Compact Perennials - Fine Gardening

  • plants for small spaces
    Design

    4 Great Plants for Small Spaces in the Pacific Northwest

    I’ve been asked many times, “What’s a great plant for a small space?” As land becomes more expensive and first-time home buyers are starting out, there are lots of properties…

  • Design

    The Best of the Bee Balms

    Every gardener has experienced love at first sight with at least one plant, but many of us have had more of a love-hate relationship with bee balm (Monarda spp. and…

  • Design

    Plants for Compact Spaces, Part I: Small Perennials and Shrubs for the Midwest

    Maybe you want to underplant a tree without obscuring its attractive bark or you want to maintain some visual separation between a low-branched woody plant and the ground plane. Perhaps…

  • mighty pip
    Design

    12 Brilliant Astilbes

    Astilbe, translated from Greek, means “without brilliance.” Maybe the wild astilbes that earned this dismissive genus name were drab, but today’s cultivars offer bright flowers, great foliage, and steadfast performance…

  • Purple salvia with other flowers
    Design

    Salvias That Won’t Let You Down

    I’m lucky to live in Chicago—maybe not in February when we’re buried in snow, but in spring, it’s a different story. One of my favorite spots in the city is…

  • Various butterfly bush cuttings arranged in a circle
    Design

    Beyond the Basic Butterfly Bush

    Few sights are as quintessentially associated with summer as butterflies perched on the blossoms of butterfly bush (Buddleia spp. and cvs., USDA Hardiness Zones 5–9). While the profusion and prodigious…