color or design did each of those 40 hand down to the rest of us? Matthew Biggs’s book is loaded with their garden wisdoms, and also with the charming tale of each luminary and how they got to the garden in the first place.Matthew, who trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is the author of various earlier books including “The Complete Book of Vegetables,” and is a regular presenter on BBC Radio 4’s “Gardene