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fading hosta

March 3, 2009

I like everything about hostas (though I didn’t when I started gardening, thinking of them as too predictable then). Now I know they are anything but, providing fierce, pointed shoots that push madly through the ground in spring, great foliage all season, flowers that draw hummingbirds and then doing this: melting elegantly to nearly see-through in all kinds of gorgeous golden tones.

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Got Any Questions? Try My FAQs

YOUR MOST-ASKED questions answered.

Flower-Bulb FAQs: Why didn’t your daffodils bloom? How to grow dahlias. What bulbs will naturalize or are animal-proof?
Pruning FAQs: When to prune what, and how to make basic cuts. Fruit trees, lilacs, hydrangeas, etc.
Mulch FAQs: What makes good mulch (and doesn’t)? When and how much to apply?
Tomato-Growing FAQs: Heirlooms or hybrids? How deep and when to plant? From seed, step-by-step. To stake, or cage?
Tomato-Troubles FAQs: Worried about late blight? Have hornworms, leaf spots, no fruit set or disfigured fruit?
My 20 Top Seed and Seed-Starting FAQs: From tips and techniques to the ethics of organics and GMOs.
12 Top Composting FAQs: What to put in (and not); do you need a bin?; how to speed things up, when (and if) to turn.

Juicy Bits

name that weed I KNOW A LOT OF PLANTS by their proper names, but my “weeds,” not so much. These great weed-identification websites are helping me finally address them with the proper (dis)respect.

everything old is new VINTAGE 'GREEN' POSTERS from the WPA 1940s look fresher than ever.

shrubs to covet THE OLDER THE GARDEN and I get, the more we love these shrubs.

plants that perform 21 POWERHOUSE PERENNIALS you will love for your garden.

herb-garden help GROWING AND STORING a year of parsley.

berry peachy-keen CLAFOUTIS BATTER how-to (the solution for easy fruit desserts).

rex, rhizomatous and more FANCY-LEAF BEGONIAS, beauties for indoors and out.

crispy refrigerator pickles WHAT IS IT ABOUT refrigerator pickles that makes everybody so happy? Get those cukes ready!

winged victory THE GARDEN as bird habitat: 11 tips on what birds like.

keeping deer out DEER FENCE: I tried every anti-deer potion and trick till I got real and fenced. Strategies for every garden.

secrets to great tomatoes TOMATO TIPS, seed to harvest: Dozens of tricks for a better crop.

yes, even in dry shade MY 4 TOUGHEST GROUNDCOVERS perform even in the worst spots, like dry shade.

5 great small trees GARDEN-SIZED TREES can’t just be the right scale; they need to have multi-season interest, too. Have room for one of my favorites?

10 underplanting do’s and don’ts MAKING MOSAICS—that’s what I call good underplanting of trees and shrubs with a tapestry of plants. Here’s how.

making a 365-day garden THINK FALL (YES, FALL): Don’t get sucked in by spring-bloomers only at the nursery. A great garden happens 365 days: Shop smart to make it so.

the facts about bulbs SOMETHING UP with a flower bulb? Paltry bloom, or wondering when to feed or cut off the foliage? It’s all here.

must-read garden poem MY FAVORITE POEM celebrates loss, one of gardening (and life’s) realities. It does it with humor: "Why Did My Plant Die?” is a must-read. orchid rebloom made easy I REBLOOMED MY FIRST ORCHID recently (finally!) and it turns out to be pretty easy going. Here’s how.

can-do pruning REPEAT AFTER ME: I can prune. I can prune. If you follow this simple method for starters, your woody plants will thank you.

never stop wanting more plants, my garden mentor instilled in me 20-plus years ago, regularly reminding me of another gardener, past 90, who still lusts for every new thing he can get a cutting of. I promise not to, until I myself am back in the soil.