(ARA) – At a time when “green” is the color of thoughtful lifestyles, gardening practices are going greener, too. Some gardens awash in the biggest, brightest, newest flowers are sadly lifeless, lacking the buzz of the bees, the fluttering of butterflies and the zip of hummingbirds. To make these creatures welcome, gardeners need to go [...]

(ARA) – Americans craving authenticity and fretting over a bleak economy have reinvigorated the trend to grow-it-yourself (GIY). From blueberries to houseplants, GIY is the new mantra as folks turn “back to the future” to simplify their lives while gardening for the greener good.
“It’s a resurgence of gardening for the greater good — for the [...]

(ARA) – The catalogues are starting to pile up and the list of landscape improvements grows longer each day. Don’t let this overwhelm or discourage you. Instead spend a bit of time planning now for better results in your garden. You will be amazed how much fun you can have while achieving your landscape goals [...]

(ARA) – If you invest a bit of time now, you can ensure a bountiful harvest and a beautiful landscape to make this your best gardening season yet. Preparing a strong spring foundation means new plantings are better able to survive the heat, drought and pest attacks of summer.
“Start your garden off right by adding [...]

Locals take note–this weekend is the Sacramento Home & Garden Show at Cal Expo. The Show runs March 6 through 8, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Door Prizes include:

Tickets to California Musical Theatre: Frost/Nixon
Gift Certificate to Cabo’s Mexican Restaurant
Two  Tickets to [...]

Whether you live where it rains or where it pours, there’s a great, easy way you can conserve water for garden use.
Where I live (Calif.) that’s a very big deal, as we Californians head into a third consecutive drought year.
Rain “harvesting” isn’t a new concept, but let’s just say this oldie is a goodie.
It’s as [...]

Winter is tough on plants, which are often exposed to hard wind, rain and freezing temperatures, not to mention snow.
Luckily, there are ways to protect the pants in your garden and yard from frost. When the temperature drops to freezing, or 32 degrees, frost damage can be minimal and only affect a leaf or two. [...]

Believe it or not, winter is the perfect time to prune fruit trees. According to certified arborist Michael Farmer, who resides in Sacramento, Calif., pruning fruit trees in the early Spring allows wounds to heal, and also allows you to see the buds to avoid.
Fruit tree pruning is beneficial in that it promotes fruit tree [...]

The next time you’re at the nursery, or browsing for seeds online, be sure to check out where you are on the USDA Hardiness Zone Map, which divides North America into 11 separate zones.
Each zone is 10°F warmer (or colder) in an average winter than the adjacent zone.
When you see a “hardiness zone” in a catalog [...]

Right now, as I look out onto my front patio, I can see a squirrel sitting on top of my box planter, which is a permanent patio fixture, and happily chewing on something from the cache that he stashed there in the fall. It isn’t a big deal, at least right now since the planter [...]