textured leaves - Fine Gardening
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Design
Garden Design Basics: Use Two Colors Plus Green
In a world full of glorious color, why limit oneself to just two when designing containers? Because limitations can be . . . liberating. Color is so seductive that it…
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Design
Conifers Should Come First
When we first bought our house in 2000, I was pregnant. The previous owner had no interest in the garden. Since there was almost nothing planted, I just threw a…
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Design
The Best of the Best Hostas
STATS Hosta spp. and cvs. USDA Hardiness Zones: 3–9 Conditions: Partial to full shade; moist, rich, well-drained soil Propagation: Division in spring or fall Problems: Deer, slugs, snails Who doesn’t…
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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
Plants That Keep On Giving
One of the first rules that novice gardeners are ordered to abide by is the necessity of using—and, hence, buying—a minimum of three of the same plant. For aesthetics’ sake,…
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Design
Guide to Growing Brunnera
Good ol’ brunnera, with its cheery forget-me-not–like flowers, is experiencing a renaissance, of sorts—captivating gardeners in recent years with a bevy of new varieties that have incredibly colorful foliage. I…
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Design
Designing an Intimate Space
Many people like to have a garden for entertaining, but most of us also want our gardens to be a spot where we relax and get away from it all.…
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Design
Trade in Your Troublesome Plants
If you’ve ever grown plants, odds are that you’ve tried a plant that you couldn’t (or shouldn’t) grow for some reason. Did your grandma grow lilacs on her farm in…
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Design
The Best Varieties of Campanula
Contemplating the myriad of campanulas makes me feel like a kid in a candy store. The diversity of floral shapes, blossom colors, and plant habits is both astounding and enticing.…