THERE IS NOTHING like the fantasy of full-blown, flowery gardens in the middle of winter to reassure us that the earth is again spinning toward springtime. What else but a flower show offers daffodils blooming beneath spires of June-flowering delphiniums or the luxury of inhaling lily perfume five months early?

Green roofs are becoming more mainstream. Here’s why.

A Seattle organization teaches kids to garden.

I’ve never understood how sustainability applies to home gardens. Is it more than using organic gardening principles?

Facing the reality of her climate, Stacie Crooks traded her lawn for a garden that needs little water, but overflows with flower, foliage, and fragrance.

"The borindas are coming on as a big deal," says Jackie Heinricher, proprietor of the wholesale bamboo nursery Boo-Shoot Gardens. If you can picture a 35- to 45-foot-tall, noninvasive timber bamboo with powder blue canes, you’ll have an idea why Borinda boliana will storm the market when it is released in 2006. . . .

IT WASN’T JUST the golden-rayed, chocolate-centered Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’ adorning the cover that drew me to this new book. I love that an entire book has been devoted to these common favorites. . . .