The Whistling Gardener used to own a landscape contracting business where he kept landscape design simple using maybe only three to four different types of plants and planting them in large drifts. Today he has too many favorites for such simple landscapes.

According to weather guru Rufus La Lone of the Weather Café, July is shaping up to be a very pleasant month for gardening. Here are four things to do to make our gardens look absolutely fabulous.

Last week the Whistling Gardener gave you several tips on how to become a better gardener. As promised, this week he will enlighten you on how to water properly.

Good gardeners seem to have a sixth sense about when and how much water to apply to their gardens. The rest of us aren’t quite as gifted and need a cheat sheet.

What a crazy, back and forth spring this has been. It was the wettest on record, followed by the sunniest Memorial Day Weekend in 15 years and now we are into the unpredictable month of June when we can either get “June Gloom” or glorious sunshine. Whatever June brings us the gardening season is in full swing and there is work to do. 

I confess, growing up in southern California, I have always had an affection for begonias. My very first purchase, at the young age of eight, was from the county fair and was a rhizomatous variety that I grew for many years. While I have never met a begonia I didn’t like, the number of varieties to choose from is far too numerous to cover in a short column like this, so I am going to focus on three of my favorites that are garden worthy.

Oh, the eternal question… What should we get mom for her once a year special day? (Knowing that no matter what it is, it will never be commensurate to all the love and sacrifice she has given us.) Here are some ideas that might save you, if you are still in a quandary as to what to do.

One on my first plant addictions, that began years ago and will never be cured, is an affinity for all things Japanese maple.

I just don’t see how anyone can pass on a maple! Not only are they stunning architectural plant specimens to admire, but they always have outstanding fall color as well.