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By PRISCILLA TOUHEY

Q: I have a ton of vinca growing under my trees and would like to start replacing it this fall with native groundcovers. Any suggestions of good options? –R.M., Hatfield A: I am so glad you asked, R.M.! Vinca minor (Periwinkle) does fit the...

By Mike Klingaman

Step out David Boteach’s front door and a gentle world beckons — one filled with wondrous plants, waterfalls and whimsical bronze busts of fauna peeking over the leafy flora. Here sit two frogs shyly holding hands beside a lily pond; there stands a...

By HomeAdvisor

Professional chefs around the world have known for years that cooking with steam means moister, better tasting food and faster cooking times. In fact, steam assist ovens have been standard fare in the restaurant business for quite some time. Lucky for...

Growing up in Virginia, one of my favorite spring sights was the blooming of eastern redbud trees, Cercis canadensis. Redbud trees are one of the earliest spring bloomers. Their abundant pea-sized flowers bloom simultaneously, creating purplish pink...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

How does a gardener celebrate the first day of summer? The June solstice was traditionally a time for farmers to mark their calendars for dates to plant and harvest crops. For Peter Schoenberger, the newest member of the Garden Club of Amherst, it’s...

This summer, you may have noticed that many trees and shrubs are being defoliated by gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) caterpillars. We are experiencing an unusually heavy infestation this year, as we did in 2016, and the effect on our trees has been...

By LISA SPEAR

A Japanese maple tree with windswept branches leans to one side as if hanging off a mountain cliff —  but this tree has never seen high altitudes and the air here is mostly still.The tree lives in Jim Gipe’s backyard in Northampton in a shallow...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

Some garden sites are more challenging than others. But to say that Randy and Sue Frost’s property poses landscaping challenges is an understatement. They purchased their house, on Coles Meadow Road in Northampton, in 2001, while it was still under...

Most spring bulbs have flowered by now and are looking a bit forlorn, surrounded by burgeoning spring perennials that are growing almost visibly by the day. The green stalks and leaves of tulips, narcissus and other bulbs may look idle, but they are...

Most people don’t pay much attention to bees, wasps and other pollinating insects, other than to swat them when they come too close. But these insects are crucial to our food supply. Between 75 and 90 percent of all flowering plant species require...

When spring arrived this year, I realized I was completely estranged from my garden.Last year was a tough time for gardeners. Toward the end of summer, the drought had taken the life out of my perennial beds and threatened a host of new shrubs I’d...

By Maureen Gilmer

The color purple has evolved well beyond links to Barney the dinosaur to become a favorite color for politics, hair and flowers. It’s little understood as a hue because royal purple is not the only shade offered. In fact, purple has two faces. It...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

In 1966, an American archaeologist named Wilhelmina Feemster Jashemski was working on a dig at Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried under ash and pumice during the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. She noticed something unusual going on...

By Kathy Van Mullekom

After redoing our 10-year-old yard with new plants and patio, we added the icing on the cake — bird feeders. After planting eastern red cedars, hollies and other bird-attracting plants in the natural area outback, we visited several birding...

We’re entering that dark cold part of the year, when color drains from the landscape and we yearn for some bright growing things. A terrific way to enliven the winter months is to pot up some amaryllis bulbs. At first sight, the large, knobby bulbs...

By Norman Winter

The last time I reported on the Cora Cascade was in 2010; so much has changed with this trailing beauty, it’s now even better than we knew it then, so I thought I’d write an update. Cora Cascade vinca has been beating the brutal summers in...