Hellebores Bring Winter Color to North Carolina Shade Gardens
A shaded bed can look pretty empty once the leaves drop and the cold settles in. Hellebores are a tough perennial that can bring flowers…
By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 31, 2026
In the Garden
How To Protect a Young California Avocado Tree and Reduce Cold Damage on Its First Frosty Nights
John Miller CA · Oct 31
Cenizo Texas Sage: A Silvery Native Shrub That May Bring Purple Blooms This Fall
Ella Brown T · Oct 31
Your fall pepper plants are loaded with green fruit, and a cold night turns them soft unless you pick now
Ethan Brooks · Oct 31
From the Garden
Water your Christmas cactus by the mix in November to help protect the buds it already has
Many gardeners hear that November watering decides whether a Christmas cactus will be loaded with blooms by the holidays. The truth is a little less…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 31
Rosemary for a California Patio: What It Can and Can’t Do About Pests
By John Miller CA · Oct 31
Harvesting Green Tomatoes Before Frost Gives Mature Fruit a Chance to Ripen Indoors
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 31
Fall-planted spinach and lettuce seedlings vanish overnight when slugs move in after cool rains, so set these traps now
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 31
Starting Suitable North Carolina Shrubs From Dormant Hardwood Cuttings
By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 31
In Bloom
What's thriving right now.
Tired of Mowing St. Augustine All Winter? These 7 Florida Natives Stay Green Without It
By Aria Moore F
The Winter Bird That Shows Up in the Texas Panhandle and Almost Nowhere Else in the State
By Ella Brown T
A coyote in your backyard this fall means doing these 9 things before you ever turn and run
By Ethan Brooks
If your fig tree still has hard green fruit on it now, pinch the tips and next year’s crop comes in earlier
By Ethan Brooks
Plant of the Week
Lavender Is Gorgeous and Fragrant, but Is It Really a Rat Deterrent for Your Yard?
A silvery, purple-flowered herb sounds like the perfect way to make a yard pretty and keep rats out at the same time. The trouble is...
By John Miller CA · Oct 31, 2026
Read MoreThe Potting Shed
Field Notes
Why Your California Lime Tree Keeps Giving You a Handful of Fruit, and the One Change That Fixes It
A lime tree covered in blossoms but holding only a few fruits can leave any gardener scratching their head. In...
By John Miller CA on Oct 30
Swap Your Florida Vinyl Fence Line for These 8 Native Shrubs That Never Warp in the Heat
A bright white fence can look tired fast under Florida’s sun, but a living border brings shade, movement, and birds...
By Aria Moore F on Oct 30
Skip the Annual Impatiens: These 8 Florida Natives Keep Shady Beds Blooming All Winter
Replacing impatiens every season can turn a shady bed into a regular shopping trip. Florida natives offer longer-lasting plants, useful...
By Aria Moore F on Oct 30
These Everyday California Yard Habits Are Quietly Inviting Skunks to Dig Up Your Lawn Every Night
You wake up, step outside with your coffee, and find little cone-shaped holes scattered across your lawn like someone went...
By John Miller CA on Oct 30
Could a Heater Vent Be Behind Your Christmas Cactus Dropping Its Buds?
Few things sting like watching Christmas cactus buds fall just before the holidays. If your plant sits near a heater...
By Ethan Brooks on Oct 30
Which North Carolina Trees You Should Prune This Winter and Which Ones to Leave Alone Until Spring
Grab the loppers too early and you could cut off every flower your tree planned to show you in April....
By Jasmine Hughes on Oct 30