ATLANTA -- The national farm to school movement has grown so fast that it is challenging traditional notions of city planning, and a Clayton County, Ga., preschool is at ground zero in the conflict.

The Little Ones Learning Center in Forest Park has a nationally recognized garden-based education program. In 2015, it merited a visit by Georgia's...Read more

Flaming orange flowers always catch my eye and the old-fashioned Mexican sunflower is still one of the best. There may be a revival happening with this plant that I have failed to notice.

I belong to some Facebook groups dedicated to butterflies and pollinators and it appears the Mexican sunflowers are bringing them all across the country. It ...Read more

Years of preparation for the Fall Flower & Garden Fest, Mississippi State University's huge horticultural event in Crystal Springs, Miss., taught me the value of pinching and cutting back herbaceous plant material.

We would always count back 6 to 7 weeks before the event and usually cut plants including roses back by at least 50%. Invariably ...Read more

As my wife, Jan and I were slowly driving, doing a little house shopping, we had to bring the car to a halt as 7 large bucks ambled across the road along with one fawn. It was a sight that would make Yellowstone jealous. While I was scrambling to grab the camera, Jan looked at the situation from a different perspective, "Where is the Mother." ...Read more

In Georgia, this appears to be the year of the Joe Pye weed. Everywhere you look it is providing staggering beauty including along the 40-mile stretch of The Russell-Brasstown National Scenic Highway, in North Georgia.

If the mountains and streams don't keep you spellbound, the Swallowtail butterflies sweeping down to partake of the nectar-rich...Read more

Everblooming and bush habit, are not two adjectives or descriptors you would ever expect to give a sunflower, but that has all changed. It's called Suncredible Yellow and botanically speaking it is a Helianthus hybrid.

I planted it about three months ago right close to a clump of Rockin salvias. Amazingly it has been blooming all summer and ...Read more

The Garden Guy has the tendency each week to tell you about the latest and greatest plants for the landscape, but this year I have been reminded that there are some flowers that have stood the test of time and should always be included in the landscape. This is precisely where gloriosa daises fall in the list of plants.

I'm a little worried ...Read more

This has been the year of the hibiscus at The Garden Guy's house. The tropical selections like South Pacific Sipper, Monsoon Mixer, Hawaiian Big Kahuna, and Fiesta. The past few weeks it is the Holy Grail a hardy hibiscus that you simply can't take your eyes off. Holy Grail is part of Proven Winner's Summerific series. There are a total of 8 ...Read more

Orange You Awesome made its debut in 2019, and I can truthfully say, it is, indeed. This is one of the new color-coded groups of echinacea from Proven Winners and it has captured this gardener's heart. The other selection is Yellow My Darling.

Orange You Awesome has performed like a champion all summer, and now, as we enter August, it is still ...Read more

If you live in an upscale apartment called Coreopsis, Milkweed or Lantana then there is a good chance you live in Swallowtail Flats. In all likelihood, you are seeing more butterflies, obviously swallowtails, but others, as well, and of course hummingbirds, too.

Such is the case for residents of Old Town, a Southern Living Community in North ...Read more

The Garden Guy has known of the summersweet or Clethra alnifolia for over 20 years; when the variety Hummingbird was selected as a Georgia Gold Medal Winner in 1996. If I may pose the question, however, do you, 'really' know it? Embarrassingly I have to admit, I didn't.

I am here to tell you it is a champion of pollinators. I have been watching...Read more

Last year Big Blue stunned us at the plant trials. This year, when we're able to get our hands on it, we can say it is indeed big, blue, and wonderful providing all of the spikes you could want to create excitement in the garden. Botanically speaking, Big Blue is a salvia farinacea x S. longispicata cross. If you are a salvia guru then you ...Read more

Carmine is not a word I grew up with describing color. By definition, it is a vivid crimson. The QIS Carmine gomphrena is a prime example. If you were partnering up a color, an intense yellow gold would be perfect, so send in a dozen or so American goldfinches to eat not only gomphrena seeds, but zinnias, too.

The spectacle has been happening ...Read more