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Plant of the Week

Texas Native Plants May Help Support Aphid Predators and Reduce Pressure in Your Garden

Aphids can show up fast on Texas roses, vegetables, and ornamentals, and the urge to reach for a spray bottle is understandable. What many gardeners...

By Ella Brown T · Jul 30, 2026

Field Notes

If your ripening tomatoes keep cracking open after you water in this heat, one moisture swing is usually behind it

Plant Your Tick-Barrier Native Shrub This Fall in North Carolina or It Won’t Be a Dense Border by Next Spring

The California native groundcovers that replace thirsty lawn on slopes and green up without a single summer watering

This Native Texas Wildflower Quietly Feeds Dozens of Bee Species – With Some Caveats

From the Garden

If your tomatoes hang green and refuse to ripen in this heat, one care habit is usually stalling them

If your cucumbers turn bitter and taste off in this heat, one steady watering habit sweetens them back up

What It Really Means When Box Turtles Keep Showing Up in Your North Carolina Garden Beds and Why You Want Them Eating the Pests There

What It Really Means When Praying Mantises Show Up in Your California Yard and Why They’re Hunting the Pests You Hate

The Texas Herbs and Greens You Need to Get in the Ground Now for a Steady Fall Kitchen Harvest

In Bloom

If your cucumber leaves suddenly go powdery-white in this late-summer humidity, the fix starts before the spots spread

If your cucumber vines suddenly wilt overnight in this heat, the trouble is hiding down in the roots

What It Really Means When Wolf Spiders Show Up on Your North Carolina Porch and Why They’re Hunting the Bugs You Want Gone

Gardener's Selection

The Right Way to Prune Texas Sage So It Keeps Flowering Steadily All Summer Long

If your cucumbers taste bitter after this heat wave, the trouble started before the fruit ever swelled

The Invasive Tree Quietly Spreading Spotted Lanternfly Through North Carolina Yards and Why You Want It Gone Now

The Florida Bat House Setup That Cuts Your Mosquito Population and the 6 Native Plants That Seal the Deal

Texas Native Plants May Help Support Aphid Predators and Reduce Pressure in Your Garden

The Potting Shed

If your zucchini keeps dropping every blossom in this heat, the flowers are telling you something before the fruit ever forms

If your zucchini leaves turn mottled and pale in this heat, the trouble usually rode in on the bugs first

The California native shrubs that replace crape myrtle along your walkways and feed pollinators through the dry summer

If your squash plants collapse overnight in this heat, the trouble starts inside the stem before you see it wilt

California barn owls hunt the rodents no trap or poison can reach, but homeowners keep removing what would make them stay

If your tomato plants slow down in this late-summer heat, one feeding reset usually gets them fruiting again

If your potted cucumbers keep curling into hooks in this heat, inconsistent watering is one likely culprit – but check pollination too

Heat is likely why your pepper blossoms are falling, and a watering swing can make it worse

If your bell peppers grow big and leafy but set almost no fruit in this heat, one feeding habit is usually behind it

What It Really Means When a Fox Starts Patrolling Your North Carolina Yard and Why You Want It Hunting the Rodents That Carry Ticks

What Your Texas Plumeria Needs Right Now to Bloom Through the Worst of the Late-Summer Heat

If your zucchini plants pump out leaves but almost no fruit in this heat, one pollination gap is usually behind it

What It Means When an Eastern Box Turtle Visits Your North Carolina Garden and How to Protect It

7 Florida Native Plants That Bring Fireflies Back to Your Yard by Feeding Their Whole Life Cycle

A Few Simple Yard Changes Keep Roadrunners Hunting Scorpions Around Your Texas Home All Summer

The Garden Almanac

Field Notes

7 Florida Native Ground Covers That Blanket Bare Spots and Choke Out Weeds Without Constant Watering

If your cucumbers keep turning bitter in this heat while the vines look healthy, one watering swing is usually behind it

7 Florida Native Vines That Weave Through a Chain-Link Fence and Turn It Into a Living Screen

What it means when California quail start visiting your yard in coveys, and why you want them scratching through the beds

8 Florida Native Ground Covers That Fill Your Beds So You Never Buy Mulch Again

The California garden spider quietly traps the aphids and mosquitoes ruining your yard, but homeowners keep sweeping its web away