My LATEST ap gardening columns
I started writing an internationally distributed gardening column for the Associated Press in January 2022. Prior to that, I spent 15 years as Newsday's "Garden Detective" columnist, fielding reader questions, writing gardening how-tos, profiling exceptional local gardeners and reporting the gardening beat.
To keep up with the latest gardening news and trends, you can always find my latest AP gardening columns here:
THIS WEEK: Weeds aren’t just nuisances, they’re messengers. Here’s what they can tell you
More topics I've written about
- Want to grow your own rice? Here’s my step-by-step guide for adventurous gardeners
- The effect of loud noises on wildlife is worse than you might think; here's what you can do to help
- Everything you need to know about the Chelsea Chop
- Tradition and change intertwine to create beauty at a century-old arboretum
- Plants to pick -- and those to avoid -- if you suffer from pollen allergies
- 8 new varieties of rose plants to choose in 2025
- The secret to a refreshing cocktail or mocktail might be growing in the garden
- Plant once, harvest for decades -- here's how to grow spring asparagus
This is the No. 1 best tree you can plant - Every yard makes a difference. Native-plant champion Doug Tallamy’s got a new book explaining how
- Oaks, asters and 6 other ‘keystone’ native species to plant for biodiversity, with Doug Tallamy
- Blink and you could miss them. 10 native spring ephemerals that bring early color to the garden
- After a long winter, here’s how to send your houseplants on a summer vacation
- Consider planting a little extra for neighbors in need this spring
- Here’s your spring gardening checklist
- How to upcycle small food containers and even newspaper and toilet paper rolls into seed-starting pots.
- Winter sowing for stronger spring seedlings
- They dig, they pee, they trample. How to garden when you love both dogs and plants
- 20 new AAS-award-winning plants to grow in 2025
- How to grow and care for a bonsai tree
- Office plants that will thrive under overhead fluorescent lighting — and without windows
- A gardening primer for beginners: My best tips for starting your first garden
- Is it too early to prep the garden for spring now? Nope! Here’s what you should be doing right now.
- Quirky air plants grow without roots and can be displayed pretty much anywhere
- Living fences. Leaves with holes. A lived-in vibe. And other likely garden trends for 2025
- Find out where your firewood comes from to prevent the spread of invasive pests
- A step-by-step guide to renovating a neglected garden
- Winter care for plants, gardens and wildlife—indoors and out
- Making new shrubs from hardwood cuttings couldn't be easier--here's how
- Views on garden insects are changing, with many former “pests” now valued
- Serviceberry is a sadly underused native tree that helps wildlife and is worth planting
- Unexpected flowers from foliage plants
- How to overwinter tropical plants
- Planting bulbs? Here’s how to protect them from critters and the cold
- Fall is the perfect time to plant a tree. Some important tips.
- Minor bulbs can have major impact in the garden - here's why, and some to choose from
- Outside lights are deadly to birds, especially at this time of year
- Fall cleanup doesn't mean what it used to
- You might need to replant your houseplants before bringing them back indoors. Here’s how.
- Fall is the best time to renovate your lawn. Here are steps to ensure the best results.
- Ready to preserve your harvests? There are easier ways than canning.
- Tips for filling in bare spots under trees
- Hammerhead worms are toxic, invasive, and a threat to earthworms
- Buttonbush is an otherworldly native shrub you should know
- It's time to plant your fall crops -- here are some to consider
- Sex and the single zucchini
- Monocarpic plants wait their whole lives to bloom just once -- and it's usually spectacular!
- How to grow blueberries at home
- How a heat wave can actually help (and yes, hurt) your garden
- Keep you kettle whistling all year long by growing and making your own white, green, black or Oolong tea
- How to identify and safely remove poison ivy
- You can grow peanuts at home— even as far north as Zone 6! Here’s how.
- Finding a balance between lawn and non-lawn with sustainable lawn care
- Yes, you can have a tidy, manicured native garden. Here’s how.
- Luckily for cooks and gardeners, these herbs will grow back year after year.
- Why you should take steps if you see a grayish powder on your plants. It’s powdery mildew
- Growing plants in straw bales
- How to make cut flowers last longer
- How to spruce up a supermarket bouquet
- Flowers aren’t the only way to add color to the garden. Here’s how to “paint” with foliage
- The problem with leaf blowers — and what to do instead
- Foodscaping: If your vegetable garden is too small for all the plants you want to grow, why not slip them into the flower garden?
- The garden is waking up. But where to start? Here’s what needs to be done now — and what shouldn’t be tackled yet.
- How to care for potted lilies, hyacinths, daffodils and other spring gift plants.
- Not all vegetables are annuals. Here are some that come back every year.
- Cool and unique just-introduced annuals and perennials to plant this spring
- It's not what St. Patrick used but today's three-leaved shamrock can make a nice houseplant
- For Women’s History Month, a look at some trailblazers in American gardening and horticulture
- New varieties of fruits and vegetables to plant this year
- Tips for growing sweet, juicy peaches in every climate
- Covering ground in the desert
- Before you start seeds indoors, make sure they’re not duds
- For a fun and fancy winter project, grow microgreens on your kitchen counter
Here’s how to decide which vegetables to plant this year - 2024 has been named the year of the African violet. Here’s how to grow these petite charmers.
- Trendy peach-toned plants for your 2024 garden
- How to spend the winter planning and preparing for your spring garden
- Save your poinsettias for next year. Here’s how to get them to bloom again in time for the holidays.
- The bathroom is an ideal place for many houseplants. Some are even happy in the shower.
- Camellias, the queens of the winter flowers, don’t deserve their reputation as garden divas. They‘re easy to grow, and not just in the south.
- By kit, or from scratch, you can grow your own mushrooms at home
- Are your evergreens turning brown? That might or might not indicate a problem. Here’s what you need to know.
- How to help housplants reacclimate indoors after their summer vacation
- There’s a movement to ‘leave the leaves’ in gardens and lawns. Should you do it?
- If it seems like there are a lot of acorns this fall, you might be seeing a ‘mast’ year
- Spooky plants for your goth garden (and Halloween!)
- How to grow your own cup of coffee -- indoors!
- Rose hips provide a pop of fall and winter color – plus a yummy ingredient for teas and jams
- Dahlias, they’re easier than you think
- How to help migrating hummingbirds and see their antics up close
Easy houseplants for neglectful gardeners - The mutant tomatoes are here, and they come in peace
- Annuals are the loyal friends every gardener can use
- Invasive and ubiquitous, English ivy can hurt trees and plants. Removing it isn’t easy.
- Fire-resistant and flammable plants: What you need to know
- Deer and rabbits and voles, oh my!
- Heat-tolerant plants and practices for a warming climate
- Where flooding has become more common, here's how gardeners can respond
- Are ants in your plants harmful?
- Extend your season with succession planting
- A little prevention goes a long way to combat garden pests and diseases.
- How to grow pawpaws, the exotically delicious, sadly underplanted N. American native fruit trees
- How to grow a cutting garden
- How to grow Rhubarb
- How to save water in the garden
- How to save your garden from wildfire smoke and ash
- How to plant containers like a pro
- Hardening off seedlings, an essential step in your spring gardening routine.
- Why No Mow May is a terrible idea
- How to grow an herb garden
- How and why to test your soil’s pH level
- How to select climate-resilient trees to plant
- How to Go easy on your body while gardening
- How to plant a meadow
- Five apps and phone features to help identify plants and problems
- How some of DC's cherry blossom trees have defied their age
- Itching to start spring cleanup? Not so fast!
- Bradford pears, once the darlings of suburbia have become rude invasives. Learn how to manage them -- and get my recommendations for better-mannered alternatives to plant instead.
- Philadelphia Flower Show
- Botanical Latin
- New plants for 2023
- Moon gardens
- Toxic plants and cut flowers to avoid if you have pets
- Pretty but toxic: Watch toddlers around these houseplants
- What's that green stuff on my tree?
- It's in fall, not summer, that leaves show their true colors
- How to protect a fig tree over winter
- How to make Bokashi compost
- Six favorite conifers and the cones they produce
- Time to study up: 35 gardening terms everyone should know
- How to prepare your soil in fall for spring planting.
- Save Your Mums: How to care for your mums so they return next year.
- Jumping worms — How to recognize and prevent their spread.
- Everything you ever wanted to know about planting and growing garlic
- How to save flower seeds
- Growing food indoors from kitchen scraps
- Fall houseplant care
- Gardening doesn’t stop just because it’s fall: Some tips
- How to collect and save vegetable seeds
- Turning a sidewalk strip into a curb appeal
- Stressed Lawns
- Mosquitoes.
- Harvesting potatoes
- Attracting birds to your garden
- Monarch butterflies are in trouble
- Troubleshooting in the vegetable garden
- Fall crops to plant now
- Gardening in drought?
- Alternatives to store-bought fertilizer are all around you
- The new blended garden: Going native one step at a time
- Pollinator-friendly pest control
- Protecting your garden before and after severe storms
- Best, worst companion plants
- Gardening success means avoiding these common mistakes
- 7 tips for growing giant tomatoes
- Gardening in shade
- Sunflowers
- Native alternatives for invasive plants
- Go native
- Old-Fashioned annual flowers worth revisiting
- Filling raised beds? Save money—and grow better—with Hugelkultur
- *Growing veggies in small spaces
- Plants to plant in spring for a beautiful garden next winter
- Tips for indoor seed-starting
- Black innovators who reshaped American gardening and farming
- Houseplant trends for 2022
more to explore
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