A Las Vegas Master Gardener shares tips and gardening news for early spring

A Las Vegas Master Gardener shares current tips and news

BY LAUREN SPRINGER / Masonville, Colorado, Zone 5
PLANTS between dry-laid paving stones are nothing new in European gardens. Nature takes her cue, and presto—the romantic, tufty, fuzzy walkways of “neglected” gardens. In England, a few …

BY LAUREN SPRINGER / Masonville, Colorado, Zone 5
In England, gardening has been raised to an art form. It is a cultural expression, a national identity. Love, technique, and plantsmanship come together; gardens burst forth like …

BY RUSSELL STUDEBAKER/Tulsa, Oklahoma, Zone 6
Starting out from Mexico in 1541, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Coronado searched in vain for fabled gold on the plains of Texas and Kansas near Wichita. A few centuries later, …

These wildflowers are the first to bloom in the Rocky Mountains.

Sunshine Nursery, in Clinton, Oklahoma, has helped countless southern Great Plains gardeners find tough, beautiful plants that will thrive in their challenging conditions.

Creating an interesting suburban garden that reflects its native surroundings.

A test station in Wyoming helped determine hardy plants for the rugged west.

Who’s native and who is not carries weight in the ever-more-populated state of Colorado, and the least favorite arrivals seem to be Texans. Fortunately such attitudes are irrelevant in the garden. Ours is brimming with Texas plants that are much hardier than we might have guessed.

When it comes to most aspects of gardening I have endless patience. Waiting seven years for peony seedlings to bloom is perfectly acceptable. But the vegetable patch is another story. So what was once the lettuce and bean area is now overrun with several dozen strawberry plants.