Margaret Roach

The nonprofit group Wild Ones offers a free library of designs, with plants specific to your area — and you don’t have to be a member to use it.Turning your front yard into something other than a manicured greensward sounds like a bold new idea, even today. Imagine how it felt, in 1992, to see

A new book explores the obsession and explains why it’s not exactly like collecting dolls: “It puts people in touch with their own mortality.”As collectibles go, trees break the mold — and not just because they don’t fit on a shelf or require periodic dusting.It didn’t even compute, really, the first time Amy Stewart heard

At Wethersfield Estate, in upstate New York, restoring the formal gardens involves dealing with emboldened pests and pathogens — but carefully, so visitors don’t see.A walk through the formal gardens at Wethersfield Estate & Garden, in Amenia, N.Y., offers a dreamy escape back in time. The landscape, some 80 years in the making, conjures the

“If somebody comes in and just does it for you, you miss out”: A beginner shares what his first garden taught him.If there were a manual on making your first garden, Chapter 1 would presumably recommend that beginners identify a piece of level ground where they can carve out a not-too-big bed or build a

There are some important things to know about dealing with stressed plants. For starters, don’t prune them — and don’t fertilize, either.Maybe some of this sounds familiar: Spring makes an extra-early start, in a month that not so many years ago felt more like it was part of winter. Then, when the calendar says spring

The Met Cloisters isn’t just about medieval art. There’s also a garden that’s like a living history book — with ideas for today’s gardeners.Carly Still had been working as a gardener in the Hudson Valley when she decided to move to the city 13 years ago. She happened onto a part-time position at the Met

Setting a clear intention can improve your design decisions and plant choices — especially if you’re “a nursery grabber” who makes impulse buys at the garden center.Nicole Juday, Rob Cardillo and I were most of the way through taping an episode of my podcast when the conversation veered toward a group confessional.We had been talking

In her most recent book, “The Backyard Bird Chronicles,” the best-selling author revels in a newfound preoccupation with birds — and drawing.To them, she isn’t a best-selling novelist, but simply “the flightless creature” — and, most important, a reliable source of food.They would not know her at all, nor she them, if not for the

This botanic garden is determined to bring back the American chestnut tree and heirloom apples that taste like those grown 500 years ago. It won’t be easy.“Explore what’s in bloom now,” exclaims a banner on the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill’s website. And, indeed, there is much to see.The dramatic property in Boylston,

The world-famous New York City gardens offer a master class in how to grow and maintain a naturalistic landscape. Here are a few takeaways.Be careful: The garden wants to have its own way, to blur the lines and refocus those pictures you planned so carefully and then planted.Anyone who has ever tried to create a