The Shy Gardener

Flower Meanings: The Language of Flowers

What does each flower symbolize? Which flowers represent love, hope, healing, loss, and good luck? See the Almanac’s complete list of Flower Meanings and Plant Symbolism. 

What Do Ladybugs Eat?

These harmless insects can be a blessing in a garden, but a nuisance in a home. Learn more about the ever-popular ladybug and see why they might be worthy of peaceful coexistence.

How to Make Mums Last Longer

Chrysanthemums are inexpensive, hardy and tolerate cool temperatures fairly well, making them a good pick for fall. Find out how to make mums last longer.

Make Sure You Provide a Winter Home for Beneficial Inscects

That’s one fall garden chore you can postpone till next year. And here’s another. Don’t cut back your perennials and grasses either.

10 Water-wise Plants

Choose these resilient workhorses for the driest spots in your garden. Droughts and water shortages have grabbed headlines in recent years, reminding gardeners everywhere that we need to find ways to make our landscapes less dependent on supplemental water. 

Attracting Beneficial Insects

To lure good bugs to your garden, first get to know the players, then give them the right habitat

4 Beneficial Weeds Found in New England

We think of them as pests, but many weeds play an important role in gardening. Their benefits include attracting pollinating insects, acting as an indicator of soil quality, and providing a food source for monarch larvae, people and pets.

Invasive Plant Species in New England

There are no easy answers when "invasive" plants move into our forests, meadows, and backyards. Learn more about New England invasive plant species.

Delicate Vessels Sculpted with Pressed Flowers

Spanish artist Ignacio Canales Aracil creates vessels reminiscent of upside-down baskets using nothing but pressed flowers. 

Revealing the Gardens' Secrets

A new book of garden photography allows visitors to examine humanity’s relationship to the world’s landscapes.

The Power of Wearing Flowers

Indeed, long before makeup, or millinery or jewelry, our first adornments were plants and flowers, and our love for them was -- and is -- universal. But how and why we wear them has shifted over the years.

One Night a Year, This Cactus Flower May Surprise You

Rarely is it a good idea to respond to a stranger on a Brooklyn street at night when he asks if you want to see something cool. But occasionally, it pays off. It turned out to be a night blooming cereus . . .

Time to Put the Garden to Bed?

What at first seems to be an undifferentiated pile of drudgery can, in fact, be divided into three categories: tasks that need doing for the health and hygiene of the garden, tasks that could be done to tidy up the place, and tasks that a more organized, more ambitious and generally better person would do to to create a thriving garden next spring. But wait there is a fourth category, the refuge of idlers-- and also as it happens, backyard ecologists. 

Flowerworks: Flowers Arranged to Look Like Fireworks

Flowerworks is a new series by multi-disciplinary artist Sarah Illenberg that turns flower arrangements into bursting fireworks. The photos were made in collaboration with photographer Sabrina Rynas, and if you squint your eyes a bit (or back away from the monitor) the effect is pretty uncanny.

An Elegant Flower Time-Lapse Three Years in the Making

As a companion piece to his 2012 short film “Fall,” filmmaker Jamie Scott spent the last three years filming a massive variety of flowers in this seemingly endless parade of buds opening into blooms titled “Spring.” 

Artist Uses Pressed Flora to Create Stunning Works of Art

Artist and illustrator Helen Ahpornsiri is someone who lives this tradition, and uses pressed leaves, ferns, flowers, and even algae in her illustrations, taking pressed plants in a completely new direction. She uses them to create intricate colleges in the shapes of animals and even some favorite pop culture figures.

Meet the Overcompensators: Plants that Get Tougher and Meaner When Attacked

Damaging some plants sets off a molecular chain of events that causes them to grow back bigger and produce more seeds and chemical defenses simultaneously.

Next Year in the Garden

Famous Last Words by Stephen Morris:  Next year in the garden I won't plant my seeds too early just because I am excited by a warm day in April. I will wear a long sleeve shirt while pruning roses, raspberries, and blackberries. I will open seed packets the right way so that they reseal. I won't just rip off the tops, then wonder why my pockets are filled with spilled seed.

The World's First Flower May Have Looked Like This

With the incredible diversity of flowers that exist today—from pinprick-sized duckweed to the meters-high blooms of a corpse flower—it’s hard to imagine that they all descend from just a single species.

Tiny Terrarium Craft

Treat your guests to a living party favor with these mini take-home terrariums.

DIY Allium Garden Sculptures

Make your own allium garden sculptures with dollar store supplies.

Hydrangea Cakes

These Hydrangea Cakes are gorgeous miniature cakes that look like hydrangea flowers! You’ll be surprised to learn how easy it is to make the pretty, colorful blossom design on the outside. The inside is beautiful, too, with swirls of multicolored cake!

Pounded Flower Scarf

DIY video, how-to make a pounded flower scarf

Beautiful Cakes that Look Like Fresh Succulents

Succulents and cacti make wonderful house-warming gifts. But these plant-themed confections might just take the cake. Bring one of these to a party and you're guaranteed to be everyone's favorite.

California Deserts in 'Super Bloom' Thanks to a Wet Winter

In some parts of the country, cold weather is threatening crops. Meanwhile, California has been so unseasonably wet that its deserts are experiencing what's called a "super bloom." After years of drought, the normally arid desert is lush.

Arctic Foxes 'Grow' Their Own Gardens

The little carnivores' colorful dens provide veritable oases in the tundra, a new study says.

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Succulant Manicures Taking 'Green Thumb' to Whole Other Level

Australian artist Roz Borg is a talented creator of succulent terrariums and jewelry. But lately, she’s turned her talents toward creating living nail art.