Garden Planning
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Design
Touring a Serene and Immersive Garden Oasis
When you first arrive at the home of Curtis Steiner, you’re not exactly sure you’ve found the right address. His storybook home sits off the main street, and the entrance…
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Design
Best of the GPOD: Before and After
We love a good before-and-after on the GPOD. Getting to see what a gardener started with really shows the work, talent, and time that goes into creating every garden we…
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Design
Things to Think About When Planning or Renovating a Garden
I have always thought that the best gardens are those that make people happy and comfortable. Sure, great gardens look good, but they have to feel good too. The gardens…
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Design
3 Strategies for Designing a Garden That Will Make an Impact for Years
Years ago I remember telling a landscape architect friend that I wanted to put together a talk about everything I’ve done wrong (in gardening rather than my personal life—that saga…
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How-To
Water-Saving Tips for Southwestern Gardens
For most of the Southwest, “dry” is a normal state of affairs. We live in a complex mosaic of arid, semi-arid, and seasonally arid zones that make most generalizations impossible.…
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How-To
How to Pick the Best Mulch for Your Mountain West Garden Beds
Since entering horticulture professionally over a decade ago, I’ve noticed a correlation on the Colorado Front Range between wood mulch (also called arborist chips) and water-wise gardens. A beautifully designed…
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Design
An All-Year Plan for Fragrance in Southwestern Gardens
I grew up in the north, where my mother’s garden teemed with the intoxicating aromas of lilacs, sweet peas, and lily of the valley. When I moved to Oklahoma, I…
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Design
Tips for Installing and Caring for a Pollinator Garden
Choosing a palette of plants that will sustain pollinators throughout the growing season is a great start. However, the way you plant and care for your selections can provide additional…
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Design
Create a Botanical Tapestry by Knitting Vignettes Together in Your Garden
What happens when an avowed plant collector puts down roots on a blank garden slate? When I purchased my property, the small lot in a Zone 5b/6a Denver suburb had…
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Article
Learn to Build Better Soil
A backyard is no place for a farm. My earliest vegetable gardens were small-scale imitations of large-scale farms. I rototilled the soil, spread bagged chemical fertilizer all around and built…