Sweet Caroline Medusa Green is an architectural plant of the first order.

I know what you're thinking: Isn’t that a sweet potato?

The answer is a hearty yes, and AMEN, thank you! Sweet Caroline Medusa Green is like no other sweet potato.

Let’s chase a rabbit for a second. Do a Google search for an architectural plant and you will see ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Every weekend morning, residents of L.A.'s Leimert Park Village community can expect to see La Nola Smith tending to her succulent stand, South Central Succs, just outside the front window of the Ivory Coast Hair Salon at the corner of 43rd Street and Degnan Boulevard.

Smith, a spoken-word artist, in-home health care aide and ...Read more

"Good golly, Miss Molly. How beautiful you are."

That's just the response one of my Facebook followers wrote upon seeing my post.

This was a statement of awe about one of the best butterfly bushes in the market and not my incredible photo of a pipevine swallowtail feeding on it. But that's OK, Pat — I agree with you!

Miss Molly reaches 4 ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA – The joy of the plants that sprout from a patch of South Philadelphia earth is not merely that they remind people of home — they taste like home, too.

Many people don’t know the garden is there, in three parcels tucked in and around Eighth and Emily Streets, a short walk off busy Snyder Avenue. Nor do they know all the place...Read more

Everyone has heard that old saying: You can lead a horse to the trough, and if he doesn’t drink, make it a planter.

Just kidding.

But if you choose to jump on one of the hottest trends in the country, you can make your own jokes about some old caballo.

At the store, these containers go by names like stock tank, feed trough, water trough ...Read more

While the Pacific Northwest has gotten the most attention for its heat wave a quarter of the state of California remains in an “exceptional drought,” the most severe category possible.

Almost 98% of the land across 11 Western states is abnormally dry, and more than 90% is covered by some category of drought, the worst levels in the U.S. ...Read more

The National Garden Bureau has designated 2021 as The Year of the Sunflower. If you choose to participate, I have the plant for you: Suncredible Yellow, a new everblooming bush variety.

I wrote about this incredible variety in summer 2019, while I was growing it. In 2020 it exploded, winning 53 awards like the Perfect Score All Season from ...Read more

Until further notice, I vote Tuff Stuff Ah-Ha as the most beautiful hydrangea no one knows about.

I know that is an exaggeration, especially in light of the fact it is Proven Winners' National Hydrangea of the Year.

If I showed you a blossom, you might think it's a lacecap hydrangea. But I will bet most of the lacecap hydrangeas you’ve ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — After 30 years of work, Marianne Kramer was pleased with her backyard garden in McCandless, Pennsylvania. She had carefully planted perennials and annuals in beds around mature trees and shrubs and a railroad-tie retaining wall.

“We had gorgeous white birch trees and rose of Sharon,” she said.

But the retaining wall was ...Read more

You may have heard the old saying, "That plant is so easy to grow, all you have to do is plant the green-side up." I am here to tell you when it comes to Heart to Heart caladium tubers, all you have to do is plant the white side up.

Son James and I took possession of several boxes of Heart to Heart caladium tubers in the early spring. To be ...Read more

"Does Your Nose Know What My Nose Knows?" was the name of a creative article written by an author during my time as the executive director of the American Rose Society. The reference was to the fragrance found in roses.

I would like to pass this question on to you and the butterfly bush, or buddleia. My wife, Jan, and I are blissfully on the ...Read more

As strange as it sounds, my secret garden is a daylily garden. This doesn’t mean I am a closet daylily enthusiast, quite the opposite. It started a couple of years ago when my wife, Jan, said the side of our house was an embarrassment, and we needed plants. To be honest it was rather a sort of Garden Guy Gulley.

In the backyard there are ...Read more

Sitting on the couch sometime last winter with my trusty perennial catalogue in hand, I gawked over the Pyromania Red Hot Pokers, or torch lilies. We grew Red Hot Pokers at the Columbus Botanical Garden and at the Coastal Georgia Botanical Garden in Savannah. Why not at The Garden Guy’s house?

When they arrived and were sitting in the ...Read more

Shadowland Autumn Frost is an award-winning hosta that will stop you in your tracks.

Recently I posted a photo and called it a heart-thumping hosta. One of my Facebook followers said something rather meaningful: "You will love it Norman, I have 300 assorted hostas!"

That statement says it all — hostas can be addicting. I have gone to 30 ...Read more

The answer given when the mayor asked a friend of mine in the nursery industry how best to improve the image of the small but growing city? "Plant flowers." You might think this would be the obvious answer from someone in the greenhouse industry as they would stand to benefit from this beautification endeavor.

If you do an internet search on ...Read more

Stop the presses and throw all of your preconceived notions about the monarda or bee balm out the door. I swear, I have had marigolds taller than these new monardas. I have more flowers now on my monardas than I normally get from an entire season’s bloom. I am talking about the Leading Lady series.

First know that 2021 is the National Garden ...Read more