Complete Gardening

Plant of the Week

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

Every fall, many California gardeners grab the pruners and clear out spent flowers. Those faded blooms often hold something small birds want: seeds. Lesser goldfinches...

By John Miller CA · Oct 31, 2026

How to Tell When Your California Oranges and Mandarins Are Ready to Pick

Sweet Autumn Clematis: The Fragrant Fall Vine Texas Gardeners Can Try on a Fence or Pergola

Moving your potted fig into the garage too early wakes it up, and the new growth freezes later

These 7 Flowers Keep Blooming in North Carolina Backyards for 20 Years Without Replanting

From the Garden

The Smells Quietly Pulling Coyotes Into Your Central Texas Yard Once Fall Arrives

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

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

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

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

In Bloom

How to Turn a Snake Plant Offset Into a New Plant

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

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

Gardener's Selection

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

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

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

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

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

The Potting Shed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Garden Almanac

Field Notes

Starting Suitable North Carolina Shrubs From Dormant Hardwood Cuttings

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

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

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