tropical plants

5 Rare Plants That Will Make Your Neighbors Jealous — If You Can Find Them

February 18, 2026 by Brandon Marcus Leave a Comment

You do not build a jaw-dropping garden with petunias and polite hydrangeas. You build it with plants that make people stop mid-sentence, tilt their heads, and ask, “What on earth is that?” Rare plants do not just decorate a space; they electrify it. They challenge you, they reward patience, and they carry stories that stretch…

Please, I Beg You. Bring in Your Tender Potted Plants!

September 24, 2019 by Steph Coelho Leave a Comment

Every year around this time as I walk around the neighborhood with my dogs or pass by homes on my morning runs, I see the insane amount of people who throw away potted plants. In the summer, when the weather is hot and toasty, people calmer to buy all the beautiful plants at the nursery….

How To Get Free Seeds From The Government by Amanda Blankenship Seeds might seem like a small expense, but any seasoned…
Should I Use Enviro Ice On My Plants? by Kathryn Vercillo Every week, I receive food from Hungryroot. It's a great…
From Trash to Treasure: Transform Shredded Paper Into Garden Gold by Amanda Blankenship Should you use shredded paper as garden mulch? It might…
What Happens to Plants If You Use Enviro Ice on Them? by Amanda Blankenship About a year ago, I wrote our first article about…

Before Bringing Potted Herbs Inside, Do This First

That rosemary plant may have cost $5 in spring, but after months of growth, throwing it away when cold weather arrives can feel like tossing money in the trash. Bringing potted herbs indoors can extend the harvest and help tender perennial herbs survive until next spring, but moving them straight from the patio to the…

Powdery Mildew Is Everywhere This Fall — Can Those Leaves Go in Compost?

By late summer and early fall, a perfectly healthy-looking squash, cucumber, bee balm, or zinnia can suddenly look like someone dusted its leaves with flour. Powdery mildew is extremely common, and once cold weather approaches, gardeners face a practical question: what should happen to all those infected leaves and vines? Tossing them seems wasteful when…

5 Red Flags an Online Seed Seller May Not Be Legitimate

That packet of rare blue tomatoes or rainbow-colored roses may cost only $4.99, but wasting five dollars isn’t the biggest risk when buying questionable seeds online. You could spend weeks tending empty pots, receive something completely different from what was advertised, or unknowingly order seeds that don’t comply with U.S. import requirements. Online marketplaces and…

The HOA Approved His Garden — Then a New Board Fined Him $750 for It

Imagine spending years turning your front lawn into a productive garden, getting written approval from your homeowners association, and then discovering that the approval doesn’t necessarily end the argument. That’s essentially what happened to Michael Sherman of Chino, California, whose front-yard “food forest” contains everything from passionfruit and Swiss chard to banana trees and sunflowers….