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Why I Ignore USDA Hardiness Zones
Plus, what’s "native" in a warming climate? Source: Environmental Protection Agency Dear Avant Gardener, We’re originally from Pennsylvania, where when it’s too cold to work outside, things go dormant...
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Firescaping to Protect Your Family from Wildfires
Discover your wildfire risk and protect your family with a safely wild yard. Cassy Aoyagi's fire resistant yard (photo: Lesly Hall) Dear Avant Gardener, About leaving fallen wood lying in place: Many...
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Spring Already? Native Flowers for Now
Light up your shade with these early-spring-flowering natives Left, reader’s exotic hellebores; right, native spring beauty (Claytonia virginica, photo: Adobe) Dear Avant Gardener, Right now, I’m...
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How to Design Outdoor Lights
And affordably make an actually awesome home and yard (that’s also safe for wildlife) How light is your sky? New Mexico, left, protects its night skies. The Catskills, where my subscriber lives, has...
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75 Fabulous Native Shrubs and Trees
These keystone species are as easy and beautiful as they are important. Good morning, Yardener!This newsletter is a short one, because I’ve been working so hard to get ready for tonight’s class of...
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Vibrant Native Plants for Shade
Incredible species for your woodland garden — plus, why and how to order plugs for spring planting. Asarum canadense, wild ginger (photo: stonepocket.com) Woohoo, Yardener! Time to order for spring...
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Gardening Through Grief
Plus, super sun-loving native plants to celebrate life In memory of my beloved daughter, Eva Evans. Dear Yardener,I had already ordered hundreds of plugs before the devastating call, but they haven’t...
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The Fast, Cheap Way to a Nice Enough Native Plant Landscape
Or, how we transformed Lila’s yard in a weekend Lila takes a break from work to see how well Zoe and I are following the design she created in Transform Your Yard. Dear Yardener,I headed back to...
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Cut Flower Arrangements With Native Plants
Celebrate the delicate beauty of your native plants in cut flower arrangements. I like the contrast of this winsome arrangement from my garden with the formal setting in my living room. (Photo: Heather...
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My 10 Most Popular Articles
With updates from the readers who submitted the questions Dear Yardener,Woohoo! In June, Dear Avant Gardener's articles received 7,000 clicks from Google Search. I’m excited about this milestone...
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Planting to Beat the Heat
Trees and shrubs are also an easy solution to reducing your lawn Flowering raspberry at Mt. Cuba Center (Photo: Tom Potterfield) Dear Avant Gardener, We finally pulled it together to buy and plant...
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Why Managing Gophers Wisely Matters
And how mountain lions — AKA pumas, cougars, and panthers – earn their poster child status Official Florida panther license plate (source: Florida Fish and Wildlife) Dear Avant Gardener, What do you...
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Free Plant Databases
Finding the perfect species for YOUR yard Easy, exquisite natives by season, clockwise from top left: blue flag iris (Iris genus), wild bergamot (Monarda), smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum), showy...
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Solutions to Flopping Wildflowers
Plus, now is the time to prep for fall seeding Smooth penstemon (also called foxglove beardtongue) and Ohio spiderwort grown from seed in Wisconsin Last week, we answered these and other questions from...
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Avoid Mosquito Bites in Your Yard
With my tips for your anti-mosquito wardrobe From left, my daughters Lila and Eva and me. Having lived in the Caribbean, where mosquitoes are the size of helicopters, our default summer outfits are...
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Fall Chores to Transform Your Yard
Plus, the surprising No. 1 component of successful planting After Pete mowed turf to one inch, I used a rake to pull out the thatch and loosen the soil for direct seeding (photo: Pete Tirrell). Dear...
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How to Create a Beautiful, Peaceful Garden Shed
And is this plant invasive? Here's how to find out. Dear Avant Gardener, With your encouragement, I toured a residential garden opened by the Garden Conservancy. The most memorable part was the shed...
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Design Shortcut for a Backyard Makeover: Yardenalities™ 2.0
Love a little formality? You can create any garden style with native plants. This construction photo of Magazzino doesn’t illustrate the structure of their native landscaping by Svendsen and...
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Solving the Side Yard Conundrum
With narrow, columnar trees for every yard Using my iPad to help envision my reader's yard with two columnar arborvitae on the left and three elderberries on the right Dear Avant Gardener, I bought my...
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Fun Playing with Privacy Hedge Options
Another way to envision yard transformation alternatives Dear Yardener,Is your Yardenality “Blooming Romantic” or “A Walk in the Park”? Based on our subscriber survey, chances are (60%) it’s one or the...
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