Attracting Birds to Your Backyard
No dried and hollowed out gourds here; we have taken bird feeders to the height of modernity. Imagine the resort your backyard will become when graced with a medley of colorful chirping birds. You can even turn an apartment rooftop, small patio, or front porch into a song-filled respite. You’ll be well on your way to this mini vacation with a few strategically placed bird feeders and some delicious seed for your feathered friends to feast on.

Halloween-inspired Horticultural Wonders
Flickr Photo by Contadini Halloween is almost here! Get your garden ready for its closeup. Plant some of these frightful members of the plant kingdom near the front door, or where they can be up-lit for maximum effect. This is the third in a series of ghoulish garden design blogs for Halloween. The first two included orange and black plants, and plants with spook-tacular names. If you want to tr

Blood-Curdling Plants for a Halloween-inspired Garden
Freaky Ferns photo by Eirik Newth Are you ready for a garden of un-earthly delights?    Something to scare away the ghouls and goblins lurking around the garden?  Plant these spooky plants for a garden that will scare even the bravest of trick or treaters.   Here are our favorite creepy plants.  What are yours?  Visit the aHa! Mode

How to Pick the Perfect Pumpkin & the Tools to Help
photos by Happy Mundane (from left: play it cool with blues or warm it up with oranges and yellows) What would the month of October be without the beautiful and iconic pumpkin? Whether you plan to harvest your own home-grown pumpkins, or visit your local patch, here are some tips to insure successful pumpkin plucking. When to Pick Pumpkins need to be picked befo

Win a Copy of Amy Stewart’s latest book, Wicked Plants
Are you dying to get your hands on a copy of Amy Stewart’s latest book, Wicked Plants: A Book of Botanical Atrocities?  Well, now you have the opportunity to win a signed “Happy Halloween” copy by the sassy, opinionated author herself (read her contributions to the Garden Rant blog).  If you share my two ob