Our book review of Private Paradise: Contemporary American Gardens (Monacelli). This new book featuring 41 residences from around the country and is by Charlotte M. Frieze, the longtime garden editor for the now-defunct House & Garden magazine.
The American chestnut tree has dominated Eastern forests for centuries, but it almost disappeared when a foreign blight was introduced in 1904. Scientists have been trying to breed blight-resistant trees and recently planted several at the New York Botanical Garden, just steps from the blight's origins over one hundred years ago.
If you're interested in how to encourage native bee species to your backyard, here's our list of 4 native bees that are good for your garden and 3 stylish bee houses to help encourage orchard mason bees to visit and pollinate your plants.
Among the valleys and foothills in Israel's Negev desert is a plant that can water itself, in a manner of speaking. The desert rhubarb (Rheum palaestinum) is the only known desert-dwelling species to have evolved a self-irrigating mechanism.
