Reading through my weekly Perennial Pulse newsletter written by Paul Pilon, I came across a great little article about incorporating some edible perennials into the landscape this year. We think of perennials as mostly...

So you received some beautiful flowers from a special someone this Valentine’s Day? Lucky you! They are probably looking gorgeous on your desk or dining room table right now. But have you thought about how long those flowers will last? Here are a couple of tips to help lengthen the life of your...

Earlier this week I discussed the amazing mood improving effects of flowers, but are you thinking of giving a gift that lasts a bit longer? Blooming plants are a great option then! Here are a few blooming plants that can help bring anyone out of the winter blues: 1. ...

Here in the northwestern corner of Illinois, we got about 15 inches of snow this past weekend. This amount of snow definitely causes some road and travel problems, but what does that much snow mean for trees and shrubs? It means there is a lot of weight on the branches! Especially this particular...

Valentine's Day may just well be one of my favorite times of year. Probably because I'm a floral designer and horticulturist and anytime flowers or plants are the focus of a holiday, I'm ecstatic! It's the busiest time of year for florists across the country. They are busy designing thousands and...

Now is the time of year when you're probably getting pretty stir crazy stuck inside because of the snow and cold weather. If you're like me, you're dreaming of being out in your garden working away. That time will come soon, but now is the time to starting planning for next year's garden by gaining...

Last winter was a tough one on many of our evergreens. Most gardeners had severe browning on many of their evergreen trees and shrubs, and some were even killed by the cold winter winds of winter. This year, take some steps to prevent some of that damage. The problem comes when water isn't...

Winter can be a tough time for greenhouses. Even if you're not growing anything in your greenhouse for the winter, there is still care to be take to protect your structure from heavy snow loads this time of year. In a recent article in the...

I'm a big fan of flowering bulbs of all kinds, especially when I'm able to force those bulbs indoors. Forcing is a technique that imitates the environmental conditions that bulbs encounter outdoors, thereby tricking them into flowering earlier. So essentially, you can bring the...

During the spring, summer, and fall my windowboxes are filled with beautiful blooming and foliage plants, but once frost hits, I pull all those plants out and my windowboxes are left bare. Very dull and boring. To make these windowboxes usable year-round, I add some winter interest to the boxes...