Articles by Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

I don’t know about you, but I live for fall — with its cool mornings, crisp air and quiet evenings. Plus, at least one-third of my plants bloom after August, and the trees, shrubs, grasses and perennial flowers bring a rainbow of colors to the garden …

Many issues can affect the health of your native plants. These include the local climate and even the genetics of the plant itself, but there are a few more general or common issues to explore. Ultimately, even if a plant dies or you need to remove it…

You don’t need to live in the wide, open expanse of the country to have a wildflower garden at home. From choosing resilient plants to layering your plantings, you can echo the feeling of wildness in an attractive, tidy city garden. The following stra…

Pasque flower blooms the first week of every April, so it should not have been a surprise when I stumbled upon it while clearing away some of last year’s brown detritus from the garden. Why it’s always a surprise is beyond me, but that’s the case ever…

As I’ve aged, it’s become harder to slow down. The forward push of everything is relentless, and the force on my back gets stronger every year. Watching my son grow up, seeing my parents enter their 70s, even witnessing plants come and go in the garde…

Fall is my favorite time to start a garden. The temperatures are cooler and rain is more likely, helping plants settle in with less stress. In addition, soil temperatures usually remain warm for a while, which also helps plants get established and dev…

There was a time in my gardening life when autumn was about despair and resignation. The glory of flowers and wildlife sprinkling color through my beds was shattered, then worn away, and all I was left with was decay that needed to be cleaned up. I di…

I don’t know about you, but I live for fall — with its cool mornings, crisp air and quiet evenings. Plus, at least one-third of my plants bloom after August, and the trees, shrubs, grasses and perennial flowers bring a rainbow of colors to the garden …

Late summer is the perfect time to take stock and watch your landscape, as some plants will already begin turning or thinning out. In addition, if you want to do some editing, early to mid fall is probably the very best time to be planting — it’s much…

Like some gardeners, I’m too hard on myself. And I’m especially hard on myself when I don’t see enough flowers in the early summer shoulder season. After the spring flush, it’s hard to accept that nature ebbs and flows — that it almost needs to — and …