The Garden

White fuzz covering my paper seed pots looked like a gardening disaster. But was it harmful mold or something more serious? Here's what I learned about fungus, airflow, and keeping seedlings healthy.

From peat to paper, seed-starting pots come in all kinds of materials. But how much energy and processing does it take to turn those materials into a pot? What if there's a simpler way?

I've tried just about every kind of seed-starting container—from plastic trays and peat pellets to soil blocks and homemade paper pots. Here's what I've learned about the real tradeoffs between cost, convenience, sustainability, space, labor, and what actually goes into the container.

I don't see what something is. I see what it could become. And that's what usually gets me into trouble.

Watering is the part of gardening no one talks about—but it often becomes the most demanding. In the heat of summer, even beautiful, well-planned gardens can start to feel overwhelming.

Fall is the true beginning of spring bloom in a Zone 7b cutting garden. Learn how biennials, cool-season annuals, self-sowers, bulbs, and winter vernalization work together to create abundant spring harvests with less spring labor and more seasonal succession.

Many gardens are designed to peak all at once. But cool-season flowers move differently through the year — unfolding slowly across fall, winter, and spring in layers of scent, texture, and anticipation. At FleurEverMore, the romance lies not in instant fullness, but in a garden that keeps changing just as you think you’ve fully seen it.

Feeling behind in a season already filled with blooming plants, I stepped back to reconsider timing, pressure, and what it means to grow a garden at its own pace rather than the pace of the marketplace.

A coastal garden inspired by the bay, gentle breezes, and a man who insists he is not sentimental. The Sentimental Seabreeze Garden reveals how flowers can express the feelings we sometimes never say aloud.

A cutting garden begins long before the first bloom. Discover how FleurEverMore’s first coastal cutting garden takes shape through thoughtful flower selection, color planning, and seasonal succession inspired by a romantic seaside vision.

Late winter can feel endless. Growing blue larkspur offers a way to move the garden forward — even while beds are still being built and spring feels just out of reach. Follow my first season growing larkspur from seed, from cold stratification and soil blocks to the lessons learned along the way.

Come take a walk with me through the Japanese Friendship Garden on a warm February morning in San Diego. We arrive early, before the crowds gather for Setsubun, just as the light begins to settle through the trees and spring quietly begins to show itself.

A behind-the-scenes look at FloatFest, exploring the craftsmanship, natural materials, and sustainability questions behind the temporary beauty of Rose Parade floats.