Mickey Gast

At any given moment, I’m ready to shout from the rooftops all the ways in which gardening is helping me take care of my mental health. In addition to teaching …

Most of the ornamental plants that I’m growing in my backyard are decidedly not native to the Northern Hemisphere where I garden. My camellias are native to Asia, as are …

As I’m writing this article, closely on the heels of the spring equinox, I’m looking out the window at my garden just starting to wake up from its slumber. One …

I cherish fleeting moments in the garden, but I sometimes think that not much else seems as fleeting as the blooming and fading of camellia flowers. After months and months …

After months of impatiently glaring at the garden (as if it was its fault the weather was miserable) and having my nose stuck to the window in anticipation of spring, …

Between you and me, I was itching to start my dahlias as soon as I hit publish on this article on how to overwinter them. But as I’m writing this, …

It seems like only yesterday I was writing an article on how to prepare your roses for the winter months. While at the same time, it also seems like this …

If I had read clematis care advice before buying a single clematis plant, I would have surely abandoned the purchase altogether. While I am generally pretty savvy about deciphering plant …

“I can totally start these flowers from seed,” I mumble under my breath as I weave my way around stands upon stands of starter plants at the gardening center on …

I’m writing this article in early February and the countdown to spring is on. I can almost smell the change of seasons in the air. The days are getting noticeably …

As a gardener, I’m always on the lookout for more plants. Colorful plants. Boisterous plants. Plants that make you go WOW! But when it comes to hydrangeas, I’m partial to …

As the saying goes, two things in life are certain, though allow me to choose not to list them here. But as a gardener, I’d like to petition to add …

Tell me if this story sounds familiar. You love perennials, so you court them assiduously. In return, they reward your efforts with an abundance of beautiful flowers.  You think your …

Back when I first started gardening and had no idea what a biennial plant meant, I was foolish enough to trust the information on the garden center plant tags without …

My stubborn attempt to overfill my garden with more plants on a shoestring budget continues throughout the rest of fall. Or at least for as long as the weather allows …

With the garden slowing down in anticipation of the winter months and my bulbs firmly in the ground waiting for spring, I’m now turning my attention to propagating ornamental plants …

What if I told you that you could plant something in your garden that’s worth its weight in gold? No, I haven’t yet found the seeds of the mythical money …

The great green wall project (the one I mentioned in this post) continues in my yard. In a nutshell, I’m trying to create a plant divider – between our property …

If you’ve ever thought that cooking and gardening have a few things in common – mainly using “ingredients” and following a “recipe” to create something out of nothing – you’re …

Nowadays, there are so many things we take for granted that make our lives as gardeners easier, compared to even half a decade ago; things such as being able to …

We are elbow-deep in the bulb-planting season and my friends are starting to doubt my honesty when I say “sorry, I can’t this weekend; I’m planting bulbs.” But that’s October …

The thrill I get when browsing online bulb catalogs is the closest feeling I’ll ever get to that of stepping into a candy shop when I was a child. Then, …

An unexpectedly popular plant care series that we ran on Blooming Backyard was the one covering reasons why beloved plants don’t bloom. I say “unexpectedly” not because our readers were …

When I first got the gardening bug, I used to despair over the end of the warm summer season. Fall, in spite of its color and richness, brought a bittersweet …