Elsa 
Florist cyclamen brightens a winter windowsill with swept-back blooms in red, pink, white and purple, set over silver-marked, heart-shaped leaves. Many people treat it as a short-lived gift plant. If you learn how to care for cyclamen, though, it can bloom for months and come back for another season. The basics are simple: keep it … Read more >>
Your garden doesn’t have to sit empty once the tomatoes die back. Cold-hardy winter vegetables like kale, spinach, carrots and leeks keep growing, or at least holding, through frost and short days. Many of them taste better after a cold snap. In this guide, I’ll walk you through 15 reliable crops, when to plant them, … Read more >>
The right christmas cactus soil is loose, airy, and slightly moist, not gritty desert sand and not heavy potting dirt. This plant comes from a very different home than the cacti on your windowsill, and its roots behave differently too. Get the mix right, and most other care problems get much easier. In this guide, … Read more >>
Cold weather doesn’t have to mean losing the geraniums, citrus and tropicals you spent all summer growing. With a little planning, most container plants can make it to spring and come back strong. Learning how to overwinter potted plants mostly comes down to timing, a good spot and lighter care. In this guide, I’ll walk … Read more >>
If your holiday cactus just finished blooming, you’re holding one of the easiest plants to multiply. You can propagate Christmas cactus from a few twisted-off stem pieces, and with a little patience, those pieces turn into full, flowering plants you can keep or share. The method is simple. Snap off a stem with 2 to … Read more >>
There’s something hopeful about tucking bulbs into cold soil in October. You do the work now, forget about it all winter, and then tulips and daffodils pop up just when you need color most. If you’ve wondered how to plant fall bulbs the right way, the process is simpler than it looks. In this guide, … Read more >>
Few houseplants are as cheerful in the dark months as a holiday cactus. Those bright pink, red, white or orange blooms show up just when the garden outside goes quiet. They’re easy to grow and can live for decades. There’s one catch. Three different plants get sold under the “holiday cactus” name, and most people … Read more >>
Cold frame gardening is one of the simplest ways to stretch your growing season on both ends. A cold frame is a low box with a clear lid that catches the sun’s warmth. That lets you grow salad greens long after frost and start spring crops weeks early. In this guide, I’ll explain what a … Read more >>
If you garden in the South or along the West Coast, you’ve probably noticed that tulips can be tricky. Your winters simply aren’t cold enough to wake them up properly. That’s where pre chilled tulip bulbs come in, and they make spring tulips possible even in mild climates. In this guide, I’ll walk you through … Read more >>
One cold night can wipe out weeks of work in the garden. Tomatoes go limp, basil turns black, and squash leaves collapse by morning. The good news is that a little planning and a few simple covers can save most of your plants. If you want to know how to protect plants from frost, this … Read more >>