8 Florida Natives That Fill Bare Patches Under Your Oak Trees Where Grass Gave Up
That bare patch under your oak may need a different plant, not another bag of grass seed. Oak roots take up water, while the canopy…
By Aria Moore F · Oct 31, 2026
In the Garden
Winter injury can kill older fig wood and reduce brebas on cultivars that produce them
Ethan Brooks · Oct 31
Hellebores Bring Winter Color to North Carolina Shade Gardens
Jasmine Hughes · Oct 31
How To Protect a Young California Avocado Tree and Reduce Cold Damage on Its First Frosty Nights
John Miller CA · Oct 31
From the Garden
Cenizo Texas Sage: A Silvery Native Shrub That May Bring Purple Blooms This Fall
Picture a silvery shrub that stays leafy all year and sometimes covers itself in purple flowers. That plant is cenizo, a tough Texas native that…
By 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
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 31
Water your Christmas cactus by the mix in November to help protect the buds it already has
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
In Bloom
What's thriving right now.
If your beets have leafy tops and tiny roots this fall, late thinning may help if they’re crowded
By Ethan Brooks
Trying the Mason Jar Method to Root Fall Rose Cuttings in North Carolina
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
Plant of the Week
A coyote in your backyard this fall means doing these 9 things before you ever turn and run
You step outside with your morning coffee and spot a lean, gray-brown animal staring back at you from the edge of the garden. Coyotes now...
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 31, 2026
Read MoreThe Potting Shed
Field Notes
Why Orchid Buds Drop Before Opening: Is Watering to Blame?
You wait weeks for those little buds to swell, and then they shrivel and fall off before a single flower...
By Ethan Brooks on Oct 30
8 Florida Natives That Replace Your Boxwood Edging and Never Brown Out After a Cold Snap
A neat green border can lose its good looks fast when winter brings a surprise freeze. Florida natives offer useful...
By Aria Moore F on Oct 30
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