Annual plants comprise some of the jewels of the garden, used to add sparkle and interest when and where needed throughout the landscape and in containers. Annual plantings need not only be a garnish to the garden. Selecting plants used for seasonal plantings that remain attractive to both gardener and beneficial insects is becoming more and more popular today with the loss of native habitat and widespread use of pollen-less hybrid annuals. Consider the benefit of pollinator friendly annuals that contribute to a landscape more in harmony with nature.

In the Southwest, nearly nothing will make as dramatic a statement as one of the large mature agaves. Their imposing thick succulent leaves stare you down and dare one to come look closer. Virtually untapped as a means of winter green and winter interest, our native evergreen (or ever-blue, ever-gray) succulents can easily be incorporated into native, low water-use, Western cottage and rock garden designs and styles.

According to the just released global pollinator assessment, 16% of vertebrate pollinators (increasing to 30% for island species) and more than 40% of invertebrate pollinating species are threatened locally, across the globe. Home gardeners can most positively and directly affect the problem of pollinator shortages through a different gardening paradigm than is currently being practiced in home landscapes. Read about our main pollinators and how to install a pollinator-friendly garden.

This summer I visited a familiar garden I watched grow and change over my adult life. Like my brother-in-law, Gene Dees, who creates and tends it, the garden has grown and matured over the decades. This year I realized a new appreciation for his decades of imagination, creativity and skill. What was once a typical northern garden, Gene's landscape has been transformed into an eclectic garden of depth and whimsy with the power to draw one in and sustain one's curiosity and interest.

Monarch butterflies serve as an indicator of the health of pollinators and the American landscape. The eastern monarch population has recently been assessed as critically imperilled due to its rapid decline from nearly one billion down to 57 million at the beginning of 2015. The are ways to help insure that the migrating monarchs don't become just a pleasant memory.

Wind is an ever present condition gardeners know they have to live with. Amarillo had been name the windiest city in the United States, according to a Weather.com report last spring.This came as no surprise to Panhandle gardeners, who have long thought the area is excessively windy, and it is. Amarillo consistently is ranked in the top 10 of windiest city. How does the wind affect the garden, and is wind related to temperature and moisture patterns. I explore this topic comparing weather data from 1892 to 2013.

The facts and stats -- not excessively hot, nor bracingly cold. Windy, but not extreme. The highest temperature recorded was 104º on August 31st and the coldest temperature was 1º on February 6. Between these two bookends lies a lot of weather, most pleasant and some nasty. Here's a look back on the weather for 2014 and it's effect on the garden.

Last year I wrote about the Denver Botanical Gardens after visiting in July, 2013. I've seen the gardens in various years in May, June, July, August and September. Each visit is special and different from each other. Each year Denver Botanical Gardens features a display of art throughout the gardens. This summer, DBG is featuring the art glass creations of Dale Chihuly.

The Missouri Botanical Gardens – Shaw's Garden, as it's informally known – represents and exceeds the vision and mission started by Henry Shaw, a center for science and conservation, education and horticultural display. As all gardens, the Missouri Botanical Gardens evolved since Henry Shaw opened the gardens to the public in 1859, yet it has remained true to the purpose and style envisioned by Shaw 155 years ago.

Ah, spring. The season we look to with the greatest anticipation. If there are holes in your beds and borders, fill them with plants from Canyon's Edge Plants, our local grower and plant provider since before the beginning of this millennium. Canyon's Edge Plants has conveniently located to the square in Canyon, with greatly expanded hours, larger selection and bigger smiles than ever before.

Prior to the mid-sixteenth century, there were no records of tulips in western European literature or history. When Europeans finally took note of this unusual, variable and beautiful flower, word spread like wildfire, matched only by the wild and hot passions of the Dutch.

Tulips came to the new Dutch colony of New Amsterdam during the seventeenth century. Just as with European gardeners, the American gardener adapted to the tulip as it changed through the centuries under the Bulbmasters, the Dutch.