Rainbow Rhythm King of the Ages day lily has the gardening world abuzz with anticipation for spring 2021. This is a 38-inch-tall new day lily making its debut and offering the rarest of colors in the garden world. It is a combination of butter yellow, peach and apricot blend. That would be enough to make you scream but consider it also has a ...Read more

Pantone, the gurus of all things color has selected Ultimate Gray and Illuminating Yellow for the 2021 colors of the year. Some headlines call it "Pandemic Gray" but The Garden Guy loves it and you will see it opens the door to one of the toughest, persevering and award-winning plants of all time, Flambé Yellow chrysocephalum.

Flambé Yellow ...Read more

The Garden Guy fell in love with calendulas a long time ago and then suddenly they became like the four-leaf clover, at the garden center. Hopefully Lady Godiva will change all of that. If you have never grown this Aster family member you are in for a treat.

You will find this award-winning calendula comes in Lady Godiva Yellow and Lady Godiva ...Read more

Fall planting of petunias was a great idea. The period right after Christmas has always been kind of like a breather for garden gurus as we pause to evaluate plants and ideas that we have put into place in our landscape or perhaps watched other seasoned professionals try

Back in the fall I was reading a publication written by my friend Dr. ...Read more

The floral world has been turned upside down in 2020 and thankfully not by COVID challenges but by an idea long in coming to fruition. I’ll call it a Heart to Heart Christmas. Indoor decorating for Christmas 2020 has been given a new jolt and that appropriately involves a plant that has long been known as the Heart of Jesus.

Proven Winners ...Read more

In Georgia we had a year that was pretty much miraculous for butterflies. As you might guess, The Garden Guy had an abundance of plants making sure pollinators of all sorts felt welcome in the garden. In May I wrote a column telling you about a new Sunstar pentas series of making their debut.

I had already grown Sunstar Pink that seriously had ...Read more

This year with all of its challenges many gardeners have experienced a "Call of the Wild" type moment. It's not a call to plant a jungle, or a xeriscape, but to plant with an eye toward the environment and nature. If you find yourself in this category then I would like to give a shout out to Sugar Shack. With the country under a big chill now is...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The decades may have helped the wound to close over, but you can still feel the hurt under his words.

Gardener and social worker Kenny Turck was in grade school when his big sister committed suicide at 21. An outspoken daughter of Litchfield, Minn., the Crow River community that her family had called home since 1875, Kathy Turck...Read more

Blue Moon on Halloween, Northern Lights creeping south, and now Jupiter and Saturn snuggling close for the first time since the Middle Ages. So goes the year 2020 and all of its memories. To The Garden Guy all of these "Twilight Zone" moments may pale in comparison to the Halley's Comet-type events that have been happening in the butterfly world...Read more

The cool season becomes like a garden celebration as much of the country changes out the old tired color of summer for the fresh new flowers of fall and fragrance. There is a White Knight leading the charge that opens up the door with endless companion possibilities.

White Knight is an award-winning sweet alyssum that is the perfect fit for ...Read more

There is an excitement in the air about Christmas this year and it appears to be as contagious as....... you know. Right now, it doesn't seem to be about presents or shopping, though that will probably come. It seems to have a focus on tradition, on family, a return to what is important. The beauty of the season seems to have achieved a status ...Read more

As if 2020 couldn't get more challenging, I have now run head on into a conundrum on coleus or to put it more succinctly a perplexity on pinching. First a little jaunt into my history with coleus.

I have been part of trials involving coleus for about 25 years starting back when I was in the Texas A&M system as Tarrant County extension ...Read more

MILWAUKEE — On the first day of fall, Venice Williams joined a small group of women for a morning tea ceremony at Alice's Garden to celebrate the autumn equinox.

Sage burned, purifying the air and cleansing the spirit.

The garden was in transition. The last tomatoes of the season hung overripe on the vines. Sunflowers with fading petals ...Read more

If the plant world celebrated Oktoberfest, lantanas would be front and center leading the party. As far as The Garden Guy is concerned, it could be a fall lantana fest.

Now don't get me wrong they were among the toughest, perseverant performers of the long hot summer. But come September and October, the relief from torrid temperatures brings ...Read more

If I could paraphrase some lyrics from the musical Chicago it would be "Come on, why don't we paint the garden, with all those Jazz." That is what I feel every time I see Jazz Hands Variegated loropetalum. This award-winning shrub simply puts a song in your spirit and will add that artist's touch to the garden.

The first time I saw Jazz Hands ...Read more