Check out all our blog posts on Outdoor gardening.
I killed my first oyster plant with kindness. It sat on a bookshelf in my Zone 6 living room, those purple-and-green striped leaves looking gorgeous, and I watered it every Sunday morning like clockwork because that’s what I did with every other houseplant on the shelf. By March the lower leaves were mushy at the base, the … Read more >>
Most of the time, a few yellow lotus leaves are just old pads wearing out, and the plant is fine. When lotus leaves turn yellow, the most common causes are normal dieback of old floating leaves, hunger from too little fertilizer in midsummer, hot or low water, too little sun, and the natural slide into … Read more >>
Brown or black lotus leaves almost always point to something in the plant’s surroundings: hot sun on young leaves, a dropping water level, fertilizer placed too close to the tuber, cold nights, or plain old age. When you see lotus leaves turning brown, check the pattern first: crispy edges mean heat or dry pots, spreading … Read more >>
A lotus that suddenly looks half-dead is a scary sight, especially after you’ve waited weeks for those big leaves to show up. The good news is that the part of the plant that matters most, the tuber, often stays alive long after the leaves look terrible. Most of the time, a dying lotus plant has … Read more >>
The first year I built a 4×4 raised bed, I planted it like a checkerboard with no plan at all. Broccoli sat next to tomatoes, onions crowded my beans, and by mid-July the whole thing looked like a traffic jam of leaves. Cabbage worms found the brassicas in about a week, and my basil never … Read more >>
Few houseplant problems make my stomach drop faster than finding a black patch on a favorite jade plant stem. I’ve seen it happen after a wet winter week near a chilly window, and I’ve also caught it early on a jade that sat in a decorative pot holding leftover water. A black stem does not … Read more >>
True lotus plants (Nelumbo) are not listed as toxic to cats by the ASPCA, and people in many parts of the world eat their roots and seeds, so a nibble on a lotus leaf is not a poisoning emergency. Your cat can still throw up after chewing a big piece, because any plant material can … Read more >>
A jade plant can look perfectly fine one week, then suddenly seem darker, heavier, and a little less cheerful the next. I have seen this happen with jade plants on bright kitchen windowsills, covered patios, and sunny decks in Zones 9–11. The leaves shift from a soft medium green to a rich, deep green, and … Read more >>
A few years back, I brought home a full, feathery areca palm to soften the corner beside my kitchen window. It looked perfect until I caught my cat batting at the lower fronds and my rabbit sniffing the fallen leaf tips. That is the moment every pet-owning plant lover knows well: the plant looks lovely, … Read more >>
I still remember the first cucumber patch I planted in cool, heavy spring soil. The vines sat there for weeks, looking healthy enough but refusing to grow. Once the weather finally warmed up, weeds exploded around them, and every cucumber seemed to hide under damp leaves. Growing cucumbers on black plastic changed that routine in … Read more >>
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