Shades of yellow in daffodils brighten spring days. (Photo credit Chuck Eirschele) Whether you call those pretty yellow flowers daffodils, narcissus or even jonquils, the flowers that pop up in spring, whose flower is made up of petals surrounding a cup, are worth the little effort to plant in autumn. Daffodil flowers soften the bones of bare [...]

Palo Verde trees are often used to shade a landscape in the low desert. (Photo credit Chris Eirschele) Plants that thrive in the desert benefit from the dappled shade of a Palo Verde. (Photo credit Chuck Eirschele) To the eyes of Midwestern gardener, Penstemon hugging an Agave might seem odd. But in the Southwest, a little bit of shade is a l [...]

When I was a little girl, each spring my Dad and I would race to see who would spot a robin first.  Even back in the 1960s, Wisconsin’s state bird was considered the first reliable sign that garden soil would be warming up soon. But it took moving to Ohio to experience this. Baby robins up close in my container garden space. My springti [...]