Planting - Fine Gardening
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How-To
5 Cordless Power Tools for Easier Garden Maintenance This Summer
After the frenzy of springtime slows and the heat of summer sets in, we all desperately want to put our tools down, pick up a glass of something ice-cold, and…
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Design
How Lawn Replacement Brings Beauty, Sanctuary, and Habitat to Summerhome Garden
In the world of gardening, terms like naturalistic, xeric, and climate-resilient have become buzzwords for a gardening style that uses less water, fosters biodiversity, and adapts to climate change.…
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How-To
How to Clean Up the Garden Without Harming Beneficial Insects
Traditionally in our region, gardens were cleaned up in fall for practical and aesthetic reasons. By spring, with weeding, watering, sowing, and dividing all begging for attention, time can be…
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How-To
Understand Your Shade Conditions to Maximize Flowering Potential
While plant labels, websites, and catalogs use a variety of terms to describe a plant’s tolerated light conditions, these categories can be confusing when deciding whether your situation is sufficient…
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How-To
How to Grow Tomatoes in Pots or Containers
Growing tomatoes in containers can yield great results. Container life can also help gardeners overcome some of the challenging conditions of the Southwest, such as low-fertility soils. However, not all…
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Design
Top Native Shrubs to Replace Boxwood in Your Landscape
Throw a stone in any neighborhood, and more likely than not, you'll hit a boxwood tree. Boxwood (Buxus spp. and cvs., Zones 4–9) is the most popular evergreen shrub sold…
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Design
4 Tips for Incorporating Native Plants into Your Garden
Adding native plants into an established garden design can sometimes feel tricky or daunting. Many get tall but then flop over, quickly creep across open real estate, or generously seed…
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How-To
How to Tell If a Plant Native to One Region Might Do Well Elsewhere
There are a number of clues that indicate the potential for a native plant to be widely adaptable. In general, this information can be found by looking at the characteristics…
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Design
Finding Common Ground with Fido | Letter from the Editor
Do you remember the Pandemic Puppy phenomena of 2020? A large swath of the country was under lockdown thanks to COVID-19, and folks took in dogs left and right. In…
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Design
How to Grow Crocuses for a Spectacular Early Spring Display
Crocuses (Crocus spp. and cvs., Zones 3–8) are some of the most beloved plants in our gardens. They are often the first hopeful sign of spring for many of us,…