Adored and spurned by gardeners, lily of the valley (Convallaria spp.) is the most familiar member of the family that bears its name (Convallariaceae). . . . Lily of the valley’s relations—Solomon’s plume and mayflower (Maianthemum spp.) and a host of others, including Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum spp.)—are less storied but no less garden worthy. . . .

"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. . . .

After seven Job-like years of gardening, a group of tried-and-true plants remained steadfast through deluge, drought, wind, hail, record-breaking heat, and subzero winters. These became signature plants of the garden—I planted more, eager for dependable beauty. . . .

I have seen the future of siberian irises, and it’s in Carlisle, Massachusetts. . . .

WHEN WE TALK ABOUT SPECIES CLEMATIS, (or clematis species, for they are the same thing) in a gardening context, we mean those clematis with usually quite tiny flowers, most of which are species, though some are crosses resembling species. . . .

A SOFT PATCH OF LAWN provides a needed place for families and pets to sit and play as well as an agreeable foil to colorful borders. If your old lawn is worn and weedy, or you are putting in a new lawn, autumn is a perfect time of year to sow grass seed. . . .

Maybe it’s the heat, but Allen Bush can’t imagine a better place to garden than Louisville, Kentucky. Here he reminds us that the hottest days of summer are for simple tasks.

With its deep green, undivided pinnae (a pinna is the primary division or "leaflet" of a frond), Christmas fern falls toward the bold end of the fern spectrum . . .

It’s easy sometimes to take a good plant for granted. I don’t think I fully appreciated the ornamental potential of smooth hydrangea until I saw it in Helen Dillon’s superb garden in Dublin, Ireland . . .