We wait all year for their riot of flowers. These landscaping plants give us colorful blossoms, invigorating fragrance, lush leaves, and sometimes fruit and dazzling fall colors. Here are the best spring-flowering trees and shrubs for the Midwest! Except for pruning,...
The secret of a healthy garden is in the soil. We often don’t treat it any better than dirt. But soil is so much different than that. As a clump in our hand, it looks simple enough, but under a microscope, we see it’s a complex substance, alive, and teeming with...
Now that April has arrived, it’s finally time to drop our winter habits and start gardening again. But sometimes, it’s hard to know what to do with the brown landscape of early spring. Some gardening tasks must wait until May, but for the most part, here in Zone 5,...
During the pandemic saw a surge in gardening and outdoor living. Almost everything that we couldn’t do inside found a way to happen outside. Amidst the transition, many people started to experience the perks of living outdoors, from increased health to new discoveries...
To get from the dreaming stage to the doing stage, we need a plan. This is where the fun starts, but also where we have to get specific. Did you keep a garden log last year? If so, that will be helpful when planning for this year. Whether you did or not, you can still...
With an unusual year of a pandemic behind us, it’s refreshing to flip over a new leaf and think about the good things to come. Even though winter has just begun, the growing daylight has a way of awakening fresh inspiration. If last year was a time for setting down...
