This year The Garden Guy decided to add some dwarf buddleia into his arsenal of pollinator plants. The idea of 3-foot-tall or less buddleias or butterfly bushes seemed like just what the doctor ordered to be able to incorporate them with lantanas, rudbeckias, gaillardia and salvias for a colorful wild Serengeti style backyard habitat. Lo & ...Read more

Every year most of us hit that period where the heat crosses over from hot to oppressive and we know the tough season for our plants has arrived. In much of the country it arrived early and there is one plant that if it could talk would say what heat. This plant is Lemon Coral sedum and its botanical name Sedum mexicanum gives clear indication ...Read more

Etched Glass may just be the most beautiful hosta I have ever seen or grown. Not only do I find it mesmerizing but as a horticulturist I find it intriguing to know that it comes from a lineage of past champions.

The world of hostas can be a little like thoroughbred racehorses from the standpoint of lineage. The lineage is often enlarged via ...Read more

A hungry Eastern Tiger swallowtail butterfly gave The Garden Guy a lesson a couple of days ago and that is, everyone loves an orange smoothie in the summer. As you might suspect I am playing with you, but just a little.

This year I planted daylilies for the first time in years. While I was the director of University of Georgia's Coastal Georgia...Read more

In early June I had the opportunity to attend the Young's Plant Farm 2020 Trial Garden Tour, which is one of the most prestigious plant trials in the country. Among the showiest flowers were two gaillardias or blanket flowers that made their debut this spring. Heat It Up Yellow and Heat It Up Scarlet look to fulfill that lust most gardeners have...Read more

As you may have gathered, in my garden world lime green rules! Last year when I bought my house, I fantasized about what I would do artistically with the long rock wall that stretched almost the whole width of the backyard. Someone referred to it as a retaining wall and I was incensed; this is The Wall, the focal point of my soon-to-be ...Read more

In an area of Japan where the mophead or bigleaf hydrangea, Hydrangea macrophylla, grows wild along the coast line, there is something magical happening higher up in the chilly mountains. This is the home of the mountain hydrangea, Hydrangea serrata.

You might have been under the idea the mophead or bigleaf hydrangeas were from France, as they ...Read more

Typically, the words Royal Hawaiian would direct your thoughts to tropical islands, vacations and exotic getaways among lush foliage and clear blue seas. As wonderful as those dreams seem, I won't try to anticipate your travel plans for the summer but instead invite you to let the words Royal Hawaiian be a transformational landscape moment for ...Read more

There is a "see-through" phenomenon going on in the world of flowers and it is nothing short of thrilling. This is happening thanks in large part to the mass production of Meteor Showers verbena and to some extent Truffula Pink gomphrena.

Some of us have dabbled in the "see-through" world with giant alliums and reveled in the possibilities with...Read more

New at the garden center this year is one of those petunias that is a rare jewel of a color. It's one that catches your eye and stops you in your tracks; it is Supertunia Mini Vista Indigo. By all means don't let the mini throw you for even a second. This is the little indigo that could, or should I say does, deliver riveting beauty and maximum ...Read more

It may be called Poquito, which means a little, but I promise you in the case of Poquito Butter Yellow agastache it delivers color to the garden like a champion. In September, this new hummingbird mint won the prestigious Classic City Award in University of Georgia Trials.

The Garden Guy has been an agastache lover for well over 20 years and is...Read more

The day you look at a Wedgewood Blue Summer Snapdragon is the day you will get hooked and believe anything is possible with today's flowers. It looks as though each flower is a rare piece of hand-painted porcelain. Wedgewood Blue is part of the Angelface series of summer snapdragons, which represents nine different selections with pages of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- People, get a grip. Yes, the Asian giant hornet, now famously known as the "murder hornet," is one huge scary wasp, capable of decimating an entire colony of honeybees and savagely stinging and possibly killing humans who get in their way.

But since last week, when it was reported that two hornets were spotted for the first time ...Read more