Today I am here to say, let’s give up the dog days and create a celebration of the tiger days of summer. I am not talking LSU, Auburn or Clemson starting football workouts. I am, however, touting states like Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia coming together for the one thing they have in common: They have all ...Read more

Supertunia Mini Vista Scarlet petunia will quickly become the one in which all other red petunias will be compared. Although it is making its debut in 2023, the tsunami created from the beauty shown in 2022 trials is already causing market jitters. Will there be enough next spring? We can only hope.

Last February, I wrote about how the ...Read more

As you are reading this column, Meant to Bee Queen Nectarine and Meant to Bee Royal Raspberry, two new agastache varieties, are approaching their 100th day of bloom at The Garden Guy’s house. Both agastache or hummingbird mint varieties will be making their debut in 2023, and in a summer of miserable heat, my trials of the flower varieties ...Read more

There is a new Superbells calibrachoa making its debut in 2023 that is so beautiful and unusual, I’ve even wondered if Proven Winners knows what they have. Had calibrachoas been around in 1800 as Empress Josephine was constructing the gardens at Le Château de Malmaison, Superbells Prism Pink Lemonade would have been her first choice.

While ...Read more

To me, this is the prettiest petunia I have ever grown. It is so pretty that if it only lasted a month, I would say I can hardly wait until next year. But it is a Supertunia, and therefore it will perform as suggested: a super petunia. The name of the new variety is Supertunia Persimmon.

Deep down I wish Proven Winners had given this petunia a ...Read more

Luminary Sunset Coral has turned The Garden Guy into a full-blown phlox fanatic. The rousing color would probably remind you of some electrifying lipstick or fingernail polish, a rare color in the plant world.

Our master bath has a huge window overlooking a square-shaped bed with an 8-foot-tall windmill palm in the center. It gives you a touch ...Read more

CHICAGO — Victory Gardens Theater, a venerable and Tony Award-winning Chicago company that has seen more than its share of staff turmoil in recent years, appears to have entered another deeply unstable period.

On Tuesday, the Tribune has learned, the Victory Gardens board of directors informed the staff that the current artistic director, Ken...Read more

Each year as my color design guru son James orders plants for use at his clients' homes, from those that look like historic cottages to palatial garden estates, those on the waterfront to those considered mountainous. The one color I can guarantee will be in heavy use is white.

When spring arrives every year with all of its glorious purples, ...Read more

No longer will trays of flower transplants create a mess, a sore back from picking them up and clutter in the garden shed with thoughts of future use. Thanks to the Eco+ Grande Pots that caught most of us by surprise at the garden center this year, we can now simply pull four tabs and plant them in the hole — a true ecological wonder.

Son ...Read more

A display at the recent Young’s Plant Farm Annual Garden Tour caused quite a stir — not only within the industry that day, but on my Facebook page as well. I would like to take credit and say it was my beautiful photography, but to be honest, when you look at a planting and say something like "holy wow!," it is always the plants. The display...Read more

A feeling of euphoria came over The Garden Guy and I muttered to myself that my work on earth was done. OK, I am kidding to a point.

I am trialing two new agastaches, which I admit I am falling in love with: Meant to Bee Queen Nectarine and Meant to Bee Royal Raspberry. I’ll write about them in the coming months. My moment with a visit down ...Read more

New in garden centers this year are a couple of Ladybirds. When you see the name Ladybird associated with a plant, you can assume a few things: native DNA, great for the environment and most likely tough as nails.

Such is the case for Ladybird Lemonade and Ladybird Sunglow, two new hybrid Calylophus varieties. More than likely you are wondering...Read more

Our Taste for the Tropics just got a lot larger this year as Proven Winners has added five new Hawaiian Ti varieties under their Proven Selections label. This brings the Cordyline group to a total of eight selections. Most of us have never seen a named variety of Hawaiian Ti, known botanically as Cordyline fruticosa or Cordyline australis.

I ...Read more

The Garden Guy made a trip across town to chat with son James and came away giddy on one hand and grumpy on the other because I had been scooped. I am used to being the dud when it comes to comparing my plant partnerships with his, but this time he showed me up with a new variety. I’m the new variety guy, not this whippersnapper, but he was ...Read more