In the Garden

Cold Exposure Can Stress Poinsettias on the Ride Home, So Sleeve Yours Before You Leave the Store

Cold Exposure Can Stress Poinsettias on the Ride Home, So Sleeve Yours Before You Leave the Store

You pick out a poinsettia with deep red bracts, load it in the car, and hope it looks great all season. Poinsettias do not like…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 1, 2026

Why Compost May Not Fix Soggy Clay in Some North Carolina Yards, and How to Assess the Site

Jasmine Hughes · Nov 1

Texas Gardening

Where Central Texas Gardeners Load Up on Free Mulch Before the First Freeze Hits

Ella Brown T · Nov 1

Hard frost turns your fall spinach to mush overnight unless you throw a sheet over the bed before dark

Ethan Brooks · Nov 1

From the Garden

Growing notes from every corner of the plot.

How to Turn a Snake Plant Offset Into a New Plant

How to Turn a Snake Plant Offset Into a New Plant

Everyone loves a free plant, and snake plants can give you one. But the popular claim that a simple pot change makes pups appear does…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 1

One Soaking Fall Rain May Not Fully Relieve Drought Stress for North Carolina Trees and Shrubs

By Jasmine Hughes · Nov 1

Texas Gardening

The Rose Tasks Texas Gardeners Finish in November to Protect Next Spring’s Blooms

By Ella Brown T · Nov 1

Never plant these 12 neighbors next to next year’s tomatoes, or your harvest comes up nearly empty

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 1

Florida Gardening

Hummingbirds Spend the Winter in Florida, and These 7 Native Plants Keep Them Feeding Until Spring

By Aria Moore F · Nov 1

In Bloom

What's thriving right now.

Florida-Friendly Landscaping in an HOA: What the Law Protects and How to Ask

Florida Gardening

Florida-Friendly Landscaping in an HOA: What the Law Protects and How to Ask

By Aria Moore F

Can a banana peel really make potted peppers flower and fruit more?

Can a banana peel really make potted peppers flower and fruit more?

By Ethan Brooks

How Leaving Some Seed Heads Standing May Offer Lesser Goldfinches Winter Food in Your California Yard

How Leaving Some Seed Heads Standing May Offer Lesser Goldfinches Winter Food in Your California Yard

By John Miller CA

Gardener's Selection

The guides worth your time — handpicked by our gardeners.

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Why No-See-Ums Swarm Your Florida Patio While the Yard Next Door Stays Bite-Free

Florida Gardening

Why No-See-Ums Swarm Your Florida Patio While the Yard Next Door Stays Bite-Free

By Aria Moore F

Curled Citrus Leaves in a California Fall: Check the Soil and Weather Before You Water

Curled Citrus Leaves in a California Fall: Check the Soil and Weather Before You Water

By John Miller CA

Those Christmas Cactus Pieces That Snap Off Are a Free New Plant for Your North Carolina Windowsill

Those Christmas Cactus Pieces That Snap Off Are a Free New Plant for Your North Carolina Windowsill

By Jasmine Hughes

Your Florida Tomatoes Go in the Ground Now, and These 7 Varieties Handle Fall Heat Best

Florida Gardening

Your Florida Tomatoes Go in the Ground Now, and These 7 Varieties Handle Fall Heat Best

By Aria Moore F

Texas Bigtooth Maple: A Hill Country Fall Color Standout for Texas Yards

Plant of the Week

Texas Gardening

Texas Bigtooth Maple: A Hill Country Fall Color Standout for Texas Yards

Most Texas yards go from green to brown with barely a pause for color. One native tree can break that pattern, flaming orange, red, or...

By Ella Brown T · Oct 31, 2026

The Potting Shed

8 Florida Natives That Fill Bare Patches Under Your Oak Trees Where Grass Gave Up

Florida Gardening

8 Florida Natives That Fill Bare Patches Under Your Oak Trees Where Grass Gave Up

Winter injury can kill older fig wood and reduce brebas on cultivars that produce them

Hellebores Bring Winter Color to North Carolina Shade Gardens

How To Protect a Young California Avocado Tree and Reduce Cold Damage on Its First Frosty Nights

How To Protect a Young California Avocado Tree and Reduce Cold Damage on Its First Frosty Nights

Texas Gardening

Cenizo Texas Sage: A Silvery Native Shrub That May Bring Purple Blooms This Fall

Your fall pepper plants are loaded with green fruit, and a cold night turns them soft unless you pick now

Water your Christmas cactus by the mix in November to help protect the buds it already has

Water your Christmas cactus by the mix in November to help protect the buds it already has

Rosemary for a California Patio: What It Can and Can’t Do About Pests

Harvesting Green Tomatoes Before Frost Gives Mature Fruit a Chance to Ripen Indoors

Fall-planted spinach and lettuce seedlings vanish overnight when slugs move in after cool rains, so set these traps now

Fall-planted spinach and lettuce seedlings vanish overnight when slugs move in after cool rains, so set these traps now

Starting Suitable North Carolina Shrubs From Dormant Hardwood Cuttings

Texas Gardening

What Feral Hogs Tearing Up Your Central Texas Yard Overnight Are Really Hunting For

If your beets have leafy tops and tiny roots this fall, late thinning may help if they’re crowded

If your beets have leafy tops and tiny roots this fall, late thinning may help if they’re crowded

Trying the Mason Jar Method to Root Fall Rose Cuttings in North Carolina

Florida Gardening

Tired of Mowing St. Augustine All Winter? These 7 Florida Natives Stay Green Without It

Field Notes

The Winter Bird That Shows Up in the Texas Panhandle and Almost Nowhere Else in the State

Texas Gardening

The Winter Bird That Shows Up in the Texas Panhandle and Almost Nowhere Else in the State

Out across the flat fields of the Texas Panhandle, a hawk from the Arctic may be hunting this winter. The...

By Ella Brown T on Oct 31

A coyote in your backyard this fall means doing these 9 things before you ever turn and run

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...

By Ethan Brooks on Oct 31

If your fig tree still has hard green fruit on it now, pinch the tips and next year’s crop comes in earlier

If your fig tree still has hard green fruit on it now, pinch the tips and next year’s crop comes in earlier

Few things test a gardener’s patience like a fig tree loaded with hard green fruit while the season winds down....

By Ethan Brooks on Oct 31

Lavender Is Gorgeous and Fragrant, but Is It Really a Rat Deterrent for Your Yard?

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...

By John Miller CA on Oct 31

Why your fall-planted onion sets bolt and send up flower stalks before they ever bulb

Why your fall-planted onion sets bolt and send up flower stalks before they ever bulb

You planted onion sets in fall, and now a few plants are pushing up a tall, round-topped flower stalk. That...

By Ethan Brooks on Oct 31

Rake Smart Under Your California Oaks: Some Bumblebee Queens Overwinter in Leaf Litter

Rake Smart Under Your California Oaks: Some Bumblebee Queens Overwinter in Leaf Litter

Every fall, oak leaves pile up on California lawns, and most of us grab a rake without thinking twice. Some...

By John Miller CA on Oct 31