At the Chicago Botanic Garden, orderly rows of test plants stand exposed to the elements year after year. Each specimen faces the same conditions that home gardeners encounter, yet only a fraction earn a recommendation. Program director Richard Hawke oversees the evaluations that help separate reliable performers from those that fall short. The Purpose Behind...

Stadium operators at Gillette have begun the careful work of laying natural grass over the existing artificial surface ahead of the 2026 World Cup. The change is temporary yet deliberate, driven by the requirements of international soccer rather than the preferences that have shaped NFL venues for years. Grounds crews and field managers now face...

Hundreds of new perennial varieties enter the market each year. Only extended, side-by-side testing determines which ones deliver consistent performance in Midwest conditions. The Chicago Botanic Garden runs one of the largest such programs in the country, focusing on plants suited to local soils and climate. Why Rigorous Testing Matters Gardeners face a steady stream...

The backyard barbecue is one of summer’s most reliable pleasures. Smoke in the air, something cold in your hand, friends and family gathered around. It’s a ritual most of us don’t think twice about, and that’s precisely where things go sideways environmentally. A single charcoal grilling session releases as much carbon dioxide as a car...

City living has a quiet way of making people want to grow things. Balconies, patios, and narrow terraces have become some of the most productive small-space gardens around, and fruit is increasingly at the heart of that shift. Many gardeners who first grew food after the COVID-19 pandemic are now branching out from vegetables into...

Most gardeners know the three-number code on a fertilizer bag. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium – the familiar N-P-K trio that dominates both product labels and gardening advice. It’s a useful shorthand, but it tells only part of the story. Beneath every productive garden lies a more complex chemistry. Plants draw on a wider cast of elements,...

Wild bumblebees are in serious trouble. Bumblebee populations have declined by roughly 46% across North America and 17% in Europe in terms of occupied habitat. The American bumblebee, once widespread, has seen its population drop by nearly 90% in the last two decades and has vanished completely from at least eight states. That’s a staggering...

There’s a stretch of road in Nevada that has a way of making you feel like you’ve driven off the edge of the known world. No billboards, no chain restaurants, just sagebrush, mountain passes, and a silence that’s surprisingly comfortable once you settle into it. The “Loneliest Road in America” is the section of U.S....

Most people worry about frost killing their trees in January. Far fewer think about what a relentless July sun can do to bark. Summer sunscald is quieter than a storm, less dramatic than a pest infestation, but it can silently kill the living tissue inside a trunk before you even notice a problem on the...

Dive beneath the surface along almost any stretch of California’s coast and you enter a different world entirely. Towering columns of kelp rise from the seafloor like the pillars of a sunlit cathedral, their fronds filtering the light into shifting green and gold. These are some of the most productive ecosystems on the planet –...

Gardeners who notice sudden clusters of aphids on new spring growth often reach for controls right away. A closer inspection, however, can reveal motionless, tan or golden-brown specimens that stand out from the rest. These are not fresh infestations but the visible result of tiny parasitic wasps already managing the problem from within. Aphids Multiply...

Gardeners often post images of thriving flower beds or neatly arranged vegetable plots to celebrate their efforts and connect with fellow enthusiasts. Those same posts, however, can quietly disclose details about property layouts, daily routines, and even precise locations when location data or background elements remain visible. The result is a practical trade-off between sharing...