Garden Tips

Kiss, Kiss: Mistletoe, a Holiday Tradition

One of our sweetest holiday traditions is kissing under the mistletoe, but how much do we really know about this custom or, for that matter, the plant itself?

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Winter Interest in the Garden

Many gardeners think of the fourth season as a time for rest, but winter can be interesting and fun to plan for a bold, appealing landscape. While most of us plan our landscapes for bloom times in spring and summer, there are many plants offering color and texture appeal for the cold season landscape. Winter…

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Decorating for the Holidays

Whether your prefer a single candle in each window or a 12-foot tree covered with glittering decorations, our ideas will help you create a special home, from the simple to the dramatic!

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Plants for Winter Interest & Holiday Decorating

Wouldn’t you love to have an abundance of fresh holiday greens, brilliant berries and colorful twigs at your fingertips at the beginning of the winter holidays each and every year? Endless fodder for wreath making, mantle decorating, garland enhancing and container filling can be yours for the taking if you plan now and plant come spring.

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Holiday Tree for the Birds

Celebrate the season with your feathered friends by decorating a tree in your yard, or even one in a container, with special treats they’ll love. Bird-Friendly Ornaments There are several types of delicious “ornaments” birds will love, and they can be fun, easy projects to brighten up a winter day. Pine Cone Feeders Pine cones…

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Time-Saving Tips for the Holidays

With shopping, decorating, baking, cooking, travel, entertaining and more all part of the holidays, it’s a wonder there is any time left over to just enjoy the season. These time-saving tips can help you make the most of every minute without sacrificing the joy and celebration that matters most at this time of year.

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Protecting Our Pollinators

Every garden requires pollinators, and bees are among the finest. Without them there would be limited flowers and far fewer fruits and vegetables. Did you know that about 30 percent of the food we eat depends on the pollination of bees, including onions, cashews, coffee, carrots, chocolate and vanilla? If we don’t protect these prolific…

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Create Successful Shrubs With Proper Pruning

Gorgeous yellow, pink, red, orange, white and purple blooms put on a show in early spring from plants like forsythia, lilac, azaleas, rhododendron, mockorange, weigela and bridal wreath spirea. Summer then greets us with bold blossoms in hues of purple, magenta, blue and red from butterfly bush, hydrangea, crape myrtle and rose-of-sharon. These deciduous shrubs…

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Viburnums

Viburnums are one of the most outstanding groups of shrubs for use in landscape planting. Varying in height from 2-30 feet, viburnums can be found to suit most any planting location. Their varied growth habits, excellent foliage, striking and fragrant flowers, showy fruit and interesting winter appearance make them an excellent choice for most gardeners….

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Why Is Deadheading Your Flowers Important?

Deadheading should be a regular garden task to maintain beautiful blooms, but why? What is the purpose of deadheading, how does it affect flowering plants, and how can you do it more effectively to make the most of every bloom? About Deadheading Deadheading is simply the process of removing faded, wilted, browning, or dead flowers…

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Trees For Small Spaces

There’s something about putting a tree in the ground that just feels right. In many cases, you start with just a bare trunk with a few branches and then, rather quickly, it begins sprouting new growth. You nurture your new acquisition and each year it increases in height and girth. Finally, one day, you look…

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Heavenly Hostas

Hostas are amazing plants, truly glorious with heavenly foliage that is stunning as a specimen or in mass plantings. The thin spikes of purple or white, trumpet shaped flowers appear for several weeks in the summer and are an added benefit to this divine perennial. But how much do you know about hostas, and which…

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