When Molly Sedlacek, the principal designer and founder of landscape design firm ORCA initially toured her clients’ Long Beach property, the Cliff May house had been lovingly renovated, but there wasn’t much in the way of a garden. “It was very lackluster when I first showed up,” she remembers. “They just had no interaction with […]
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Before & After: Removing a Pool to Unlock a Garden’s Potential
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Ask the Experts: 5 Actionable Tips for a Fire-wise Landscape
When fires ripped through Los Angeles in January, killing at least 29 people and destroying more than 12,000 homes, some trees remained relatively unscathed in the affected areas. Others, like ornamental palm trees, quickly went up in flames. Fire has its own ecology, its own predilections for what it devours and what it spares. Years […]
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All About Invasives: How to Identify Them and What to Do to Help Curb Their Spread
This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to toxic-free, ecological gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home. Step outside for a nature walk and you’re likely to encounter invasive plants—barberry and burning bush, to name just two that are fast encroaching on Northeast […]
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What to Do with the Slope in Your Garden? 6 Attractive Solutions
The degree of difficulty indisputably rises when you’re gardening on a slope (pardon the word play here). There are ways, fortunately, to deal with uneven landscapes that don’t involve just leaving it barren or giving it over to lawn. Here, six smart solutions for the sloped garden. 1. Build a retaining wall. Retaining walls are […]
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Current Obsessions: Dreaming of Spring
Do you follow Good News Movement on Instagram? (It’s worth a look, if you need a little levity.) In that spirit, here’s this week’s Good News Roundup, Design Edition: sweet handmade lights! Free tulips! And spring on the horizon. Read on: Get your tickets now: It landscape architect Miranda Brooks will join Gardenista’s very own […]
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Quick Takes With: Rozae Nichols
Gardeners in general are not particularly fashion-forward. We may think we’re hip enough with our uniforms of linen button-downs and worn-in jeans and Blundstone boots, but can these outfits go from “day to night,” as fashion editors like to say? We’re going to go out on a limb and say, No. If there’s anyone who […]
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17 Favorites: Shrubs With White Flowers
It’s good to dream about flowers to come. Breathe in to a count of four, exhale to a count of five, six…17 white-flowering shrubs. Repeat. Gardeners have an advantage when it comes to managing the present: We can picture the future, and it blooms sequentially. There’s a lot to be said for white flowers. They […]
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Required Reading: Our Favorite Garden Newsletters
We are living in a golden age of newsletters. Thanks to a proliferation of publishing platforms, putting out a newsletter is easier than ever—and gardeners have heeded the call. Today everyone from the hobbyist home gardener to the most august garden designer in the world is writing a newsletter. So, narrowing down a list of […]
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Dear Reader: We Want to Hear From You! (Plus, a Giveaway)
Calling all Remodelista and Gardenista readers far and wide: Have a column you want to see more of? A suggestion for our newsletters? Something else you want us to know? We’d love to hear from you. Please fill out our survey to help us improve our sites and shape our design and garden dispatches for […]
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Better Basics: Buckets and Watering Cans by Hachiman of Japan
If you had told us a plastic pail was about to steal our hearts, we never would have believed you. We first spotted the object in question en masse in the Chilewich booth at Shoppe Object’s recent design trade show in downtown NYC. Made by Hachiman, a family-owned company based in the Japanese Alps, the […]
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Gardening 101: Mahonia ‘Soft Caress’
Mahonia eurybracteata ‘Soft Caress’ This year I promised myself that I would incorporate more plants that can multitask and require less work and stress. One such plant that I have added to my ever-expending must-have list is Mahonia eurybracteata ‘Soft Caress’. Trust me on this—you’ll soon be adding it to yours, too. Please keep reading […]
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Before & After: A Two-Faced Victorian Garden With a Secret
Seen from the street, a gingerbread Victorian cottage near Melbourne, Australia hides its secret: a streamlined rear extension with a sleekly modern silhouette. The challenge for landscape architect Ben Scott of Ben Scott Garden Design was to create a garden to connect the two faces of the facade. The result is a front garden with irresistible curb […]
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Current Obsessions: Bright Spot
Happy weekend, dear reader! Of note today: a new Paris design salon, a floral tour, a basket-weaving workshop, and more. P.S. Please write back! Fill out our survey to send feedback to our editors and help us tailor our content for the year ahead. (As a thank you, you’ll be entered to win a complimentary […]
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Quick Takes With: Sanne Hop
Sanne Hop is in “the busting out phase of her life,” Margot wrote when we toured Sanne’s live-work atelier in Amsterdam last month. Sanne’s shared her day-to-day creative life with thousands of followers (155 thousand, that is, as of this writing) for over a decade. But now? Now the mom of six with a PhD […]
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Bitter Melon: Like a Cucumber With Attitude
Bitter melons may resemble cucumbers and may be called melons, but they are neither. Certainly, these long green fruits are bitter. Despite that, one bite soon leads to another: I find myself chewing a piece of salted bitter melon and thinking, “Gosh, this is bitter!” before swallowing and reaching for more. If you have South, […]
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10 Easy Pieces: Outdoor Saunas
I’ve long held the misconception that an excess of outdoor space was a requirement for a personal sauna. Then while visiting a friend’s condo, I was amazed to find a cedar sauna wedged among the postage-stamp area out front. For her, the routine detoxification of a sauna is a priority, and when she tells me […]
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Garden Visit: Le Jardin Plume, a Modern Impressionist Masterpiece in Normandy
For anyone hankering after European formality—only a touch, we’re not talking Versailles—Le Jardin Plume in Upper Normandy is just the ticket. Influenced by more recent movements involving perennials and grasses, the former orchard is nevertheless firmly rooted in French garden tradition, including plenty of neat clipping and evergreen hedges. When Patrick and Sylvie Quibel first […]
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Ask the Expert: Photographer James Ingram on How to Shoot Gardens Like a Pro
Jason Ingram shoots some of the world’s most beautiful gardens, including those belonging to King Charles III at his private residence, Highgrove near Tetbury in the Cotswolds. He works for garden magazines, designers, and private clients all around the world, and now he is divulging his secrets in his new book, How to Photograph Gardens, […]
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The Editors’ Cut: 12 Next-Level Tool Upgrades for the Garden
Welcome to The Editors’ Cut, our monthly newsletter dedicated to all things beautiful and useful for the garden, patio, porch, and terrace. Raring to get your hands dirty and start planting? We are, too. For most of us, though, the last frost is still weeks away (at least). What to do? Use this time to […]
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Current Obsessions: New Views
On our radar: A spring equinox celebration at Lotusland, Merci’s new shop in Paris, and more. Also, March is Sleep Awareness Month, so may we recommend a good nap? Read on: Gardenista friend and florist Louesa Roebuck and holistic healer Dina Saalisi will be leading a “Spring Equinox Extravaganza” on March 22 at Lotusland in Montecito, […]
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Quick Takes With: Judy Kameon
“I founded Elysian Landscapes in 1996 with a truck and a shovel, spending as much time in the field as at the drafting table,” says Judy Kameon, a former judge for Gardenista’s Considered Design Awards. She has since partnered with architect Dana Bauer, “who shares my passion for all things landscape,” and together, they have […]
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Shatta: A Taste of the Eastern Mediterranean
Shatta is a vivid, chile-hot condiment—a fermented hot sauce—rooted in the Eastern Mediterranean: Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt. It can be either red or green, and in its simplest iteration is deceptively spartan in terms of ingredients: You just need spicy peppers, salt, a little vinegar, and olive oil. And time, to ferment. While garlic […]
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Gardening 101: Flowering Currant
Flowering currant is a classic example of a serviceable American plant that, when transported to different continents, takes on a personality that is unrecognizable. In the UK, Ribes sanguineum has an old-fashioned British garden look, primly clothed in pendant racemes of magenta. Traditionally they have been paired to clash with the solid yellows of spring, […]
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‘The New Romantic Garden’: 6 Ideas to Try From Landscape Designer Jo Thompson’s Latest Book
Anyone who knows British garden designer Jo Thompson’s work will not be surprised by the title of her book, The New Romantic Garden. Over the decades that Thompson has been working as a designer she, has always created atmospheric gardens with a softness and sense of atmosphere and mystery. The 30 gardens that fill the […]
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5 Favorites: Hummingbird-Approved Plants
The humble hummingbird has always been a pollinator favorite among gardeners, but lately it’s been attracting more (and new) buzz. Katie Tamony, chief marketing officer and trend spotter at Monrovia, tells us she’s been seeing increased interest in drawing hummingbirds to the garden. “I’ve heard it called the next glamour animal—the one they most want […]
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10 Things Nobody Tells You About Painting the Exterior of Your House
The other day, I came across on Instagram a friend’s amazing before/after of her freshly painted house. The exterior had formerly been a greenish putty color, a not unattractive shade, but as soon as it was painted over with a dark charcoal gray (Benjamin Moore’s Night Fall, specifically), the house morphed into a beauty. This, […]
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Current Obsessions: Turning Towards Color
Depending on when you’re reading this, spring is at most five days away (but who’s counting?). To bid winter farewell, we’ve been turning our attention to color-infused rooms, Danish-made pigments, garden mood boards, and more. Read on for a few glimpses of spring to get you through til the real thing. “I was struck by […]
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Quick Takes With: Sophia Moreno-Bunge
Before Sophia Moreno-Bunge became a boldfaced name in the floral design world and attracted a clientele that includes goop, the Proper Hotel in Santa Monica, and the most discriminating private patrons in the L.A. area, she wrote for Gardenista. We are thrilled to have her back in our fold for a short but sweet Quick […]
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Fresh Bay Leaves: Don’t Use Sparingly
If you grow your own herbs, you are aware that (almost) everything has a season (unless you live in Florida, but even then). But if you grow an evergreen bay tree, you will have learned that fresh bay leaves are a year-round source of fragrance and especially welcome in the months when other herbs must […]
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Martha Just Dropped a Major New Gardening Book
Martha Stewart’s new gardening book Martha Stewart’s Gardening Handbook: The Essential Guide to Designing, Planting, and Growing is everything you would expect. It’s comprehensive and beautiful, and its aesthetic leans toward perfectionism. Photography courtesy of Martha Stewart’s Gardening Handbook. What is surprising is that Stewart, a lifelong gardener, waited so long to release another gardening […]
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Gardening 101: Everything You Need to Know About Growing Plants in Raised Beds
Don’t let bad soil stop you from planting an edible garden. The solution? Raised garden beds. An effective and easy solution for less-than-ideal soil conditions, raised beds increase yield and reduce the work. It’s no wonder raised garden beds are the kitchen gardener’s secret weapon. Are raised beds the right solution for your edible garden? Read on […]
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The Dirty Dozen: 12 Invasive Plants to Avoid (and What to Grow Instead)
This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to ecological gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home. Last month we talked with Evelyn Beaury, a scientist and assistant curator at the New York Botanical Garden’s Center for Conservation and Restoration Ecology, about the dangers […]
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New & Noteworthy: Muuto Has a New Outdoor Lounge Furniture Collection
It’s that time of year, when furniture companies roll out their newest spring and summer outdoor pieces. One collection in particular has us thinking of upgrading our own patio lounge furniture: the newly launched Settle line from Copenhagen-based Muuto. Here’s a peek. See also: Steal This Look: Classic Style at a 15th Century Chateau in […]
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Current Obsessions: Printemps
Happy weekend, dear reader. Ahead these first days of spring: a ceramics sale, a garden that embraces wear, a Paris opening, and more. Read on: Cate Blanchett, we 100 percent agree. Planning your veggie garden? We’re checking out these certified-organic, non-GMO seeds from Row 7. Nickey Kehoe’s interpretation of the lakeside Adirondack chair is pretty […]
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Quick Takes With: Martha Stewart
If this introduction really necessary? If you’ve ever read any of her magazines, or watched her television shows, or viewed the much-discussed Netflix documentary about her life, or follow her on Instagram, or are just a living, breathing human, you already know the outlines of Martha Stewart’s origin story: A former stockbroker, Martha launched a […]
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Beet Hummus with Tulips: A Petal Party Platter for Spring
Spring calls for vibrant food and parties (even for one) that celebrate the return of buds and petals and the leafing-out of trees. Enter vividly celebratory beet hummus, on a petal platter reeling with beets and garlic and chickpeas and extra virgin olive oil. Adding edible flowers is an easy and instant way of infusing […]
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Grow a Community: 10 Ways to Create Connections Through Gardening
Every gardener knows that spending time tending a garden can be a balm for turbulent times. Putting your hands in the earth and watching life unfurl is therapeutic. But gardening can be more than a solitary source of comfort: It can also be a powerful way to build community. Here are 10 ways to find […]
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Spring Gardening: 5 Common Shrubs to Prune Right Now (and 5 Not to Prune)
As the weather warms and gardeners look forward to getting their hands dirty, now’s a good time to review what can and should be done in the garden in spring. Nature has its own schedule and sometimes ours and Nature’s simply don’t align. We may want to clean up the yard for a fresh start […]
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Rethinking Mugwort: There Is a Lot to Love About This Demonized Herb
The name “mugwort” in the US is a signifier for “invasive,” but when grown purposefully, the aromatic section of the Artemisia genus has much to recommend it. Some species are native in regions of the western United States and are much loved by ecological gardeners, while others are grown for their feathery or felty foliage. […]
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Maintenance 101: How to Care for Wood Outdoor Furniture
Soon it will be time to drag the outdoor furniture from hibernation or, if you live in sunnier climes, add it to your spring cleaning list to get ready for dining al fresco. Don’t know where to start? Here’s our cheat sheet on how to clean and care for outdoor wood furniture. (If your outdoor furniture […]
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