Savvy Gardening

Growing cucamelons in a garden: Expert tips for success

What’s the most popular crop in our vegetable garden? Easy! It’s cucamelon. The fruits, which look exactly like tiny watermelons, rarely make it into the kitchen; instead, we gobble them up by the handful, straight from the vines. The plant is a member of the cucumber family, and these inch-long fruits do have a cucumber-like flavor with a pleasing citrus tang. Growing cucamelons in garden beds and containers is an easy way to enjoy this unusual vegetable.

Dwarf flowering shrubs for small gardens and landscapes

Written by Jessica Walliser

Gardens in suburbia seem to be shrinking. As houses grow bigger, yards grow smaller and there’s less and less room to garden. Combine that limited space with shrinking free time and narrowing gardening budgets, and you have the perfect recipe for an overgrown landscape. Smaller gardens quickly become overrun by full-size shrubs when the homeowner doesn’t have the time to be constantly pruning them to a suitable size. Thankfully, plant breeders are coming to the rescue by selecting and developing many new varieties of dwarf flowering shrubs for small gardens that stay naturally petite without a lot of fuss.
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Tips for pruning lilacs

Written by Tara Nolan

A few years ago, when I went to grab the hose, I noticed a ton of branches had been torn off my lilac bush. I accused my poor husband of getting overzealous with the pruners. However, I soon discovered that the hack job was the work of a mother squirrel that was meticulously building her nest. She’d rip off a branch or two and then run to my chimney (that’s a whole other story). I was worried about the lilac coming back the following spring, but it has been flourishing. Lilac is among my favourite spring scents—when I work outside on my deck, I take deep breaths when they’re in bloom, as they sway in the breeze. When those fragrant blooms fade, it’s a good time for pruning lilacs. So I thought I’d share a few tips!

Shrubs for pollinators: 5 bloom-filled choices for bees and butterflies

Written by Jessica Walliser

Pollinator gardening is powerful stuff. While natural pollinator habitat diminishes and the effects of pesticide exposure take their toll on many species of bees and butterflies, backyard gardeners are making a positive difference in the lives of these insects. Pollinator gardens, both large and small, are collectively helping to fill the void by providing nectar forage, caterpillar food, and nesting and overwintering habitat for a broad diversity of pollinating insects. Today, we’ve teamed up with First Editions® Plants to tell you about five beautiful flowering shrubs for pollinators. These pollinator-friendly shrubs are sure to add even more pollinator power to your yard and garden.
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Shade-loving perennial flowers: 15 beautiful choices

Written by Jessica Walliser

While shade may feel like a limiting factor when it comes to colorful garden plants, it simply isn’t. Yes, your plant palette may not be quite as full as it is in a sunny garden, but there are scores of excellent shade-loving perennial flowers that produce bright blooms all season long. Shade gardeners are often told they need to focus on variegated or colorful foliage plants if they really want to have a lot of color in their gardens. But, while having various textures and hues of foliage can certainly add a lot of pizzazz to a shady garden, foliage plants aren’t the only option. Case in point: the 15 blooming shade perennials featured below.
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Vegepods: Easy raised bed gardens where anyone can grow edibles

Written by Niki Jabbour

Whether you’re growing food, flowers, or (like me!) a mixture of both, Vegepods are an easy and low maintenance way to garden. I’ve been gardening in a Vegepod for over a year and it’s become my miniature food factory, conveniently located just outside my kitchen door. Self-watering, raised bed planters like Vegepods allow you to grow a lot of food in a small space, weed-free, and with minimal pest or disease damage. To share more of the benefits of gardening in a raised bed planter, we’ve teamed up with Lee Valley, a go-to store for American and Canadian gardeners.
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