attract butterflies - Fine Gardening
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Design
Reliably Reblooming Perennial Plants
There are many things to consider when selecting a herbaceous perennial plant for the garden. Some slots are for sentimental plantings, like a piece of Grandma’s peony from the family…
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Design
Designing a Stylish Pollinator Garden
A few years ago, in an effort to try to help dwindling butterfly and bee populations, my partner Mikel and I plowed up an acre of invasive bittersweet on the…
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Terrific Small Trees for Yards of Any Size
Trees add beauty and curb appeal to your garden. They increase your property value, bring year-round structure, and provide habitat for wildlife. There’s no doubt planting a tree is a…
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Article
Turning a Yard Into a Butterfly Paradise
Vickie Sowers of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, has turned her front yard into a butterfly garden. She’s shared her garden with us before, and this year she’s kicked it up a level.…
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Design
Autumn-Flowering Trees
Fall is an exciting time in the garden, with cooler temperatures resulting in foliage taking on its characteristic yellow, orange, and red tones. Trees that flower in autumn, however, are…
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Design
Plant Varieties to Try, Plant Varieties to Lose
With the wide variety of plants at our fingertips, we should be experimenting with new plants all the time. But we often default to the same familiar cultivars, which is…
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Design
Coreopsis You Can Count On!
A while back—27 years, to be exact—the Chicago Botanic Garden created a garden solely to compare perennials, and coreopsis was one of the inaugural trials. We tested mostly seed-grown cultivars of…
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Design
Water-Wise Plants
Droughts and water shortages have grabbed headlines in recent years, reminding gardeners everywhere that we need to find ways to make our landscapes less dependent on supplemental water. Even in…
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Design
Salvias That Won’t Let You Down
I’m lucky to live in Chicago—maybe not in February when we’re buried in snow, but in spring, it’s a different story. One of my favorite spots in the city is…
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Design
Beyond the Basic Butterfly Bush
Few sights are as quintessentially associated with summer as butterflies perched on the blossoms of butterfly bush (Buddleia spp. and cvs., USDA Hardiness Zones 5–9). While the profusion and prodigious…