Whether your potted plants live indoors year round or have sought temporary shelter from freezing temperatures, they may be looking a little sad these days. Are you doing something wrong? Or have they just gone dormant? We asked horticulturalist David Clark (who is coddling his own houseplants through a severe winter in upstate New York) for advice about how to perk up winter-frazzled houseplants.

Clark, an instructor at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, likes a challenge: he has managed to keep a 4-foot gardenia topiary alive for four years and has collected more than 300 different orchids. But whether you're nursing something finicky like an African violet or a hardy Mother in Law's tongue, your houseplants are going to have a harder time in winter. Here are his top 10 tips (plus one of our own): 

Sunshine

Above: Photograph by Mieke Verbijlen.

Put houseplants in the sunniest spot you have; move them to follow the sun if necessary. "Most plants will not thrive in a north-facing window because they need more sun," says Clark. The best? A window facing east; you will get sun from 7 am to 11 am and "it's not harsh, like what you'll get in a western facing window," he says.

To move big, heavy pots, put them on rolling plant stands. See 5 Favorites: Rolling Plant Stands.

Less Water

Above: Photograph by Michelle Slatalla.

"Most plants only need water once a week in winter," says Clark. "They will kind of go dormant, especially if they're plants that grow outdoors in summer and they've come from that bright light into a home with lower lighting and lower temperatures."

A watering can with a long spout will direct a controlled stream of water to a houseplant—without dribbles. For our favorite, see The Most Beautiful Watering Can Ever.

Mist Them

Above: Photograph by John Merkl.

Outdoor plants experience fog, rain, and mist. Indoors? The air is dry from your heating system. Give them a little spritz from a mister every few days to keep houseplants happy.

Here's our favorite Brass Plant Mister.

Humidity

Above: Make a humidity tray for plants to add moisture to the air. In a low-sided tray, place a shallow layer of pebbles. Add water to the height of the pebbles. Set plant pots on pebbles and put the tray in a warm sunny spot (or on top of a radiator).

Or get a desktop humidifier to direct moist air toward plants. For our favorites, see 10 Easy Pieces: Desktop Humidifiers.

Most plants thrive with levels of from 50 to 60 percent humidity; in a house the humidity level can go below 35 percent. "In a situation like that, make them a little miniature greenhouse by tenting them under a big plastic bag," says Clark. "Or take a shallow tray, fill it with 2 inches of water and gravel, and set your potted plant in it." As the water evaporates, it will create humidity around the plant.

Tonics

Above: A potted dwarf mandarin orange tree with yellow spots on its leaves. Photograph by Michelle Slatalla.

The most common disease that plagues houseplants is leaf spot—yellow or brown spots that develop on an outer leaf and move inward. If your plants are suffering, mix a tonic and spray it on their leaves: Dissolve 4 teaspoons baking soda in a gallon of water and add a few drops of Murphy's oil to make a suspension.

Dust Them

Above: Photograph by Electronomo via Flickr. 

Keep plants clean. "When they get dusty, that causes plants not to breathe. It plugs their leaves, which have little pores called stomata," says Clark. "If you cover a leaf surface with dirt, it won't get the full effect of sunlight and photosynthesis will be slowed."

Bathe Them

Above: For smaller plants, give them a bath in a sink with a sprayer. Larger plants can go into the shower. Wipe leaves with a damp sponge. Then off their leaves so they don't drip all over the floor.

Stop Fertilizing

Above: Photograph by Cheryl Locke.

Many plants go dormant in the winter. Don't fertilize—and don't give up on them. Come spring, set dormant plants outdoors in warm sunshine and feed them a superfood such as sea kelp. For more, see Gardening 101: Sea Kelp for Healthy Houseplants.

Crank Up the Heat

Above: A pelargonium on the windowsill, a common sight in Scandinavia. For more, see Field Guide: Pelargoniums.

Above: Turn the heat up high during the day, then way down at night. The temperature variance feels familiar to plants because it mimics the conditions they would experience outdoors in the course of a 24-hour period.

Get Rid of Bugs

Above: Photograph by Erin Boyle.

Make your own sticky traps to catch those tiny black bugs—they're fungus gnats—that buzz in the air above houseplants. For step-by-step instructions, see DIY: Sticky Traps for Fungus Gnats.

Other solutions are to bury a garlic clove in the soil, make an apple cider vinegar trap, or repot plants. For more, see DIY: Pest-Free Potting Soil.

Play Music

Above: Plants prefer classical to rock and roll. But sometimes we think we see the fiddle leaf fig tree swaying to the beat.

Need houseplant help? See:

• 10 Low-Maintenance Houseplants
• How to Keep a Potted Citrus Tree Happy in Winter
• Goodbye, Gnats: Pest-Free Potting Soil
• Gardening 101: Sea Kelp for Healthy Houseplants
• 11 Houseplants That Could Help Your Career

More Stories from Gardenista

• A Bewitching Trio of Wire Plant Stands
• Winter Warmth: A Garden Visit to a Glittering Crystal Palace
• 10 Easy Pieces: Wardian Cases

In an old printing factory in the center of Paris, garden designer Jacques Leseur created a secret courtyard garden where feathery plants soften a dark industrial backdrop. Here's how to recreate the look:

Above: The patio sits directly off the kitchen. Potted plants on rolling stands are mobile and can move indoors and out. Photograph via Marie Claire Maison.

Above: Handmade clay planters from Belgium-based Atelier Vierkant have as much beauty as utility. Coming this spring, a new A Planter will be available in six sizes, from diminutive ($81) to massive ($2,665).

For more of Atelier Vierkant's line (and US retailers), see Artful Planters from Belgium.

Above: Put plants on rolling stands to make them easy to move (and to prevent damage to flooring). One of our favorites (at top R) is the galvanized Socker Rolling Plant Stand from Ikea; $5.99. See the rest of our picks in 5 Favorites: Rolling Plant Stands.

Above: Photography by Andreas Trauttmansdorff for Gardenista.

You can purchase Japanese maples online, but shipping dates will depend on your region. Two varieties we like are the Shaina Japanese Maple with dark maroon leaves, with prices starting at $89 for a 1.6-gallon size at Monrovia, and the Osakazuki Japanese Maple that varies from green to red to orange ($139 for a 3.6-gallon plant at Monrovia). For more inspiration, see 5 Favorites: Colorful Japanese Maples.

Above: Photograph via Atelier Domingue.

Check your local architectural salvage yard for vintage steel factory windows and doors to find something that approximates the look in the patio above. Or consider a custom set to fit your space exactly. Shown here are custom steel frame doors' from the Atelier Domingue Architectural Metalcrafts line.  

For more sourcing ideas for steel windows and doors, see Walls, Windows & Floors: Steel Window and Door Fabricators on Remodelista. 

Above: Visit your local lumber yard for cedar decking boards—they're naturally resistant to insects and rot. Eastern White Cedar Boards are $1.59 per linear foot at Northampton Lumber in Virginia. 

Above: Citrus trees can thrive in pots, with lots of sunshine and patience. A potted semi-dwarf Nagami Kumquat Tree is $24.99 from Grow Organic. 

Above: A galvanized steel Hoop Handle Watering Can with a corrosion-resistant zinc finish and a screw-on spout is $48 from Terrain.

Above: Wisteria is a beautiful and fragrant perennial vine—but invasive. Read before planting: Wisteria: A Dangerous Beauty (Are You Tempted?) and DIY: Train a Wisteria Vine Not to Eat the House.

Among our favorite varieties of wisteria are Wisteria Frutescens Amethyst Falls ($24.95) and Wisteria Lavender Falls ($28.95); both from White Flower Farm.

Above: Crate & Barrel's Delta 30 Inch Aluminum Bar Stool has an anodized finished on aluminum base; $149 each. 

For more ways to make a small space feel luxe, see:

• Artful Planters from Belgium
• Cut Leaf Japanese Maples: At Home with Canada's Favorite Garden Writer
• DIY: Potted Citrus Trees

More Stories from Gardenista

• 11 Landscape Design Mistakes to Avoid in 2015
• The Cult of the Courtyard: 10 Homes with Amazing Interior Light
• Rehab Diaries: The Resurrection of a Medieval Nobleman's Garden

A traditional long-necked metal watering can with a sprinkler head to gently shower plants is the first thing you should buy for a first garden. Get a good one, and it will last a lifetime. Here are 10 of our favorite watering cans, generously sized and designed with handles that make them comfortable to carry:

Above: How can we pick just one style of Haw's watering can to recommend? Ever since company founder John Haws came up with the idea of a perfectly balanced watering vessel in the 19th century, the English manufacturer has dominated the market. Today Haw's makes oval cans, long-spouted cans, metal cans, plastic cans, indoor cans, outdoor cans, metal cans—in a variety of sizes, colors, and finishes.

But if you own just one watering can, it should be the versatile 4.5-liter Haw's Traditional Metal Watering Can, available for £39.99 from Garden Gifts Direct. In the US, a smaller 1.1-gallon capacity Haw's Traditional Watering Can is $69.95 from Williams-Sonoma.

Above: A large 3.1-gallon galvanized steel Hoop Handle Watering Can has a corrosion-resistant zinc finish and a screw-on spout; $48 from Terrain.

Above: Inspired by an antique from the 1800s, a 3-gallon Stainless Steel Watering Can is 122.50€ from Botanique Editions.

Above: A Traditional Stainless Steel Watering Can with brass accents is corrosion resistant and holds 1.5 gallons; $53.95 from Signature Hardware.

Above: From Dutch studio Esschert Designs, a White Watering Can with a large removable head is $44.99 from Hayneedle.

Above: Sourced in Hungary, a limited supply of Vintage Galvanized Watering Cans with double handles have cone-shaped removable roes to allow you to adjust the force of the flow. They're $69.95 apiece from Williams-Sonoma.

Above: Available in two sizes, a Watering Can In Gooseberry made from powder coated steel is £25 (for a 5-liter capacity) or £32 (10 liters) from Garden Trading.

Above: The shape of an oval Zinc Coated Watering Can makes it easy to carry close to the body. A detachable sprinkler head has a removable rubber ring to create a tight seal. The can holds eight liters (approximately 2.5 gallons) of water and is 41€ from Manufactum.

Above: A 5-liter Burgon & Ball Waterfall Watering Can in racing green is powder coated in a glossy finish over galvanized steel; £24.95.

Above: A 2.1-gallon Stainless Steel Watering Can by Esschert Design has double handles, each with a wooden grip for comfort; $58.45 from Hayneedle.

For more stylish watering cans, see:

• The Most Beautiful Watering Can Ever
• Steal This Look: Your Dream Garden Shed
• Belgian Basics with a Fairy Tale Twist

More Stories from Gardenista

• Table of Contents: Garden Envy
• Table of Contents: Secret Gardens
• Trending on Remodelista: Kitchen Secrets

Winter is the season of hope: for the most beautiful spring garden ever. And you can have that. You also can lay the most charming front path in the history of hardscaping projects. And create the most welcoming outdoor living space that mankind has known. But first, you must avoid 11 common landscape design mistakes. Here's how:

Buying Big

Above: Photograph by Kendra Wilson.

It's tempting to buy the biggest plants available to make a garden look more mature, especially if you are getting a tree or plants for a privacy hedge. But the price of impatience is high. A plant in a 1-gallon pot costs approximately $5, whereas a 5-gallon pot may be $15. After two or three years, you won't see a difference.

Overcrowding

Above: Photograph by Nicole Franzen. For more of this classic Mediterranean garden, see A Modern California Garden Inspired by the Classics.

Plants grow. Repeat that until you believe it. We all want to ignore spacing recommendations to avoid bare spots when planting a garden. But if you do, your garden beds will soon be too crowded, forcing you to pull out plants you paid for not so long ago. It's OK to see bare spots, especially in early spring.

Forgetting the Four Seasons

Above: Garden designer Piet Outdolf's winter garden at Hummelo. For more, see Steal This Look: Piet Oudolf's Private Garden.
 
Every garden looks beautiful the last week in May and the first week in June. But you also must look at yours the other 50 weeks of the year. Don't make the mistake of limiting your plant choices to spring and early summer bloomers. Roses, irises, and peonies are wonderful garden companions, but you can't rely solely on them. Consider plants that look good year-round such as evergreen shrubs and trees with interesting bark and perennial grasses, which can turn into lovely straw-colored feathers in winter.

Outdoor Overkill

Above: Julie's mossy patio looks perfect just the way it is. Wonder how a rug would look? See Domestic Dispatches: 5 Outdoor Rugs for Julie.

Above: While it's nice to blur indoor and outdoor boundaries to increase your usable space, don't try to turn your garden into just another living room. Remember you came outdoors because you want to experience nature.

Do you really need indoor furnishings such as rugs and reading lamps in an outdoor space? Mossy brick underfoot (as shown) makes a lovelier carpet than any woven material. 

Curb Repel

Above: Does your house have this much curb appeal? If not, see 11 Ways to Add Curb Appeal for Under $100.

The opposite of curb appeal is a house with a cracked concrete path, peeling paint, and a dented mailbox. Go stand in the street, face your house, and look at it with a critical eye. Do you need new house numbers? A glossy coat of paint on the front door? A new gate latch? Those are easy fixes that make a big impact.

Uncomfortable Furniture

Above: LA jewelry designer Kathleen Whitaker has an inviting seating arrangement in her backyard. For more of her garden, see At Home with Jeweler Kathleen Whitaker in LA.

Just because outdoor furniture needs to be durable doesn't mean it should be uncomfortable. Weather resistant doesn't have to be hard, scratchy, splintery, or cold. Choose chairs with wide seats and sofas deep enough to sink into with a good book. Be generous about adding padding: cushions and pillows add comfort. 

Arrange an outdoor seating area as if it were a living room. Make sure there are tables on which to set glasses and armrests on chairs.

Color Chaos

Above: When you're designing a planting scheme, pick a limited palette and stick to it. Silver, blue, and purple plants (shown) harmonize beautifully, for instance. While rainbow colors in full bloom look utterly tempting at the nursery, they can be as jarring as a slash of too-red lipstick after you get them home.

A good rule is to pick a three-color palette (plus white-flowering plants as an accent). For more of our favorite plant color schemes, see Garden Visit: Vita's Sunset Garden and Color Theory: 10 Perfect Plant Combinations.

A Blind Eye

Above: Photograph via Guardman Tillman Pollack.

What's the view through your window? It should frame the garden. Don't pass up the opportunity to design a garden to be enjoyed from indoors. Place focal points in strategic spots and create garden vignettes for each window.

Hardscape Hash

Above: SF-based landscape architect Scott Lewis created a spacious feeling in a small city backyard through the judicious use of hardscape materials. For more of this garden, see Scott Lewis Turns a Small SF Backyard into an Urban Oasis.

Don't make the mistake of installing hardscape materials that clash. The color of your deck and front path should complement the color of your roof and your front door. Limit the number of materials you use and when laying brick or stone in a pattern, remember that quieter is almost always better. For example, bluestone pavers laid in a simple running bond pattern (shown) create a soothing backdrop to allow plants to steal the show.

Potted Pandemonium

Above: Photograph via Woonstijl.

Potted plants are accessories and, as with jewelry, less can be more. You wouldn't wear diamond earrings, a turquoise necklace, an emerald flower brooch, and a jangling charm bracelet together. Nor should you group together mismatched pots of different styles and random sizes. 

Create a group of two or three pots of similar colors, materials, and size (in general, the bigger the better) for harmony. When choosing container plants, redundancy is good. If you repeat a particular plant in each pot, you will create a visual refrain to make containers look purposeful. When in doubt, plant an evergreen shrub such as boxwood (shown) to give containers a strong silhouette.

Forgetting Foliage

Above: A hellebore in a shady Brooklyn backyard. For more of this magical garden, see The Magicians: An English Professor and a Novelist Conjure a Garden in Brooklyn.

Don't buy plants for their flowers. Buy plants for their leaves—texture, shape, color—because their leaves are what you are going to see most of the year.

For more landscape tips and garden design trends, see:

• Top 10 Garden Design Trends of 2015
• 13 New Landscape Ideas to Steal in 2015
• Curb Appeal: 11 Ways to Make Your House Look Great in Winter

More Stories from Gardenista

• Steal This Look: An Industrial Chic Parisian Courtyard
• The Cult of the Courtyard: 10 Homes with Amazing Interior Light
• Rehab Diaries: The Resurrection of a Medieval Nobleman's Garden

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down? Make that honey.

For flu prevention, here's a natural remedy that actually works. I've been making elderberry syrup every fall for the past few years, and I swear it's magic. Widely used in herbalism as a flu preventative, elderberry syrup is filled with immune-boosting properties—not to mention antioxidants, potassium, beta carotene, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin C. 

Best of all: making your own is truly simple. This is a DIY that won't try your patience. 

Photography by Erin Boyle.

Above: Dried elderberries ready to be turned into medicine. I purchased dried berries from Mountain Rose Herbal; a 4-ounce package is $4.25.

Above: Use a sieve to smash all the juice out of the berries after boiling.

Above: Allow the liquid to cool completely before adding the honey so heat doesn't damage the raw honey.

Above: Bottle the syrup in dark apothecary bottles. A 2 Oz. Amber Bottle is $1.50 from Mountain Rose Herbal.

Elderberry Syrup for Flu Prevention

Adapted from Mountain Rose Herbal

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dried elderberries (or 1 cup fresh)
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup raw honey
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 to 5 cloves

Instructions:

Place berries, spices, and water in a saucepan. Bring the ingredients to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for from 30 to 40 minutes until the syrup begins to thicken slightly. Remove from heat and strain liquid through a sieve, smashing the berries with a wooden spoon to release extra juice. Discard the berries and spices. Allow the liquid to cool completely and mix in raw honey. Divide into glass bottles and label. Keep the syrup refrigerated and take a teaspoon daily to ward off germs.

Elderberry Syrup is just one elixir that comes from the elderberry tree (remember Christine's post about Elderflower Cordial?).

For more DIY natural remedies, see:

• Delicious Detox: A 20-Minute Turmeric Miso Soup
• DIY: Back-to-School Hand Sanitizer
• DIY: A Soothing Sunburn Cure with a Secret Ingredient
• DIY: Rose Water Hydrosol

N.B.: This is an update of a post published on October 3, 2013 as part of Tree Huggers week.

More Stories from Gardenista

• DIY: Portable Closet, Planter Included
• Recipe: Irresistible Vegetable Soup in 30 Minutes or Less
• DIY: Identify Leaves and Flowers (There's an App for That)

A new outfit in February perks up anybody. That goes double for houseplants. If your little potted friends are looking droopy, pop them (pots and all) into a basket. We especially like what these natural-color bamboo baskets from Danish design studio House Doctor do for greenery:

Above: From Denmark with love. House Doctor's set of two woven black-and-natural bamboo Helene Baskets are available in two sizes at prices that range from 19€ to 33€ from Accessorize Your Home.

Above: House Doctor's baskets also have woven bamboo handles. 

Baskets and houseplants are natural partners. For more ideas, see:

• A Winter Weight Woven Hanging Basket
• The Well-Appointed Potting Shed: Baskets as Wall-Mounted Storage
• Colorful Woven Harvest Baskets from Barebones

More Stories from Gardenista

• 11 Ways to Keep Houseplants Happy in Winter
• A Bewitching Trio of Wire Plant Stands
• Winter Warmth: A Garden Visit to a Glittering Crystal Palace

Tom Stuart-Smith likes high drama. (He did not become England's garden designer of the moment by accident, after all.) This explains the giant tree ferns. "You almost expect a triceratops or an iguanodon to poke its head out from between the fronds," he says of the London garden he created for a couple with a new baby who had asked for a low-maintenance backyard.

The couple's townhouse, newly remodeled by architects Guard Tillman Pollock, had a two-story glass wall overlooking a long, narrow backyard. Stuart-Smith planted strategically Dicksonia antarctica, hairy-trunked tree ferns from Australia with canopies as big as 20 feet in diameter. It was a bold move, and a brilliant one:

Photography via Guard Tillman Pollock except where noted.

Above: The setting called for "some sort of primitive wildness in the city," Stuart-Smith said. Visible from the kitchen is a garden where texture and form triumph, and where the mood is, as Stuart-Smith wished, otherworldly.

Above: Stuart-Smith's pared-down plant palette was limited to six. In addition to the giant tree ferns, he planted boxwood; a Japanese woodland grass called Hakonechloa macra, and three climbing plants: Pileostegia viburnoides, fragrant Trachelospermum jasminoides, and Hydrangea petiolaris. 

Above: The tree ferns with hairy trunks and parasol fronds grow among clumps of rounded boxwood, creating a juxtaposition of textures and silhouettes. Horizontal hardwood slats cover brick walls that are lined "like a cigar box," Stuart-Smith says.

Above: From the second floor landing (L), the garden is a tempting mystery. The terrace (R) is cast concrete, edged with cloud-pruned boxwoods.

Above: Stuart-Smith's design for the garden, which measures approximately 65 feet long by 30 feet wide, takes into account an elevation change from the terrace to the back of the garden, where he designed a small sandpit.

In every garden, a visitor should be able to go on a journey, Stuart-Smith believes. In this one, a traveler walks past feathery grasses and boulders of boxwood to reach a distant destination. "The idea of the place is that even within a relatively small space there can be a liberating sense of other worldliness," says Stuart-Smith. "The moment you cross the threshold you are in a different world."

Above: From the street, the garden is a hidden oasis, its privacy guarded by a high brick wall.

For more of Tom Stuart-Smith's inimitable way with plants, see:

• A Secret Courtyard Garden in Piccadilly, Ancient Tree Ferns Included
• Required Reading: The New English Garden
• Required Reading: Contemporary Designers' Own Gardens

More Stories from Gardenista

• 11 Landscape Design Mistakes to Avoid in 2015
• Steal This Look: An Industrial Chic Parisian Courtyard
• The Cult of the Courtyard: 10 Homes with Amazing Interior Light

There's a reason more than half of all gardeners plan to grow edibles this year. Food you grow tastes better, is healthier for you, and fills you with a quiet feeling of pioneer satisfaction. Actually, that's a lot of reasons. Our Design Guide for Edible Gardens includes 40 of our most popular posts to make yours easy to plant, a pleasure to cultivate, beautiful to look at—and delicious to eat:

Garden Design and Layout

Above: Pea gravel paths keep weeds down and feel pleasant underfoot in a garden by Susan Cohan Designs. For more, see Hardscaping 101: Pea Gravel.

An edible garden should be as beautiful as it is useful. A pleasing design will lure you to spend time more time in the garden, where you'll discover that weeding, staking, and fertilizing will only make it lovelier. For inspiration, see 136 images of our favorite Edible Gardens in the Gardenista Photo Gallery.

Above: Garlic and echinacea are both blooming in A Cook's Garden in Upstate New York. Photograph by Laura Silverman.

Whether your edible garden is tiny or vast, choose a design that mixes ornamental and edible plants. Lay out paths that are a comfortable width and use material that feels good underfoot. Garden beds should be generously sized but narrow enough for you to weed without stepping into them. For edible garden design tips, see Hardscaping 101: Raised Garden Beds.

Above: Raised beds allow you to control the quality of soil. Uniformity in shape, size, and height creates a pleasing layout. For more of this garden, see The Ultimate Edible Garden, Courtesy of a California Master.

Above: If space is tight, even a single raised bed is enough for an edible garden. We like the technique of turning a water trough into an edible garden. For tips, see Steal This Look: Water Troughs as Raised Beds.

Above: An elegant deer proof fence for an edible garden on Long Island's East End. For more about how this garden was designed, see The Landscape Designer Is In: Elegant Deer Fencing, Hamptons Edition.

Don't tell the deer we said this, but deer proofing is an essential part of the design process. For tips, see The Garden Designer is In: Deer Proofing an Edible Garden.

Above: The drip irrigation system at the French Laundry in Yountville, CA.

When you design an edible garden bed, lay out a drip irrigation system before you plant. For the basics, see Hardscaping 101: Drip Irrigation.

Above: Architect Sheila Bonnell waters her edible garden the old-fashioned way on Cape Cod. For more of her garden, see Architect Visit: A Kitchen Garden on Cape Cod. Photograph by Matthew Williams.

Choosing Plants and Seeds

Above: In winter you can sprout seeds indoors to transplant into the spring garden. Early crops, such as lettuces, can be sown directly into the ground in March when the dirt soft enough to work with a trowel.

Some of our favorite sources for seeds are Jardin Seed Co. (which sells 135 varieties of heirloom seeds); Kitazawa Seed Co. (which sells more than 250 varieties of traditional heirloom vegetables from Japan), and family-owned Homestead Seeds (with more than 200 varieties of heirloom squash, pumpkin, and gourd seeds).

Above: If you have a small space (or are growing edibles indoors, consider growing microgreens for salad. For tips, see Ask the Expert: 9 Tips to Grow Edible Microgreens.

Above: Photograph via Star Apple Gardens.

What companions are you going to plant—and where? It's important that the plants in your edible garden be friends. It's a little bit like drawing up a classroom seating chart for middle school students. For ideas, see DIY: Plants Have Best Friends Too.

For tips about which plants are friendly (and which need their space), see our Field Guides. We have dozens of growing guides for herbs such as Rosemary and Basil; for vegetables like Brussels Sprouts and Kale, and for fruits including Apples and Persimmons. And we've given them all nicknames. Guess which plant we (affectionately) call "Better Bletted?"

Above: Kendra eats flowers in her salad. Photograph by Kendra Wilson.

Make room for edible flowers in your vegetable garden. Not only are they delicious, they'll also add a little color to the kale's cheeks. For tips on growing and eating edible flowers, see DIY: Add Edible Flowers to Your Salad and Laura Silverman's recipe for Flower-Flavored Butter.

Above: Looking for the basics? For tips on growing Lettuces, Tomatoes, Carrots, and Chives, see our Field Guide archives.

Seed Starting and Cold Frames

Above: Know your climate. Before we try to grow anything, we like to consult The Old Farmers' Almanac (and not just because it's a "hoot," in Jeanne's opinion). This little book's format hasn't changed much since it was first published in 1792 (when George Washington was president). And it's still chock full of useful weather and climate information. If we're in a hurry, we might skip over the pages of astrological advice and go right to the section on crop rotation. 

Above: In winter or early spring, sprout seeds in homemade newspaper pots. Because the paper is biodegradable, you can transplant the pots directly into the garden. For more, see Gardening 101: How to Sprout a Seed and DIY: How to Make Newspaper Pots.

Above: A cold frame in fashion designer Courtney Klein's San Francisco backyard is built of 10-foot-long redwood planks. For more of her garden, see Courtney Klein's Mission District Backyard.

To get a jump on the spring growing season, start seeds and keep seedlings warm in a cold frame. It's essentially a warming hut for plants; see Janet's comprehensive Hardscaping 101: Cold Frames for everything you need to know to get going.

If you've got an old cold frame you haven't used in a while, Erin figured out that it's easy to DIY: Revive a Cold Frame.

What to Eat

Above: First Lady Michelle Obama dug up the grass on the White House lawn for the first time since World War II to plant herbs and vegetables. See more of her edible garden at Steal This Look: Michelle Obama's White House Garden.

Above: Cookbook author Marie Viljoen harvests year-round from an edible garden planted on her Harlem terrace. Try her Fennel Pesto and Mushrooms á la Greque. And browse through more of our 234 Garden-to-Table Recipes for more ideas.

Guides and Handbooks

Above: Photograph by Jason Ingram.

Whether your edible garden is grand or humble, it helps to have a guidebook. We've dogeared quite a few pages of advice (and inspiration) about how to design, plant, and grow an edible garden. Some of our favorite books on the subject are The Beautiful Edible Garden, The Edible Balcony, Kitchen Garden Experts, and The Old Farmers' Almanac.

For more edible gardening, see:

• 10 Easy Pieces: Cold Frames
• DIY: Store Your Own Seeds
• A Bank for Rare Seeds in Petaluma
• 10 Secrets for an Urban Edible Garden on a Balcony
• Steal This Look: Walnuts Farm Kitchen Garden

More Stories from Gardenista

• New from Ikea: 11 Essentials for Small Space Gardens
• By Appointment Only: In the Studio with Brooklyn Florist Saipua
• Cinderella Story: A Before and After Hideaway in the Alps

When friends invited my husband and me to join them for a weekend at Steep Ravine cabins, we had no idea what to expect. What we knew: the ten cabins are an hour north of San Francisco, it's really hard to get reservations, and we should bring all of our regular camping gear minus the tent. What we didn't know: we were about to be completely blown away.

Planning a trip? Pick a Destination from our Gardenista Travel Guide.

Above: Photograph by Julie Chai.

Having lived up and down the Pacific coast and driven the length of it a number of times, I thought I'd experienced the most beautiful parts of the coastline. But this was before we arrived at Steep Ravine in Mount Tamalpais State Park—and the views there quickly ranked among the most gorgeous I'd ever seen. We had warm weather and clear skies on the day we arrived, and could see across Bolinas Bay to Stinson Beach, Bolinas, and beyond. Just below us, waves crashed against the beach which was a short walk away.

The magic of this place comes not only from the landscape, but also from the fact that it feels like it's blissfully remote. Though just outside a big city, the campsite is surrounded by plenty of open space. And the entrance is gated; only guests with reservations have the code to get in, and it's never crowded with people who just want to take a peek.

An added bonus: a cabin is only $100 a night—a steal for oceanfront views with beach access.

Looking for another cost-effect campground cabin? See another of our West Coast favorites at Little Cargo Container in the Big Woods.

Above: Photograph via JetKat Photo.

You'll see spectacular views of, and from, each of the cabins perched on a rugged slope. On the beach below, you'll find sea life like baby barnacles, right. 

Above: Photograph by Ricky Brown via Flickr.

Cabin interiors are beautifully spare and well cared for. Each one includes a built-in table and benches, sleeping platforms (the equivalent of two doubles, one twin, and one child), a counter area, a wood-burning stove, and a small closet. Firewood is sold on site; you'll need to bring your own sleeping bag, air mattress, camping stove, cooking gear, lantern, and other supplies. The windows have no coverings, but have clips to hang a curtain or sheet if you want privacy. While there's no running water or electricity inside, there are spigots nearby each cabin. And clean, developed bathrooms (no shower) are a short walk away. 

Above: Photograph by Julie Chai.

Grasses with fuzzy seedheads and blooming flowers dot the landscape in summer.

Above: Photograph via JetKat Photo.

No need to bring toys from home for the kids. 

Above: Photograph via JetKat Photo.

Each of the cabins has a small entry patio with a grill out front (bring your own charcoal.) You can make reservations up to seven months in advance of the date you want to book, and cabins fill up fast, so it's a good idea to plan as far ahead as possible. 

Above: Map via Google.

If you feel like hiking (and of course you will), From the campground entrance on Highway 1, it's less than two miles to Stinson Beach via the Steep Ravine and Dipsea trails. If you're looking for a longer local hike, try this one.

Looking for Great Getaways? See more of our favorites:

• Under the Radar: A Five-Star Garden in Cape Town
• Safari-Style Camping in Colorado, Glam Bedding Included
• Ace Hotel Turns Tropical in Panama City

More Stories from Gardenista

• Designer Visit: At Home in Jurassic Park, in North London
• 11 Landscape Design Mistakes to Avoid in 2015
• Steal This Look: An Industrial Chic Parisian Courtyard

A tiny 191-square-foot cabin with one room and an outdoor shower is Seattle-based architect Tom Kundig's ode to the wild woods of the Pacific Northwest.

On a site previously occupied by another cabin, Seattle-based Olson Kundig Architects designed a tiny rustic retreat with a facade sheathed in metal to stand up to the weather. Indoors is another story: the walls are wrapped in cedar panels.

Photography by Tim Bies for Olson Kundig Architects.

Above: Designed to look like an intimate, protected retreat against a wilderness backdrop, the cabin has a wood-burning stove indoors (and a built-in spot to stack logs on the porch).

Above: An unfinished steel panel slides manually over the cabin windows, securing the building when the owners are away.

Above: The original lettering on the weathered steel panel is a memento from its former life.

Above: Cedar panels cover the floor and ceiling of the cabin. 

Above: Living in one room: a tiny kitchen, a wood-burning stove, and an exposed toilet.

Above: A propane tank provides hot water for the outdoor shower and simple wood benches double as deck furniture.

Above: See more Tiny Rustic Cabins in our Gardenista Photo Gallery.

For more of our favorite tiny hideaways, see:

• A Cabin Hideaway in Central London
• Olle Lundberg's Scavenged and Salvaged Cabin
• The Ultimate Creekside Cabin, Northern California Edition 
• Steal This Look: Island Cabin Kitchen

More Stories from Gardenista

• Bohemian Grove: 11 Free Spirit Facades with Factory Windows
• Hardscaping 101: Design Guide for Edible Gardens
• New from Ikea: 11 Essentials for Small Space Gardens

Steel factory windows and doors frame the views in some of our favorite gardens. New or salvaged, their industrial style mingles well with both modern and traditional architecture to add free-spirit informality to even the grandest garden. Here are 11 of our favorites:

Above: Architect Elizabeth Roberts replaced the back wall of a townhouse in Fort Greene, Brooklyn with two floors of full-height windows. On the ground floor, the entire window wall swings open to the garden. For more of this project, see Indoor/Outdoor Living, Brooklyn Style on Remodelista. 

Above: During a recent remodel, a 16-foot-wide townhouse in New York City got a wall of factory windows made of hot rolled steel (sourced from A & S Window Associates). For more of this project, see Rehab Diaries: An Artist's NYC Kitchen Renovation.

Above: A wall of steel windows frames the view from a Brooklyn townhouse with a small backyard terrace and gravel court. For more, see Steal This Look: Midcentury Mod Townhouse Garden in Brooklyn.

Above: In Amsterdam, designer Maurius Haverkamp's home in a former warehouse is designed around a patio with walls of glass and steel that send sunlight into all areas of the house. Photograph via Kikette Interiors.

Above: In a former printing factory in Paris, garden designer Jacques Leseur softened the industrial backdrop with flowering wisteria vines and cut leaf Japanese maple trees. For more, see Steal This Look: An Industrial Chic Parisian Courtyard.

Above: At Domaine de Larbeou in Bayonne, France, a former holiday house has a front porch with glazed metal windows shaded by plane trees. Photograph via Marie Claire Maison.

Above: Two-story factory windows and French doors bring sunlight into a kitchen by Brazil-based Estudio Vitor Penha.

Above: A brick floor indoors and stone pavers on the terrace; the factory metal windows barely interrupt the flow between indoors and out. Photographs by Derek Swalwell.

Above:  Landscape architect Susan Wisniewski's garden for a Manhattan townhouse has layers of texture—stone, wood, and greenery—to create an illusion of greater space. For more of her work, see Landscape Architect Visit: A Hudson Valley Farm, Pond Included.

Above: A wall of factory windows and doors connects a Brooklyn Heights townhouse to a backyard garden designed by Robin Key Landscape Architecture. For more of landscape architect Robin Key's work, see Lush Life: A Townhouse Garden in Manhattan.

Above: In Australia, a wall of steel windows and doors lures sunlight into a townhouse living room. For more photos, see Design Sleuth: Vertical Garden of Terra Cotta Pots.

Above: Interior designer Claire Larritt-Evans created a vertical garden wall on a small balcony.

For more window strategies, see:

• Need shade? 10 Easy Pieces: Window Awnings
• Need privacy? Curtains and Drapes on a Budget
• Want more curb appeal? Hardscaping 101: Exterior Wooden Shutters
• Need sparkle? The Secret Ingredient for Streak-Free Windows

More Stories from Gardenista

• Into the Wild: A 191-Square-Foot Cabin in the Pacific Northwest
• Hardscaping 101: Design Guide for Edible Gardens
• New from Ikea: 11 Essentials for Small Space Gardens

This week, the Remodelista editors just said no—to giant, exploding, oversized houses. Taking matters into their own hands, they're thinking small with compact kitchens, simple marble tables, and a genius new collection coming from Ikea:

Above: In a 639-square-foot flat in a Victorian row house in Hermon Hill, London, the architects channel (and re-interpret) William Morris.

Above: Do you love your kitchen tools enough to display them? Julie discovers 13 Kitchens with Artful Utensil Rails.

Above: Julie put Ikea's new collection to the test and came up with her list of 10 Favorites: Best of Ikea 2015. (We're particularly partial to this $7.99 curtain rod set.)

Above: Meredith asks: Why are contemporary kitchens so big? She found one one that isn't, hidden in plain sight. See it?

Above: The world's most beautiful coffee table, made to order, has a marble top.

What else did you miss this week on Remodelista? Read all the posts from this week's issue at The Humble Abode.

More Stories from Gardenista

• Table of Contents: Living Small
• Current Obsessions: Street Names Can Help Home Values (Checking Ours Now)
• Trending on Remodelista: House Envy

Here's a look at a few things we loved this week. 

• Above: Outdoor furniture by Ilse Crawford for Ikea. And for instant gratification, the spring collection.
• 5 am wakeup call with a Melbourne florist. 
• Slow flowers for Valentine's Day.
• Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest hits.

• Above: Noodles and winter citrus. Photograph by Heidi Swanson. 
• Enchanted forest for sale, hobbit and elves wanted. 
• LSD, the re-think.

• Above: Treehouse or shrub-house? Photograph Courtesy of Design Sponge.  
• We love nature. 

• Above: The ultimate interior courtyard in Singapore. Photograph by Derek Swallel. 

Instagram and Pinterest Pick of the Week

• Above: "Cute little house and a cute little car"—@llruth

• Above: Pastoral inspiration in Hannah Messinger's Agrarian board, adorable sheep included.

 For more from this week, take a look at our Small Living issue—and Remodelista's week of The Humble Abode. 

More Stories from Gardenista

• Trending on Remodelista: The Humble Abode
• Table of Contents: Living Small
• Current Obsessions: Street Names Can Help Home Values (Checking Ours Now)

Tom Stuart-Smith is the giant of British landscape design. These days, he is too big for Chelsea (it helped him find his voice, he says, while winning three Best in Show medals). We visit his private garden in Hertfordshire near London to learn his nine top secrets for garden design:

Photography via Tom Stuart-Smith except where noted.

Mood

Above: Creating a mood is the most important thing; not themes, not even plants. If a well-loved plant doesn't fit in with the overall mood: ditch it. To create the mood, search for the language of a place and listen to it. Look at the landscape around and incorporate elements of that into the garden, whether that is through a rusted water tank or an oak tree.

Contrast

Above: Tight hedges and loose hedges; the bare and the lyrical; purple and green, naturalism and modernity. "Modernism is so often connected with minimalism in garden design," Tom Stuart-Smith writes in The Barn Garden, a slim and very readable volume co-authored with his wife Sue. He likes to make garden plans that are so simple as to be "almost mundane," but with an opposite approach to the rich planting.

Texture

Above: Photograph by Kendra Wilson.

Texture and form are always more important than flower and color, an instinct shared by Beth Chatto (though they are both masters of color).

N.B.: See Required Reading: Beth Chatto's 5 Favorite Flowers for a Gravel Garden if you'd like more texture and form over color.

A Graceful Goodbye

Above: Use plants that also look good out of season, which die down well. The flowers might not be as showy but the plant always looks elegant. Euphorbia (in the foreground) is such a plant as its companion here, epimedium, with its hovering heart-shaped leaves and very small flowers in spring.

Grasses

Above: Making up about a quarter of the planting in Tom Stuart-Smith's garden, grasses are repeated throughout for "a bold rhythm and simplicity." They also lend support to herbaceous perennials during the growing season. Grasses have a strong presence in the garden during the winter months, lending an air of the "heroically decrepit."

A Journey

Above: "From hearth to heath" or even, re-enacting life's trajectory, if you will. A large garden should lead you, ideally, from an ornamental foreground toward the infinite. Also in a large garden, vistas are key. Don't hide them with tall hedges. Place a statue in the center of an avenue, and the vista will bounce back at you.

Tall Plants

Above: At 6-foot-5, Tom Stuart-Smith favors tall plants so he can be "in amongst it all." He also knows that using tall plants makes a garden look wider and longer.

Think of your garden space as an old map of a town or city, its mass of low buildings punctuated with spires. Give your tall plants plenty of elbow room; use low-growing, shade tolerant plants around them. Says Tom: "Every star needs its understudy."

Above: Tom Stuart-Smith (and assistant) in the garden.

Age

Above: Value the accumulation of years, This is more precious than an instant makeover. Get the structure right and then slowly fill up the spaces with flowers. Buy a few flowers that propagate easily so that soon you'll have plenty, cheaply.

Breathing Space

Above: A meadow of wildflowers stretches as far as the eye can see, or at least as far as the eye would like to see.

For more Garden Ideas to Steal, see:

• Tom Stuart-Smith's Jurassic Park Garden (in North London)
• 13 New Landscape Ideas to Steal in 2015
• Garden Envy: 10 Dramatic Drainage Ideas to Steal
• 10 Garden Ideas to Steal from Belgium

More Stories from Gardenista

• Steep Ravine Cabins: Million Dollar Views for $100 a Night
• Designer Visit: At Home in Jurassic Park, in North London
• 11 Landscape Design Mistakes to Avoid in 2015

As Valentine's Day approaches, this week we'll have a list of the best online sources for flowers. We'll also be peeking at private Parisian gardens, and spotting spring's most romantic garden trends (headed our way from France). Join us:

Above: Join us as we peek at nine private Parisian gardens in this week's Garden Visit.

Monday

Above: Photograph via Farm Girl Flowers.

True love on the Internet: for Valentine's Day we've visited more than a dozen florists to come up with a list of the Best Flowers to order online.

Tuesday

Above: For year round romance in the garden, all you need is two red café style chairs. See our favorites in this week's 10 Easy Pieces.

Wednesday

Above: Victorian lovers sent coded messages via houseplants (sending a cyclamen meant "Au revoir, my love"). We've rounded up 10 romantic Houseplants to send for Valentine's Day in our Plant of the Week post.

Thursday

Above: Janet learns all about the advanced geometry of metal edging for garden beds in this week's Hardscaping 101.

Friday

Above: A romantic backyard hideaway is our Outbuilding of the Week.

In honor of Valentine's Day, the Remodelista editors will explore the power of pink, visit a romantic Parisian loft (available for rent), and spend the week making The French Connection.

More Stories from Gardenista

• Current Obsessions: Season of Love
• Trending on Remodelista: The Humble Abode
• Table of Contents: Living Small

On any fashionable street in Paris you can catch a glimpse of greenery through iron filigree gates. Here's a closer look at nine of the private garden courtyards and apartment terraces hidden behind Beaux Arts facades:

Above: Tucked behind a building on the Rue de Verneuil in the 7th arrondissement is a private courtyard garden with a small shade tree and potted topiaries. Photograph via A+B Kasha.

Above: Available to rent, a two-bedroom Left Bank apartment two blocks from the Seine overlooks a private courtyard garden. For more information, see Trip Advisor.

Above: In central Paris, a former printing factory is home to garden designer Jacques Leseur and his secret courtyard garden. For more, see Steal This Look: An Industrial Chic Courtyard.

Above: Discovered behind a 19th century building in St. Germain des Pres, a small freestanding house has a courtyard garden and entryway flanked by twin boxwood balls. Photograph via A+B Kasha. 

Above: Not far from the Eiffel Tower, a fashion industry insider's loft has a sunny terrace garden on the other side of the original metal factory windows. Photograph via One Fine Stay. 

Above: Ceramicist Cécile Deladier mounts zinc windows boxes and mirrors on the facade of her house. For more of her garden, see In the Garden and Atelier with Cécile Deladier in Paris.

Above: On the top two floors of a 19th century building in the 6th arrondissement, two bedrooms on the lower level share a secret courtyard garden of potted topiaries and palms. Photograph via A+B Kasha. 

Above: Available for rent, a studio apartment in the Latin Quarter is in a stone building behind a wooden door that opens into a courtyard garden. For more information, see VRBO.

Above: In Montmartre, an apartment on rue d'Orsel has a small courtyard garden. Photograph via Perfectly Paris.

Planning a trip to France? Stop in at some of our favorite spots:

• Shopper's Diary: Bleuet Coquelicot in Paris
• Odorantes: A Parisian Florist Where Flowers Are Arranged by Scent
• Rising from the Ashes: Deyrolle in Paris
• Garden Visit: The Tuileries at Sunset
• Garden Visit: A Restored Medieval Garden

More Stories from Gardenista

• 9 Garden Ideas to Steal from England's Tom Stuart-Smith
• Steep Ravine Cabins: Million Dollar Views for $100 a Night
• Designer Visit: At Home in Jurassic Park, in North London

Nothing is more romantic than giving flowers you grow yourself. But a close second is Valentine's Day flowers that someone nearby grew. Thanks to the Slow Flowers movement, it's becoming easier to find local cut-flower growers who sell heirloom bouquets and seasonal flowers. 

“Fifty-eight percent of consumers would rather purchase domestic flowers if given the choice," says Slow Flowers founder Debra Prinzing. Although 80 percent of cut flowers in the US are imported, the number of local growers is on the rise. To find cut flowers that were grown near you, consult Slow Flowers' Retail Florists directory. To order online, here are 11 of our favorite florists who sell local and seasonal flowers:

Baltimore

Above: Local flowers on the East Coast during winter? Mid-Atlantic farmers have willows, flowering branches, evergreens, tulips, snapdragons, paperwhites, calla lilies, anemones, sweet William, lilies, and carnations. To order Valentine's flowers, from a small Wrapped Bouquet ($35) to a Large Arrangement ($75), go to Local Color Flowers (delivery in Baltimore city area only).

Brooklyn

Above: Good Eggs is delivering Special Valentine's Bouquets from Pretty Street Botanicals in East Williamsburg; $49.49 apiece.

Above: Order online a Valentine's Bouquet of magnolia branches and roses for $85 from Fox Fodder Farm; pick it up on Valentine's Day at Poppy's Catering in Brooklyn.

Chicago

Above: Sprout Home (with locations in both Chicago and Brooklyn) is taking Valentine's Day Pre-Orders for both locations. For more information and pricing, see Sprout Home.

Oakland, CA

Above: FloraCultural Society owner Anna Campbell grows flowers in an Oakland parking lot. For Valentine's Day, a medium-size Rose Bouquet  in shades of soft pink is $50 (plus $10 delivery to Oakland and Berkeley only). FloraCultural's bouquets are also available in the greater Bay Area through Good Eggs, at prices ranging from $24.99 to $64.99 depending on size.

San Francisco Bay Area

Above: Farmgirl Flowers will deliver burlap-wrapped Valentine's Bouquets, available in two sizes for prices ranging from $45 to $85, to San Francisco Bay area customers.

Above: Pre-order an Adrift Bouquet ($65) for pickup only on Valentine's Day from Studio Choo's pop-up shop (open from 1 to 4 pm) in San Francisco's Mission District, at 557 Valencia. 

New Orleans

Above: Good Eggs is offering a Mandeville Street Garden Bouquet, a mix of garden flowers in a quart-size Mason jar, for $15.99 to New Orleans customers.

Bellingham, Washington

Above: Flower farm Triple Wren Farms is offering a seasonal fresh Valentine's Bouquet in a vase for $35 (delivery within the county only).

Portland

Above: Roses, tulips, and ranunculus are available locally in February. The Pacific Northwest's temperate climate makes all this possible. Arrangements of Valentine's Flowers, $40 minimum (order by Feb. 13), are available from Espe Floral.

Boston

Above: Justine's favorite florist is Winston Flowers, with several locations in the Boston area. Many of the flowers are grown on small family farms. For Valentine's Day, Winston is offering a choice of 17 different arrangements online, at prices ranging from $95 to $750. 

To see how Winston Flowers prepares for Valentine's Day, see Shopper's Diary: Behind the Scenes at Winston Flowers in Boston.

Washington D.C.

Above: A Valentine's week Hand Tied Bouquet of red, pink, and white locally sourced flowers from farms in the mid-Atlantic region will arrive wrapped in a repurposed burlap coffee sack; available in three sizes at prices ranging from $50 to $100 from Little Acres Flowers.

For more of our favorite florists, see:

• Bloom That: Same Day Flower Delivery in SF
• The Best $50 Roses You Can Order Online
• Field to Vase: A Friend to Local Flower Farms
• Trend Alert: San Francisco's Favorite Flower Truck

More Stories from Gardenista

• Test Drive: Which Cut Flowers Last Longest?
• Growing Guide: 11 Essential Tips to Grow Your Own Marijuana
• Growing Guide: 135 Rare Heirlooms from Jardin Seed Co.

Although "the best restaurant in the world" is closed for a remodel, The French Laundry's edible garden still will be working hard to supply chef Thomas Keller's pop-up restaurant (named Ad Lib) at the Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, CA.

Keller, who closed the restaurant in December to build a new kitchen, plans to reopen The French Laundry later this year (good news for fellow chef Anthony Bourdain, who describes The French Laundry as the best restaurant in the world).

Photographer Mitch Maher visited the three-acre culinary garden last summer during peak season, as the influential restaurant was celebrating its 20th anniversary. Here's a glimpse of the organic vegetables, herbs, and berries Keller likes to grow for his garden-to-table menus:

Photography by MB Maher via A Growing Obsession.

Above: The French Laundry Culinary Garden, located across the street from the restaurant, grows 30 percent of the vegetables that Keller serves at the restaurant. 

Above: Keller uses the garden, which is open to the public, as a test site to try new varieties of herbs, vegetables, and berries.

Above: The hoop house protects tender seedlings from wind and birds.

Above: The garden may have up to 200 products available to use in the restaurant on a typical day. Many of the chef's favorite varieties are those whose flavor peaks when they're very young.

Above: More than a dozen varieties of lettuce seedlings grow in flats in the humid warmth of the greenhouse.

Above: Lettuces are harvested in the early morning, when it's still cool.

Above: More than 25 varieties of heirloom tomatoes grow in the garden. 

Above: The garden's bee hives produce honey for the restaurant.

Above: More than 50 garden beds are laid out in a checkerboard pattern, separated by grass walkways.

Above: The French Laundry Culinary Garden is across the street from the restaurant at 6640 Washington St., Yountville, CA. For more information, see The French Laundry.

Planning a trip to California's Napa Valley? Stop in at our favorite spots, including:

• MIX Gardens, Healdsburg's Well-Considered Shop with a Mission
• Shopper's Diary: The Gardener in Healdsburg
• Scribe Winery in Sonoma
• Medlock Ames: A Garden That Grows Cocktails

More Stories from Gardenista

• Private Paris: 9 Secret Gardens in the City of Love
• 9 Garden Ideas to Steal from England's Tom Stuart-Smith
• Steep Ravine Cabins: Million Dollar Views for $100 a Night

Make a romantic gesture in the garden. Here are 10 of our favorite red café chairs (suitable for use outdoors and in):

Above: A small, folding choice for a balcony, Ikea's Malaro Chair has a steel frame and a solid acacia wood seat and back; $29 per chair.

Above: Fermob's classic French bistro chair, a 19th century European design, is made of powder coated lacquered steel and has curved slats for comfort. A pair of French Bistro Folding Chairs in Poppy Red is $216 from Horne.

Above: Created in the 1930s by French metal worker Xavier Pauchard, galvanized steel Tolix chairs have been ubiquitous since. A low-back style, the Tolix a97 Armchair has a high-gloss Rouge varnish; $275 apiece from ABC Home.

Above: Heavily inspired by the design of the Tolix chair, a set of two metal Carlisle Dining Chairs have rubber tips to prevent scratches on the floor; they require assembly and a set is $99.99 from Target.

Above: The iconic original: a stackable Tolix Marais A Chair is available in red. For more information and prices, see Tolix.

Above: From Fermob, the Luxembourg Armchair is stackable and has an aluminum frame. A red Garden Seat With Aluminum Armrest is 249€ from Manufactum.

Above: A stackable Spark Side Chair by Knoll has a metal frame and rubber glides to protect floors and is $184 from All Modern.

Above: Evoking your grandmother's backyard, vintage red Perforated Metal Folding Chair (from the 1940s) are $100 apiece from Rejuvenation (while quantities last).

Above: Suitable for use on a covered porch, a stackable red Suzy Dining Chair is made of metal and beechwood; £69 from John Lewis.

Above: A wooden stacking chair with a design that evokes a classroom chair, a Decode Hatcham Stacking Chair is £350 from Nest.

For more outdoor dining furniture, see:

• 10 Easy Pieces: Outdoor Bistro Table and Chair Sets
• 10 Easy Pieces: Cafe Style Outdoor Seating
• Trend Alert: Terence Conrad for Fermob
• The Perfect Picnic Table
• The Last Outdoor Furniture You'll Ever Buy
• A Classic Re-Imagined: The New Tolix T14 Chair

More Stories from Gardenista

• Bohemian Grove: 11 Facades with Factory Windows
• Into the Wild: A 191-Square-Foot Cabin in the Pacific Northwest
• Hardscaping 101: Design Guide for Edible Gardens

The Bouqs Company, a new online floral delivery company based in Venice Beach, California may be the way of the future. We can only hope, as it's pretty slim pickings when it comes to finding quality and responsibly grown flowers online.

John Tabis and JP Montufar are co-founders who met at college. After a variety of work experiences on their own, they reconnected with the idea of the The Bouqs Company, launched only 14 months ago. JP grew up in South America surrounded by the floral business, and John in the US with an interest in marketing and business. Together they saw a need in the online floral market for a business with a conscience and simpler more modern style. In their words, an online flower company that didn't "suck." 

They're offering a Valentine's collection of 40 different bouquets—from snapdragons to $50 bouquets of roses—and will ship to all 50 US states. (Place Valentine's Day order this week to ensure delivery.)

I had to check them out, so I had them send me some early Valentine's Day flowers so I could see the quality for myself:

Photographs by Stephen Johnson except where noted.

Above: The Bouqs flowers unpacked and being conditioned in tepid water with the provided floral food.

There are a lot of reasons to love The Bouqs Company (the name is short for bouquets). The website is easy to navigate and well-designed and the flowers are cut and delivered the same day, which means the flowers you receive are only two to four days old, versus the majority of flowers from online services, which are closer to ten to 14 days old. 

Above: Detail shot of the roses, three days after arrival. 

The flowers were strong and healthy when they arrived; in fact they are so fresh that after three days the roses were just starting to open. The lighter pink roses got a little hit by the cold, but all I needed to do was remove the outer bruised petals. I'll be tracking how long they last, but I'm guessing at least a couple weeks if I change the water regularly and keep them away from the heat. 

Above: Using The Bouqs flowers, I created a few different arrangements, adding in a little spirea I had on hand with the soft pink roses. In the foreground is Speedy the cat (he's checking for fragrance).

The Bouqs flowers arrive in great packaging: it's tasteful and not embarrassing. The company specializes in well-curated, simple, modern bouquets created by a seasoned floral designer, Eric Buterbaugh, who has a simple classic style with no more than two to three different flowers in one bouquet.

Above: Detail of the arrangements in my own vintage vessels. I cut the red spray roses down to a low, loose mound using a floral frog for structure. See Vintage-Style Flower Frogs.

Above: A view of The Bouqs hoop houses where some of the flowers are grown. Photograph courtesy of The Bouqs.

The Bouqs currently has 13 farm partners in Ecuador and California that have been diligently inspected to meet all company's standards—quality of blooms from size, color, to vase life and respect and care for the environment and their employees. "We end up turning down more farms then we work with," says Tabis. 

The majority of their farms can be found on the sunny side of a volcano, 10,000 feet above sea level in Ecuador. Recently The Bouqs started to add flower farms more locally in California with the same standards but with the added bonus of overnight delivery anywhere in the US for a $50 flat fee. There are plans in the works to explore farm partners farther afield in Europe and Asia.  

Above: A worker on one of the farms in Ecuador. Photograph courtesy of The Bouqs.

Beyond sustainability, The Bouqs Company believes in honesty and fair prices. For instance, prices don't increase  at the holidays, a classic trick of most florists. The $40 bouquets will always be that price, and there are no annoying add ons.

The Bouqs co-founders also have devised some apps they call their "Concierge Service." The service offers a program to "Never Forget," for birthdays or special occasions with flower deliveries prescheduled for the year; "Just Because" randomly selects days throughout the year to send to loved ones for no particular reason, and an option to track of the receivers' floral preferences.

I've been looking online for a responsibly grown and tastefully curated flower company that is reliable and well priced, and I think I've found it in The Bouqs. If you're thinking of sending a bouquet for Valentine's Day, place your order this week to ensure delivery.

Interested in other delivery options? See Shopper's Diary: Weekly Flowers to Your Doorstep from Wildfolk Studio.

More Stories from Gardenista

• Delicious Detox: A 20-Minute Turmeric-Miso Soup
• Tried and Tested: How to Make Fresh Flowers Last Longer
• Holiday Aphrodisiac: Why Mistletoe is Welcome at Parties