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Rain gardens help handle today’s downpours. And they can be beautiful too

When a nor’easter recently hit the Eastern Seaboard, it transformed my driveway into a stretch of whitewater rapids and nearly obliterated my perennials, their shapes irretrievably distorted by high winds and heavy rain. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time. And it won’t be the ...

How, when and why to divide garden perennials for better blooming

If your spring and early-summer perennials are overgrowing their spaces, blooming less, producing smaller flowers or flopping over (possibly with a hole in their centers), they’re telling you they want to be divided. Crowded plants often struggle because they must compete for limited ...

A simple row cover can save late-summer vegetables as frost threatens

Most of my summer vegetables are winding down now, the cooling temperatures serving as a cue that their mission has been nearly accomplished. But if frost threatens before the last of my tomatoes have turned red, I’ll drape a sheet of sheer fabric over their supporting cages to provide some ...

Growing Tips: Fall gardening do’s and don’ts

As fall approaches, let’s look at some things gardeners can do, and not do, to prepare their gardens and the wildlife that inhabit them for winter and help them get off to a healthy start next spring. To the dismay of many, autumn frosts kill the top growth (foliage, stems, flowers and ...

Adding mini clover to grass seed creates a green, hardy, drought-tolerant lawn

Would you like a lawn that grows well in full sun or part shade, requires little or no watering, chokes out weeds, never needs fertilizer and stays green all summer, even when exposed to dog urine? Have I got a lawn for you! Simply mixing clover seeds with your chosen grass seeds will do all ...

These bulbs have evolved to avoid being eaten. You can take advantage of that

There’s little worse in a gardener’s mind than watching their careful planning and hard work go up in a cloud of teeth, thanks to every four-legged freeloader within chewing distance. So if you’re planting bulbs this fall, select the rights to avoid planting dinner. Although no plant ...