Trees with white flowers have a way of lifting and lightening a garden’s mood—as well as soothing the mood of the gardener. In the evenings, their glimmering nocturnal presence is a comfort, and by day their pale petals, augmented by bare branches or the textural contrast of foliage, are an elegantly calming balm. For the […]
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Trees With White Flowers: 14 Favorites for Cold Climates
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Here’s How You Can Help Save Nature With Your Yard
For more than 15 years, entomologist and professor Douglas Tallamy has been telling gardeners how they can sustain wildlife in their own backyards through his books, public speaking, and the non-profit he founded Homegrown National Park. For his latest, How Can I Help?, Tallamy tackles the questions commonly asked at his lectures. Below, he shares […]
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Gardening 101: Australian Astroturf
Australian Astroturf, Scleranthus biflorus Some hear the word “astroturf,” and they recoil and roll their eyes. But rest assured, this is not what you think it is. Australian astroturf is a real, living plant, not plastic faux grass. And while its common name is admittedly not the most appealing, this verdant, charmingly squishy ground cover […]
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Lessons Learned From ‘Wonderlands: British Garden Designers at Home’
What garden designers put in their own gardens is perhaps more revealing than what they create for their clients, who generally have extensive land, and expansive budgets. In their own homes, garden designers are often, like most of us, constrained by limited time and resources. But they have time to think, sometimes for many years, […]
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How to Choose Outdoor Furniture: 5 Mistakes to Avoid
Buying your first outdoor furniture is almost as exciting as buying your first house. Before you rush out to shop, take the time to figure out the best all-weather pieces for your patio, deck, or porch. I wish had (instead of ending up with outdoor furniture that underwhelms). Learn from my mistakes and avoid making […]
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Current Obsessions: Pep Talk
It’s April, and everywhere we look there’s a fresh dose of design energy. For color encouragement, Ikea’s latest Scandi-cool releases, a glorious new garden book, and one thing we’re eyeing at Salone del Mobile, read on… Mind blown. A hybrid fruit tree that, thanks to grafting, will grow plums, cherries, almonds, a King George IV peach, […]
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Quick Takes With: Doug Tallamy
Douglas W. Tallamy probably needs no introduction: The entomologist and University of Delaware professor has been one of the loudest (and most effective) voices sounding the alarm about the biodiversity crisis—and what we gardeners can do to address it. He has written and co-authored multiple books about backyard conservation, and his latest, How Can I […]
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Stylish Solutions for the Relaxed Gardener: Planters and Furniture from Crescent Garden
Generally, we believe that simple is best, when it comes to the home and otherwise. Even better? When a simple object is studied, improved, and built with care, making something basic the best it can be. Consider this case study: A great planter can transform any outdoor space, whether a full, verdant garden or a […]
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March Showers Bring April Flowers: Otherworldly Brunsvigia Lilies
If it begins to rain in the Hantam in March, and if the rain measures more than 10mm, you can almost set your timer: After a long, dry, and very hot summer, the Brunsvigias will bloom, three weeks later. You have those weeks to plan a visit to see the sight of a lifetime. In […]
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Steal This Look: A Chic and Minimalist European Courtyard
This is a tale of two facades. From the street, this residence in Lisbon, Portugal, blends in with its neighbors, modest, unadorned old townhouses painted in soft shades. From the back courtyard, though, it looks like a stylish, modern building, thanks to a rear extension designed by José Andrade Rocha (of Atelier José Andrade Rocha). In […]
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‘French at Heart’: American Expats Grow Their Dreams in a Small Hamlet in Burgundy
Heads up, Hollywood: We’d love to see this story turned into a movie. The main characters: Marjorie Taylor, a pastry chef and cook from Arizona who doesn’t take no for an answer, and her Francophile daughter Kendall Smith Franchini, who leaves the states for university in France and never looks back. The plot: Kendall finds […]
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A New Invasive Species? Here’s What You Need to Know About Jumping Worms
If you’ve ever seen adult jumping worms, there’s no mistaking them. Found near the surface of soil and larger than your average worm, jumping worms don’t actually jump, but they thrash and wriggle about so violently it can seem like they are jumping. They have a distinctive raised band near their heads and leave behind […]
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Gardening 101: Gardenia
Gardenia, Gardenia jasminoides: “Heaven Scent” You know how certain smells can take you back to a specific (and I hope good) time and place? Gardenias do that for me. My grandma lived in Pasadena, California, where as a child I visited with my family every summer. Near her back porch happily lived a row of […]
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Current Obsessions: Pattern Play
Happy weekend—and a happy holiday to all those celebrating. Fresh on our minds this week? Dressing the bed, actually easy-to-follow gardening tips, and reports from a French garden. Read on… If you live in the UK, the most beautiful tulips are now available for purchase at Burnt Fen Flowers. (And they’re pesticide-free to boot.) Weekend […]
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Quick Takes With: Alex Crowder
The go-to florist for some of the chicest design shops around (e.g, Roman and Williams, Shop Quarters, Somerset House), Alex Crowder is known for crafting arrangements that feel more poetic than pretty (though they certainly are that, too). She grew up “in the Ozark mountains in Missouri building fairy homes out of sticks, leaves, wildflowers, […]
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Ostrich Ferns: Here’s How to Grow Your Own Fiddleheads
For the shade gardener who wants to grow edible plants, this shadowy designation of how much—or how little—direct sunlight a space receives is often perceived as second best. “I have a garden, but…it’s very shady.” There is a respectably long list of edible plants you can grow in shade, and in springtime ostrich ferns stand […]
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Want to Help Support Butterflies? Plant Caterpillar Food
A recent study of declining butterfly populations published in the journal Science made headlines across the country when it came out in March. The New York Times even launched an interactive tool so readers could see how butterflies had been impacted in their specific area. In the abstract of their findings the scientists concluded that […]
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Arts & Crafts Style (But With a Bit of Attitude): Ellen Merchant’s Sprightly Botanical Wallpapers and Fabrics
William Morris’s Morris & Co. wallpaper has had incredible staying power. And now, for those ready for a fresh take on the Arts and Crafts genre, there’s Ellen Merchant’s growing line of nature-inspired patterns. The rising young British textile and wallpaper designer is a traditionalist with a sense of verve. She works out of an […]
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10 Things Your Landscape Architect Wishes You Knew (But Is Too Polite to Tell You)
By all accounts, landscape architects Gretchen Whittier and Kate Stickley are courteous people. They must be: after all, along with partner Vera Gates they have created hundreds of happy clients since the launch in 2003 of their San Francisco–based company, Arterra Landscape Architects (a member of our Landscape Designers Directory). But when we asked Whittier and […]
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‘Rejoice When You Spot Nibbled Leaves’: A Gardener (and Writer) on Eschewing Perfection for Natural Beauty
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. For more than 20 years I’ve been lucky to travel around the country writing and producing stories about gardens—from sleekly geometric gardens in California to crisp, formal landscapes […]
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Current Obsessions: More Is More
If you’ve been reading along for a while, you might be surprised by the title of this post. Don’t worry! We’re still believers in the whole less-is-more theory. (Less clutter means more livability. Less stuff means using and enjoying what you do have. Etc.) But that doesn’t mean your space has to be blah. This […]
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Quick Takes With: Molly Ford
When Molly Ford was five years old, she told her parents she wanted to be a “flower girl” when she grew up. “In my mind, that meant spending my days picking wildflowers in open fields,” she remembers. And while frolicking among bluebonnets and cosmos didn’t exactly pan out as a career path, Molly makes a […]
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Feral Goddess Dressing: Rewilding a California Classic
When ramp leaves and garlic mustard and field garlic meet in a blender, feral goddess dressing is born. With a herbal backbone based on the green goddess dressing that was named in San Francisco in the 1920s, this wild spring iteration is an intuitively delicious riff that relies on local, seasonal greens. Native ramp leaves […]
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10 Easy Pieces: Woven Outdoor Sofas
Channeling the outdoor lounge furnishings of British and European estates, woven wickerwork is both referential and modern. While we tend to opt for natural materials, we also don’t want a sofa that will deteriorate with time. In this case, practicality and permanence is preferred, which is why the majority of our picks are woven from […]
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Prospect & Refuge: In Praise of Cozy Garden Nooks (Plus, How to Create Them)
I grew up in a little white house in the woods—tucked back neatly from the road, with a yard sloping toward the east punctuated by enormous pine trees. One pine, in particular, had sturdy branches that dipped toward the earth and, in doing so, obscured the outside world from noticing three children swinging in the […]
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Garden Visit: A Historic House by Iconic Southern California Architect Cliff May Gets the ORCA Glow-up
The core goal of all landscape designs by ORCA is to reconnect humans with nature by bringing together specific plants and sourcing raw materials. “By using underdone materials that are not pre-fabricated or refined, there is an honesty to the bench you are sitting on or the table you dine at. It allows us to […]
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The Editors’ Cut: 13 Bright Ideas for Curb Appeal, Shock of Color Edition
Welcome to The Editors’ Cut, our monthly newsletter dedicated to all things beautiful and useful for the garden, patio, porch, and terrace. Recently, we’ve been noting interiors that sing with color—and not in a blah, matchy-matchy way. The palettes are bold, intense, and anything-goes. Why not bring that daring to your front door, we say! Here, […]
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Current Obsessions: Slowness
Ahead this first weekend of May? Mending clubs, plant kintsugi, botanical collage, surrealist murals, and more creative pursuits. Read on: Margot—also known as botanical artist @dogwalkdiary—is leading a botanical collage workshop on May 18 at the New York Botanical Garden from 2-4:30 p.m. “It’ll include a walk (and forage) in the garden,” she says. “No […]
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Quick Takes With: Uli Lorimer
It’s been a slow build, but native plants are firmly in the zeitgeist today—and much of the credit can go to Uli Lorimer. Over the course of a 25-year career that includes stints at some of the most well-regarded and influential gardens in the country (US National Arboretum, Wave Hill, Brooklyn Botanic Garden), Uli has […]
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Eco-Friendly Pest Control for the Conscientious Gardener: Indoor/Outdoor Sprays from Dr. Killigan’s
Whether you’re a seasoned or newbie gardener, you know that with the arrival of warmer, sunnier spring and summer days comes another, less welcomed intruder: pests. Unfortunately, pests don’t just stay outdoors (if you’ve ever dealt with a sudden influx of ants in your kitchen or—gulp—cockroaches, you know what we’re talking about.) The best way […]
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Mother’s Day Gift Guide 2025: For the Mom Who Always Stops and Smells the Flowers
Below, our florals-focused Mother’s Day gift guide for the mothers and grandmothers in your life who never tire of pointing out flowers on your walks together; who celebrate (and comfort) with bouquets; who once considered naming you Poppy or Leaf, Rose or Valerian; who can make grocery store blooms look like a million bucks…
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Epimedium 101: Everything You Need to Know About the Shade-Tolerant Groundcover
Too often, the term “groundcover” elicits a yawn. These low-growing plants are viewed dismissively, either as an obligatory filler for blank spaces, or as an institutional camouflage for exposed soil. But with a little attention and the appropriate choice for your growing conditions, the right groundcover can be a source of exquisite horticultural interest in […]
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Gardening 101: How to Transplant Seedlings and Plantlings
It’s May! Gardening season is in full swing this month. And whether you have purchased seedlings or started them from seed, you will need to transplant them this month. Here are a few tips for transplanting success. Photography by Joy Yagid, unless otherwise noted. 1. Research, research, research. You’ll want to learn as much about […]
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Curious About the Outdoor Spaces of Interior Designers? (Spoiler Alert: They’re Dreamy)
The new book Glorious Gardens by Dara Caponigro, the editor in chief of Frederic Magazine, features a particular type of garden. Each of the 21 gardens in the book belongs to a prominent interior designer—and it shows. The gardens are composed with the same precision and care as the perfectly tailored rooms these designers create […]
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10 Easy Pieces: Classic Outdoor Chair Designs
Design classics aren’t just for interiors. In fact, a crop of notable 20th-century designers made dining and lounge chairs for the outdoors (and/or their designs were later reworked for outdoor use). From the Eameses to Jens Risom to brands including Tolix and Fermob, here are our 11 favorite classic outdoor chair designs. Looking for more […]
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Current Obsessions: Getaway
Met Gala-inspired paint palettes, a trusty bar accessory, jaunty attire inspiration from the garden, and more on our editors’ desks this week: Spring style inspiration. (Hat tip: Annie.) Block Shop x Sunbrella. Finally, cool-looking outdoor upholstery fabric. Over on Cup of Jo: “I bought four small pots of rosemary in the supermarket a couple of years ago and planted […]
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Letter of Recommendation: The Garden Pouch I Plan to Use As a Purse
Sometimes it just takes a color, or a repositioning of a label, to elevate an item from great to need-to-have-now. The new iteration of Niwaki’s classic pouch, part of a collaboration with the Newt in Somerset, is more covetable than even the ultimate tool bag. It’s my new purse, or as my mother used to […]
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Ramp Leaf Oil: Like Green Gold in the Kitchen
Whether you are foraging for your owns ramps—the native North American onion that is all the rage in spring—or buying them at a market, extending their fleeting and precious season by making ramp leaf oil allows you to enjoy their intensity for many months. The vivid, verdant oil can be frozen in jars and scooped […]
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Required Reading: Frances Palmer’s ‘Life with Flowers’ Is Deeply Personal
Flower-focused books have become enormously popular in recent years—and with good reason: Who doesn’t want to flip through a book filled with beautiful blossoms? The latest addition to the genre, ceramicist Frances Palmer’s new book, Life with Flowers: Inspiration and Lessons from the Garden, might be the most soulful flower book yet. Not only does […]
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10 Things Nobody Tells You About Starting a Vegetable Garden
You’ve finally decided: a vegetable garden is in your future. Congratulations are in order because you could fill a basket with all the benefits of growing your own produce: nutritious food, cost savings, vitamin D, exercise. And I’m sure you’ve heard by now that the earth loves sustainable, organic gardening. But before you dive into […]
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