Author Archives: Meghan Shinn

Best Plants for Pollinators, Listed by Region

August 22, 2017 | Meghan Shinn | 0

Seeking a few good plants for pollinators in your area? Here’s what experts recommend as a place to start. This list was compiled for Horticulture by garden writer Paige Embry.

Chokecherry Makes a Fine Hedge in Sun or Shade

August 20, 2017 | Meghan Shinn | 0

Virtues: Chokecherry is a great wildlife shrub/tree, providing food for the larvae of many species of butterflies and moths, and berries for birds and humans (the tart berries can be made into jams and jellies). It takes sun or shade …

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Upright Shade Plants for the Shade Garden

August 15, 2017 | Meghan Shinn | 0

If your shade garden includes a lot of hostas, heucheras, azaleas, Siberian bugloss, lungwort and astrantia, as many shade gardens do, you may notice that it has an overload of mounded shapes. Adding several upright shade plants among your mounding …

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Actaea Racemosa Is an Exciting Shade Garden Plant

August 15, 2017 | Meghan Shinn | 0

Virtues: Actaea racemosa is a must-have shade-garden plant because it blooms in mid- to late summer, lighting up the shade with its dramatic spikes of white flowers. It also attracts butterflies and it is typically not bothered by deer and …

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Garden Makeover: Tips for Editing an Existing Garden

August 8, 2017 | Meghan Shinn | 0

This summer are you looking around your garden and finding that it needs a change? There are many reasons why a garden might need minor editing or a complete overhaul. Find them here plus tips and strategies for changing up …

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Liatris Ligulistylis Supports Monarch Butterflies

August 8, 2017 | Meghan Shinn | 0

Virtues: Liatris ligulistylis, or meadow blazing star, is a perennial plant that blooms in late summer and autumn. Its bright purple flowers provide food for butterflies, hummingbirds and pollinating insects, so much so that it has earned the nickname “the …

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Garden Design Tips: Wake Up a Sleepy Green Garden

August 1, 2017 | Meghan Shinn | 0

As summer starts to roll toward fall, you may notice parts (or all!) of your garden looking awash in green foliage and therefore a bit boring.

Agastache Mango Tango Checks All the Boxes

August 1, 2017 | Meghan Shinn | 0

Virtues: Agastache Mango Tango has many things gardeners look for in a perennial for late summer: It blooms for a long time (midsummer to fall), it attracts hummingbirds and butterflies, it tolerates drought and heat and it resists deer and …

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Gaura Karalee Petite Pink Is a Social Butterfly

July 25, 2017 | Meghan Shinn | 0

Virtues: Karalee Petite Pink gaura, or wand flower, is a social butterfly in the garden for a few reasons. Its pink flowers look like butterflies, for one thing. Another reason is its habit; with its low foliage and taller wands …

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An Easy Test for Your Container Soil

July 25, 2017 | Meghan Shinn | 0

You can do your best to provide just the right amount and frequency of watering in your container garden, but your potting mix could be working against you. The right mix will make container gardening so much easier! Take a …

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Bush Honeysuckle Handles Dry Shade

July 18, 2017 | Meghan Shinn | 1

Virtues: Bush honeysuckle is a summer-blooming shrub that grows easily in dry, shaded areas such as underneath trees. Its summer flowers provide food for bumblebees and other pollinators.