Sugar beets are big white taproots you can grow at home for syrup, sugar, or livestock and wildlife forage. Learn soil, sowing, thinning, pests, and harvest.
Winter melon is a warm-season cucurbit needing full sun, a long hot season, and room to roam, rewarding the wait with waxy gourds that store for months.
Sky pencil holly grows up in a slim green column but splays under snow. Learn to plant, site, prune, and winter-protect this narrow evergreen in zones 6 to 9.
Grow feijoa, or pineapple guava, with this guide to hardiness zones, self-fertile cultivars and pollinators, planting, pruning, and harvesting ripe fruit.
Oxalis, the purple false shamrock, folds its clover-like leaves at night and grows from corms. Get the light, watering, dormancy, and dividing right.
Manure builds rich soil, but fresh manure burns roots and spreads weeds. Learn which types to use, how to age and compost it, and how to apply it safely.
Ajuga (bugleweed) carpets shade or sun fast with blue spring flowers and colorful evergreen leaves. Learn to plant, space, contain, and prevent crown rot.
Growing bilberry is harder than growing its blueberry cousin. Learn the cool climate, acidic moist soil, and shade this wild European berry needs to thrive.
Tuberose rewards patience with waxy white spikes and an intoxicating evening scent. Learn to plant, water, feed, store, and divide this tender summer bulb.
Grape hyacinth (Muscari) is a tough little spring bulb, not a true hyacinth. Learn fall planting, lawn naturalizing, dividing clumps, and spread control.
A poplar tree gives you fast shade and golden fall color, but plant it wrong and its roots cause trouble. Here is how to choose, plant, and care for one.
Night blooming jasmine fills warm evenings with intense sweet perfume, but its scent, toxicity, and vigor mean placement matters. Learn how to grow it well.