Table of contents for Winter 2026 in Garden Gate

At daybreak, there are hundreds of robins above the sidewalks: robins coming to town, leaving town, staying, and all of them are eating hackberry fruit. Gobbling, gorging on hackberries. This is a bumper year and birds know. Robin throats are busy with cheers and chirrs and yeeps and cucks, and there are cedar waxwings, too, whistling way up where the sun touches the tops of trees. I doubt birds can sound happier. Every winter morning starts with a happy hour. Not just for me—happy to be out of bed and onto the sidewalk—but for the birds. After a long, cold and hungry night, they are ready for a breakfast buffet. BIRD FOOD Here in my Nashville neighborhood, breakfast for robins is heavy on the hackberry but also Eastern red cedar,…

Impatiens Impatiens walleriana Brighten up your shade garden with these annual favorites. Available in a wide range of colors, undemanding and long-blooming, impatiens are a workhorse in any shade garden. WHERE THEY WORK BEST These tender plants are equally at home planted in the ground or in a pot. They’re often used to line walkways or encircle trees, as uniform plants will fill in a space quickly. And you can enjoy the blooms up close in containers next to a seating area. Impatiens don’t mind the summer heat, either, as long as they’re well shaded and well watered. HOW TO GROW IMPATIENS You’ll find plants blooms best if they get a couple of hours of morning sun but will wilt quickly if they get too hot. Impatiens need about 2…

Perennial Blooms Pink, white, yellow, red, burgundy, orange or lavender starburst-shaped blooms in early springLight Part to full shade Soil Moist, well-drainedPests None seriousSize 6 to 24 in. tall, 6 to 36 in. wideCold hardy USDA zones 4 to 9 When other perennials haven’t shown the slightest intention of emerging or are just peeking through the soil in spring, epimedium is up and at ’em. Its dainty starburst blooms create a cloud of color that draws you out to the garden even on chilly days. Once the flowers are done, there’s often a second flush of colorful spring leaves as plants begin to form a tidy mound of foliage for summer. Many varieties end the season with a brilliant fall show, and some are evergreen in mild winter areas. Easy…

CONTAINER SELECTION If you are going to leave a pot out all winter with potting mix inside, use container materials that can withstand freezing temperatures, such as plastic, wood, fiberglass or metal. Ceramic fired at high temps (labeled “frost-proof”) will be fine, but glazed ceramics and terra-cotta pots may crack. BOUGH BOUQUET Arrange a porch pot much like a floral bouquet. Start by poking evergreen branches into the potting mix to form the greenery base. Add twigs or logs for height. Create a focal point with a cluster of accents to draw your eye, then fill in gaps with colorful elements to unify the arrangement. Water it all in so the potting mix freezes the stems into place. POTTING PREP If the potting mix is packed with roots — or…

My “stone age” began in my childhood, when my dad would take our family on hikes to the creek behind our house. Each of us five kids “got” to pick out a flat cobblestone and carry it back home (with some complaining, of course). By the end of summer, we had a beautiful cobblestone path leading to our front door. They say childhood memories are strong and stay with you. That must be true, because in our garden, my husband Dennis and I have created cobble paths much like the one I helped make with my dad all those summers ago. My father is no longer with us, but his memory lives on. STONE AT HOME What you might not know—even if you read the column Dennis and I wrote…

Stepping into the garden and discovering that the plants you’ve lovingly nurtured are now looking ragged, or even stripped bare, is incredibly frustrating. Voracious insect pests can quickly unravel your hard work and shatter your garden dreams. Finding the culprit is the first step to getting your garden back on track. While many pests are widespread, I talked with experts from various regions to find out which ones were causing the most trouble in their areas and what you can do about them. One thing they all agreed on: Tackling pest problems with integrated pest management (IPM) is easier on the environment and helps prevent pesticide resistance. WHAT IS IPM? This decision-making approach for pest control starts with low-environmental-impact strategies first, then steps up the strength of the response if…

Q After a storm I had several broken branches removed from a shade tree. The crew wanted to use a pruning seal, but I stopped them. Was I wrong? Louis Eldridge, MD A No, you were right. Pruning seals, either aerosol or brush on, are petroleum based. They damage the cambium layer and prevent the cut from quickly callousing over. These products also prevent oxygen from getting to the wound and seal in moisture. If the wound can’t breathe and stays moist, bacteria and fungus grow. Eventually the heartwood begins to rot, weakening the tree. Q My peace lily (Spathiphyllum spp.) looks healthy, but as the flowers form, they turn brown and die. Why? Janet Jones, ID A If the foliage is healthy, and you’re not over- or under-watering, here…

JoAnne found a simple way to keep delicate stems from flopping over: She cuts the bottom off a clear disposable plastic cup, then makes a slit up the side and slips it around the plant’s stem. It’s a great way to provide a house plant, newly planted perennial or new cutting extra support as it grows. — JoAnne Rando-Moon, UT Make your own indoor water garden Tingshu Hu, MA Pennywort (Hydrocotyle umbellata) loves water, so Tingshu started growing this house plant in glasses, vases and bowls like the one below—no drainage holes needed! The plants thrive in these conditions, putting out steady new growth. A layer of clay pebbles on top helps keep plants upright, and care is easy—just add water up to the pebbles every week or so.…

While there are some plants that shine in a certain climate and won’t grow anywhere else, many work well across different regions, so you don’t need to feel limited in your choices. But even if a plant can be grown almost anywhere in North America, you may need to adapt a little for your location. If it’s a tender perennial and you live in a colder climate, you’ll either need to treat it like an annual or grow it in a container that can be moved indoors. And if you live in a warmer area, plants will most likely bloom earlier and may require more shade and water than they would in a garden in a more temperate climate. Here’s a look at some combinations of tried-and-true plants and some…

While it’s a bit soon to start planting, this time of year is great for dreaming and making plans for the upcoming season. Everyone has tried-and-true favorites, but leaving space for a few new plants is always a good idea—you might just find one that performs even better than your old standbys. We’ve researched the new plant offerings for 2026 and have found this year’s top picks are a flowery bunch in a wide range of colors, shapes and sizes. Even better, many of them are deer resistant! You’ll notice that the trend in compact varieties hasn’t slowed down, so whether you have a small garden or are running out of room in a big border, these smaller versions of shrubs and perennials will expand your plant palette. Let’s take…

This is the plant for you if you’re looking for something unusual for your shade garden. Carolina pink is native to the southeastern United States, but it is becoming increasingly rare in the wild. Luckily, it’s starting to take off as a garden plant, and a striking one at that. RED, YELLOW AND GORGEOUS At 12 to 24 inches tall, Carolina pink is perfect in the middle of the border. Red is an unusual color for shade perennials anyway, and these trumpet-shaped beauties with the yellow centers would draw attention anywhere. The bold-textured foliage remains clean and fresh through the growing season, so the clumps help add some structure to your garden even when plants aren’t blooming. Take a look at “Shady Show-Off,” below, to see how well it works…

□ Prune Your Roses Late winter is an ideal time to prune most roses, while the plants are dormant. Perfect timing really depends on the type of roses you’re growing and your hardiness zone, so do your homework if you’re not sure. Onceblooming roses should be pruned after they bloom in the spring, for instance. Repeat-blooming roses (many hybrid teas and floribundas) bloom on new growth in that season. Prune these in late winter while they’re still dormant, or just before they break dormancy. □ Encourage Birds More than 100 bird species supplement their natural diets with foods offered at feeders. They often rely most heavily on feeders in winter, when food is scarce. Selecting a specific feeder design and a variety of foods can set the table for a greater…