One deer can do major landscape damage overnight, and if a herd regularly visits your garden you may feel like giving up. Although almost no plant is completely safe if the herbivores are hungry enough, gardeners facing extreme deer pressure aren’t powerless. Incorporating plants with “nasty” characteristics like strong smells, prickly textures, or even toxicity is one easy way to encourage those hooved hordes to browse elsewhere. In this episode, Danielle and Carol share some of the plants that have remained unscathed in their backyards, and expert Bonni Engelhardt weighs in with some of her ..read more

Ulrich Lorimer is the director of the Native Plant Tust in Framingham, MA, a conservation organization that manages Garden in the Woods. He has been a longtime advocate for cultivating native plants in both public and private gardens to help offset habitat loss. In this episode, he talks about some outstanding native species that have an outsized impact when planted in a garden setting. He also digs into the nitty-gritty of designing with regionally adapted plants, gardening in a changing climate, and integrating native plants into our backyard ecosystems.   ..read more

Much like the United States Postal Service, these plants will not let rain, nor sleet, nor driving snow stop them from pulling through the worst winter weather imaginable.  It can be hard to find plants that will look two months of drying winds in the eyes and laugh—or sit in a frozen puddle for 4 months and not rot. We decided to sing the praises of those perennials and woodies that will take whatever January, February and March have to doll out and come out on the other side, unscathed.  Tune in to this epside to learn about plants that truly are up to the challenge of taking winte ..read more

When we say “foundation plants” you might think we’re talking about plants that are the backbones of our beds and borders. But that’s not what we mean in this instance. Today we’re discussing plants that are perfect for planting around your home’s foundation. These selections need to adhere to a certain set of requirements: they can't get too big; they can't be too small; they can’t have aggressive root systems; they must have multiple seasons of interest. If that sounds like the holy grail of plants, it is! But luck for you we’ve culled together a dynamic assortment of options for all areas o ..read more

Seattle-based garden designer Stacie Crooks creates beautiful, ecologically friendly, low-maintenance gardens throughout the Pacific Northwest. Her most recent article in the December 2024 issue of Fine Gardening magazine tackles the challenges of integrating a vibrant, plant-focused garden into a cookie-cutter neighborhood developed during the post-World War II building boom. To coincide with the publication of the article, we’re revisiting this engaging interview where Stacie covers some of the most valuable insights she has gained through years of experience. Anyone can use Stacie’s rules o ..read more

Due to their size and expense, gardeners tend to put a lot more thought into the trees they ultimately buy for their landscape. While a perennial might only live for 6 or 7 years, a tree might grace your garden for 50 years or more—outliving the person who so carefully selected it, in fact. Here at Fine Gardening, we feel strongly that trees should look good in more than one season (for all of the reasons above AND because they take up a lot of real estate). Therefore, on today’s episode, we may be highlighting our favorite flowering trees for every season, but these choices have more going f ..read more

  Great options for welcoming winged visitors to your garden    Hardly an episode goes by where we don't mention a pollinator plant. But we have never dedicated an entire episode to the topic, which in our minds is bananas! So today we’re fixing that track record and discussing 11 of our favorite pollinator plants. Native plant expert Cheyenne Wine joins us from Rare Roots Nursery in Virginia to add her top picks to the conversation, as well. Listen now to find trees, shrubs, perennials, and even some bulbs to plant if you’re interested in turning your garden into an insect ..read more

Andrew Bunting is vice president of horticulture at Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), where he promotes gardening for the greater good. PHS supports healthier neighborhoods through horticulture by cleaning and greening vacant lots, planting and maintaining street trees, partnering with community gardeners to share resources and conserve productive open space, and demonstrating ecologically sound gardening practices in public gardens throughout the greater Philadelphia area. Andrew’s extensive public gardening career includes time spent at Chicago Botanic Garden, Chanticleer, and 27 yea ..read more

The best ground covers are multi-purpose workhorses, suppressing weeds, preventing soil erosion, and adding another level of interest to garden beds. Naturally, we’d prefer them not to be invasive, and to look good over a long season. But why do so many gardeners seem to fall back on the same few choices? In this episode, Danielle, Carol, and expert guest Amanda Thomsen cover new ground in their quest to expand the definition of what a ground cover can be. Whether it’s a tough but underused North American native, a cheeky little annual, or an unusual self-seeding edible, we hope you will find ..read more

Mark Weathington is the director of the JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina and author of Gardening in the South: The Complete Homeowner’s Guide. Mark is a frequent FG contributor, covering a wide range of topics including magnolias, redbuds, compact shrubs, and unexpected replacements for overused plants.  Some of Mark’s most fascinating work at the arboretum has involved his extensive travel to collect, preserve, and distribute plants from around the world. In this episode he discusses the unexpected path that led to a career in horticulture and the i ..read more