Is it too early to start thinking about your 2015 vegetable garden? Not at all!! Many gardeners like to buy seed in the depths of winter — to keep their hopes up — and now is a great time to think about where you will be putting any new garden beds. For the next several…

Like a broken record, I’m always repeating this mantra for gardening success—the right plant for the right place. Re-creating native conditions for any plant is the key to seeing it thrive. Yet the heart wants what it wants. And, so it goes for growing lavender in a cold climate. There aren’t any sun-baked coastal hillsides…

Astilbe has long been a staple in my shade garden. They are so striking when they bloom, with their tall plume-like flowers in delicious shades of pink, red and white. Their feathery tops contrast strikingly against broad leaved shade garden classics like hosta, bergenia, ligularia, and Solomon’s seal. Before and after blooming, their fern-like foliage…