The National Gardening Bureau has declared 2019 as the Year of the — and what better excuse to plant some news ones in your garden? You won’t enjoy their gorgeous blooms until closer to fall, but planting season is spring. Which makes now … read more

Lift your spirits and improve your indoor environment by taking part in the indoor gardening movement. An apartment or home filled with tropical, succulent and flowering plants can provide beauty, extend your garden season, improve air quality and create a peaceful environment to … read more

Most gardeners view the same kinds of colors in their garden year after year. You’ll see the bright shades of green as well as hints of red, yellow and even orange. It’s time to think outside the green box and spice up your … read more

Perched at the rise of a hill, near a dead-end road in Olalla, a small home is surrounded by artfully designed floral and shrub borders. Birds swoop downward into the small canyon on the far side of the property, then return to the … read more

Considered the queen of winter flowers, camellia is beautiful and stately; it reigns in beauty in every season. The shrub’s evergreen presence is quiet and demure when not in flower. But when the weather cools, Camellia sasanqua adorns itself in floral finery from … read more

On a south-facing bluff in Indianola sits a botanical “salad bowl” known as Windcliff. A garden mixture of plants from around the world, it houses a diverse array of species. Plants from China and Vietnam are well represented but South African species especially … read more

We have all done it. Picked flowers and presented them to a favorite teacher, mother or a special friend. Giving a bouquet of flowers tells the recipients they are special, and even more so when the bouquet comes from your garden. Whether you … read more

Hunter Thompson had a dream. In his imagination was the perfect house, one of space and light and comfort. His house would be timber-framed with the homespun understatement and straightforward lines of a domestic barn. It would incorporate the highest quality materials and … read more

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt adapted from Byron Smith’s book, “Slow Down and Grow Something: The Urban Grower’s Recipe for Good Life,” recently published by Murdoch Books. Plants have naturally adapted to the climate in which they have evolved — that’s why … read more