Shade Gardening-101

While it is true that a majority of ornamental plants and nearly all edible plants are best suited to full sunlight conditions, there are many others that are naturally adapted to forests and low-light conditions. But there's far more to a successful shade garden than simply choosing from a list of shade-adapted species.

The basic principles of gardening still apply, and your goal is to strive for a less energetic balance that will produce a pest and trouble-free plant community. This is true across the board, no matter which of the 12 plant zones that cover the vast breadth of North America from Northern Canada to Southern Mexico. Shade Gardening-101 - Read Full Article

Garden Design 101

Just as pets calm our minds, relieve our fears, and lower our blood pressure, gardens have been scientifically proven to be as equally effective. Stepping from your back doorstep into a wonderland of fresh, clean, pleasantly aromatic, well landscaped gardening can have the same calming, soothing effect as a chocolate lab bouncing down the drive to greet you as you arrive from the office after a long hard demanding day.

A cocker spaniel ‘silly all over herself’ to get to her favorite person in the world makes you feel like there is one being that totally, completely lives and breathes just to be near you. A garden has the same sort of effect when you have created it from just a heap of dirt in the backyard…a poorly fertilized heap of soil at that! Garden Design 101 - Read Full Story