Please prune the shrubs, deer

Although unconcerned with promoting plant health or aesthetics, in at least one situation deer can actually help us prune well.

Please prune the shrubs, deer

Although unconcerned with promoting plant health or aesthetics, in at least one situation deer can actually help us prune well.

Think you've got a big tree? Check the register.

In a Washington, D.C. office, the American Forests organization keeps the National Register of Big Trees.

Patents and trademarks: My plants broke the law

To be offered patent protection, a seed variety must not have been sold in the U.S. for longer than a year, or elsewhere for longer than four years. The variety must also reproduce reliably and be distinct.

Grafted veggies are next season's celebrity seeds

In many of the seed catalogs arriving soon in mailboxes, the headliners will be grafted vegetables, in which one or more different varieties grow from a single rootstock. Tomatoes seem to be the grafted transplants most frequently offered, providing greater disease tolerance, bigger harvests…

Some trees put a natural glow on the season

Some artificial Christmas trees glow cheerily even without lights: The branches themselves softly glow, fading on and off in different colors at the tips. Could you get the same effect from a real tree?

New flower varieties excel at overwintering

"Overwintering" plants usually means deadheading, dividing, pruning, mulching or bringing them indoors to protect them from the cold. Increasingly, though, varieties are being introduced that flower into winter and rebound in spring. They need no special care and deliver more blooms for the buck.