Organic Gardening News

Stanley Tucci recently shared a fascinating lesson in growing tomatoes from the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. While filming his series Tucci in Italy, he visited Ercolano (Herculaneum) in Italy’s Campania region to explore the heirloom tomatoes grown in its volcanic soil. In an Instagram post, the actor praised the “really special tomatoes that grow in the shadow of Vesuvius,” calling them the best he had ever tasted. The crew was also seen enjoying the tomatoes and commenting on their sweetness.

There may be more to their exceptional flavor than the tomato varieties themselves. The volcanic soils around Vesuvius, formed from layers of ash and weathered rock, can be rich in minerals while remaining loose and free-draining – two qualities that support strong, healthy plant growth. And it’s not just tomatoes that benefit. The region is also famed for its citrus fruits, olives, grapes, apricots, grains, and vegetables, including different types of root vegetables.

While you may not be able to recreate the conditions of an Italian volcano in your backyard, there are ways to capture some of the benefits of volcanic soil and improve your own growing conditions. I spoke to soil and crop experts to find out whether horticultural volcanic rock dust or similar amendments can help at home, and how to use them safely. Here is what gardeners should know before adding them to vegetable beds or potted citrus trees.

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What Makes Volcanic Soil So Special?

Soils near volcanoes are not exactly the same as the soil in your backyard. Around Mount Vesuvius, two features are particularly important for growing flavorful produce: the minerals supplied by volcanic ash and weathered rock, and the soil’s ability to drain excess water.

Gardeners can replicate part of this mineral-rich environment by adding a horticultural volcanic mineral amendment to their soil, like this Down to Earth All Natural Fertilizers Organic Azomite Minerals Powder, available from Amazon. It comes as a fine powder that you simply mix into soil or potting mix.

Lindsey Boney, Grocery Manager and Produce Expert at Windmill Farms Market, explains why volcanic soil is prized for its drainage properties. “One aspect of volcanic soil that many people forget is that it does not hold excessive water. As a result, this naturally avoids dilution, which helps with richer flavor. That’s why the tomatoes often grown in this area of Vesuvius have been known for their unique sweetness, acidity, and richness ever since.”

Tomatoes need consistent moisture, but excess water can leave fruit tasting less concentrated. In contrast, well-drained soil can help prevent waterlogging and may support a stronger concentration of sugars and flavor compounds as the fruit ripens.

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Steve Corcoran, gardening expert and co-founder of Lawn Love, points to volcanic soil's nutrient content. “Volcanic soil is packed with nutrients that really help tomatoes to thrive, like potassium and phosphorus.”

Potassium and phosphorus are both commonly found in quality tomato fertilizers, although the nutrients in volcanic soil are not necessarily available to plants in the same amounts. The same combination of mineral content and good drainage may also benefit fall root crops, which need loose soil to develop properly, and citrus trees, which are particularly sensitive to waterlogged roots. A volcanic amendment can support good soil conditions, but it should not replace compost, organic matter, or a balanced feed where those are needed.

What to Add to Your Soil for Vesuvius-Inspired Growing

Down to Earth All Natural Fertilizers Organic Azomite Minerals Powder

This volcanic mineral powder contains more than 70 naturally occurring elements in an ultra-fine formula that’s easy to mix into soil, compost, or fertilizer for small gardens and containers.

Earthcore Pure Icelandic Potting Pumice

This pure Icelandic pumice helps recreate Vesuvius-like growing conditions by improving drainage and aeration while retaining essential nutrients.

Jobe’s Organics Granular Garden Fertilizer for Vegetable Gardens and Tomato Plants

This quality NPK fertilizer is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These match the nutrients that are naturally occurring at high levels in the soil near Mount Vesuvius.

How to Recreate Volcanic Growing Conditions at Home

The best way to grow a delicious Vesuvius-inspired crop of tomatoes is to focus on the conditions in which the plants grow. You cannot recreate Mount Vesuvius in your backyard, but you can replicate some of the features associated with its growing environment.

Start with soil testing to check the pH and nutrient levels in your garden. The MySoil test kit, available on Amazon, is a great all-round test kit (and was recently reviewed by Content Editor Kathleen). Tomatoes and many other crops need fertile, well-drained soil, plenty of full sun, and consistent moisture without becoming waterlogged. If your soil is heavy or depleted, improve it with organic matter and a suitable horticultural volcanic rock dust or mineral amendment, following the product’s instructions carefully.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Mediterranean climate around Vesuvius also provides abundant sunshine and relatively dry conditions, while the volcanic soil allows excess water to drain away. Together, these conditions can help fruits and vegetables develop a more concentrated flavor. However, this does not mean allowing plants to become severely drought-stressed.

To grow your own tomatoes like the ones Tucci was enjoying, Lindsey recommends tapering off watering. “When fruit begins to ripen, reduce water gradually while avoiding severe plant stress. It produces more sugars and flavor compounds.”

However, fall root crops still need even moisture while they develop, and citrus trees need good drainage without being allowed to dry out completely.

For all of these crops, the most useful lessons from Vesuvius are to provide plenty of light, avoid waterlogged soil, and supply nutrients based on what a soil test shows they actually need.

One small scoop goes into every fall planting hole I dig – and synthetic fertilizer has nothing to do with it. What is inside that little scoop is alive and can give key garden plants a genuine boost. And to do its miraculous job, it just needs to make direct contact with a plant’s roots while the fall soil is still cozy and warm…

Most traditional fall planting advice will walk you through the basics of digging the hole. Dig it twice as wide as the rootball, keep it no deeper than the original nursery pot, and backfill with native soil. And that’s all fine, but there’s another special element to fall planting that can give a special boost. Before any new shrub or perennial drops into the ground at my place, its roots receive a light dusting of mycorrhizal fungi first. Say what, I hear you ask? Well, I spend a lot of time with mushroom cultures in the lab, so call me biased. But you don’t need a microbiology degree to harness the magic of these special fungi in your backyard.

Beneficial mycorrhizal fungi are not fertilizers. They are living partners that form a lifelong underground network with host plant roots. Fall gives that partnership one of its best starts of the year. However, a couple of details frequently get overlooked by home gardeners: exactly where the fungi must be applied, and how warm the soil needs to be when you introduce it. Getting this right transforms your late-season planting success. Here’s how this simple root dusting can supercharge your fall shrubs and perennials.

Understanding Mycorrhizal Fungi

At its core, mycorrhiza is a mutually beneficial partnership between a soil fungus and a living plant root. The fungus sends out millions of microscopic, thread-like filaments called hyphae. These fine threads act as an extension of the plant's own root system, mining the surrounding soil for locked-up moisture and essential minerals. These minerals include phosphorus, which powers root growth and vibrant blooms. In return, the host plant pays the fungus in sugars created through photosynthesis.

(Image credit: Angela van Oeffelen / Getty Images)

Retail inoculants usually contain 2 main types of fungi: endo (which penetrates inside the root cells of soft-stemmed perennials, roses, fruit trees, and vegetables) and ecto (which forms a protective outer sheath around the roots of woody trees like oaks, pines, birches, and beeches). Unlike edible mushrooms, which can grow happily on decaying wood or sterilized grain, these specialized garden fungi cannot survive or multiply without living host roots. That is why buying fresh, high-quality inoculants matters so much when you are setting out your late-season plants.

How to Apply Mycorrhizal Fungi

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On its own, a fungal spore can only germinate and grow a tiny distance through the dirt before it starves. If it fails to find a living root to attach to within a few days, it dies. This is why you shouldn’t stir your fungal inoculant into a wheelbarrow of backfill soil or mix it loosely into a garden bed. Spreading a scoop throughout pounds of surrounding dirt guarantees that most of the spores end up buried inches away from the rootball, where they will rot unused before roots ever reach them. And fall doesn't leave many warm weeks for new roots to grow out and find it.

You need to add your mycorrhizal fungi directly against the plant's root surface. Dust the outside of the rootball where white root tips are visible, and drop a concentrated pinch right into the bottom of the planting hole before lowering the plant in. Using a beginner-friendly option like Ultrafine Endo/Ecto Power from Amazon, you’ll find it dusts on almost like flour. However, damp roots hold the powder better. So make sure the roots are damp first. Labels rarely require more than a light, even dusting, and a little goes a long way, so a small bag copes with dozens of fall plantings.

Why Fall Gives Fungi a Headstart

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While perennials and shrubs wind down their top leafy growth as fall progresses, underground root growth continues vigorously, as long as soil temperatures stay above roughly 40°F (4°C). Soil retains summer heat for weeks after the air cools down, creating ideal subterranean conditions for biological activity. Introducing fungi in fall gives the microscopic network all winter to weave into the root system. Mycorrhizal plants tend to ride out drought a little better. So, when spring arrives, the plant emerges with an expanded root network ready to get to work.

Colonization speed relies on soil warmth. Active fungal colonization slows down once soil temperatures drop below 59°F (15°C). While cold soil encourages slow root elongation, it delays the speed at which the fungal partnership sets up shop. In milder regions, planting can extend into November, but late-season gardeners should check soil warmth first. Use a good diagnostic tool, such as the Stainless Steel 5in Compost Thermometer and Soil Temperature Gauge Tool from The Home Depot. Pushing 5 inches (12cm) into the planting site should give an accurate reading on how warm your soil is. If temperatures are well below 50°F (10°C), the fungus will sit dormant on the roots until spring soil warms up.

Where It Pays Off Most

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Established beds with healthy, undisturbed native soil already carry some natural mycorrhizal networks, so store-bought inoculants provide only incremental boosts. Where these fungal inoculants truly perform miracles is in disturbed soils, such as new housing developments where topsoil was scraped away, and in potted stock. I’m adamant about using mycorrhizal fungi in containers. Plenty of bagged mixes start out with few, if any, of these fungi (unless the label says they were added), so a perennial has nothing to partner with unless someone adds it.

I like to use Xtreme Gardening Mykos Pure Endo-Mycorrhizal Granules, available from Walmart, which is the gold standard for fall containers. At potting time, I add a tablespoon of my mycorrhizal fungi and tuck it right against the roots, to accelerate root development and increase nutrient uptake. Pure endo covers most perennials and ornamental shrubs just fine.

There are a few exceptions. Members of the brassica family (cabbage, kale, broccoli) and amaranth family (beets, chard, spinach) do not form mycorrhizal partnerships. Furthermore, acid-loving blueberries, azaleas, and rhododendrons need specialized ericoid mycorrhizae that standard retail bags do not contain, requiring acid-loving soil amendments instead.

What Fungi Won’t Fix

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Fungal inoculants are biological boosters, but they are not magic wands. They help plants efficiently absorb nutrients already present in the ground, but they cannot replace missing soil nutrients or repair heavy, waterlogged clay soils where fungi can drown. A single, correct application at planting time lasts the entire lifetime of the plant. As the roots expand through the soil year after year, the fungal network grows right along with them into the surrounding soil profile.

Dusting more powder over the top of established beds every spring is a waste of money. Surface-applied spores rarely migrate down 6 inches (15cm) to reach active root zones in useful quantities. Getting it into the right place at the right time is the real magic – and that’s why it's so important to add it to the roots in fall.

Avoid using high-phosphorus transplant starter fertilizers alongside your inoculant. Heavy concentrations of synthetic phosphorus trick the plant into shutting down its fungal partnership. Similarly, avoid soil drenching with synthetic chemical fungicides right after planting, as this can destroy beneficial fungal networks instantly before they can establish. If you are going to use fungicides as a drench, go for something organic and gentle, such as Arber Bio-Fungicide from Amazon, and use sparingly.

Select the Best and Preserve Storage

(Image credit: Future Publishing Ltd)

When shopping for mycorrhizal fungi, read the product label carefully before buying. Look for named species (such as Glomus intraradices or Glomus mosseae) and a clear propagule count per gram, which proves the product contains viable, living spores.

Most perennials and a good share of shrubs pair up with endo-mycorrhizal fungi, while oaks and pines lean on ecto types. Check for an explicit expiration date on the bag, as living fungal spores gradually degrade in viability over extended time on store shelves. For general beds and mixed plantings, go for a combined endo/ecto blend, which offers broad-spectrum coverage across different plant families.

Finally, proper storage is crucial. Fungal spores are living organisms that can easily be killed by excessive heat or freezing conditions in an uninsulated space. If a bag sat in a metal shed or hot garage all summer, living spores may be compromised. Keep your inoculant in a cool, dark, climate-controlled closet until planting day.

Shop Soil and Planting Essentials

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Building healthy, living soil is the single best investment you can make when setting out new trees, shrubs, and perennials in fall. Alongside beneficial mycorrhizal inoculants, make some room for high-quality organic amendments so new arrivals can establish deep roots and withstand winter stress effortlessly. These soil boosters prepare your yard for a spectacular spring comeback.

Fall Soil Trio

Root Booster

Xtreme Gardening Mykos Pure Endo-Mycorrhizal Fungi (1 Lb)

This single-species endo-mycorrhizal inoculant is designed to be applied directly to the rootball. Ideal for perennials, fruit trees, and flowering shrubs, it gives roots a boost and increases nutrient uptake.

Pathogen Shield

Arber Arber Organic Bio Fungicide Concentrate (16 Oz)

Apply this drench (made from beneficial soil bacteria) around newly planted stock. It guards vulnerable roots against soil-borne pathogens like root rot without harming beneficial mycorrhizal fungi.

Ocean Tonic

Bloom City Organic Liquid Seaweed and Kelp Fertilizer (8 Oz)

Give your soil a healthy dip with this cold-processed liquid blend laced with trace minerals, amino acids, and gentle nitrogen. It feeds both the newly planted roots and beneficial soil microbes without scorching tender fall growth.

Next time you bring a shrub or perennial home in a nursery pot, make time for this extra step. It takes just 30 seconds at the planting hole. Simply dust the damp rootball while the ground retains its warmth, and water in deeply, then let nature take its course. Whatever the fungal network does not finish establishing before the freeze, it will pick right back up when the soil warms again in spring, rewarding you with lush, drought-resilient growth next year.

Need more ideas for getting the most from your plants, indoors and out, and looking for the best seasonal expert advice delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for the free Gardening Know How Newsletter!

There are a lot of reasons to love hellebores. These unusual flowers are prized for their pretty blooms, low maintenance needs and for the fact that they bloom in early spring or even winter in warmer climates. While other plants are preparing to go dormant in September, hellebores are getting ready to grow strong roots and buds.

If you know how to grow hellebores, you know they don’t need a lot of fussing. However, these simple September steps will prepare your plants for the coming growing season and ensure healthy foliage and abundant blooms.

Here’s what your hellebores need in fall to ensure stunning winter blooms.

1. Clean & Tidy Up Plants

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Don’t prune hellebore foliage all the way back in fall. Spring, as the new growth is coming in, is a better time to do this. Now is a good time for a light tidy up of faded blooms and problem foliage. Look for and remove any foliage that is damaged or diseased. If you suspect any disease, dispose of the foliage in the trash. Do not compost it.

Clean your tools well after trimming. Content Editor Laura likes to use a disinfectant wipe, like these ones from Walmart, for quick and easy cleaning.

You can also clean up around your hellebore clumps. Lift up the leaves and look for any loose debris to rake up and remove. This will improve airflow during damper fall conditions and limit any disease risk.

2. Provide a Light Fall Feeding

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Hellebores are not generally heavy feeders, but fall is a good time to provide some extra nutrients. They are about to break summer dormancy and start active root growth again, so a little food helps.

Use a balanced, mild fertilizer, either a liquid or slow-release product like this organic plant food from Walmart. Alternatively, you can add some compost as a top dressing. A bloom-booster is definitely not necessary to ensure hellebores flower.

Because established hellebores need so little fertilizing, it’s a good idea to check for alternative causes of any poor growth you see. It’s more likely to be an issue of soil moisture or disease. Check to see if the soil is too dry or isn’t draining well and for any signs of common hellebore diseases, like mold or spots.

3. Refresh Mulch & Manage Moisture

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Early fall rainfall can be unpredictable. Moisture in the soil is essential as hellebores begin a period of active root growth, so keep an eye on both rain and the soil around your plants.

If the soil keeps drying out and the weather becomes unseasonably hot and dry, provide regular and deep watering at the soil level, not overhead. Use a drip irrigation kit or soaker hose, like this one from Home Depot, for easy watering. Be especially careful to keep the soil moist around newly divided and transplanted hellebores.

A layer of mulch is a good way to keep the soil more consistently moist. Apply a layer of organic mulch to a depth of about two inches (5 cm) all around the plants. Keep the area right around the crowns bare to prevent rot.

4. Divide Large Clumps

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Hellebores develop nicely into large, dense clumps that flower year after year and don’t need to be divided annually. In fact, they don’t particularly like having their roots disturbed, so let large plants establish for at least three years and only divide healthy, oversized clumps.

If you do think your hellebore is ready for dividing, early fall is the right time to do it. Cooler air and still-warm soil make for good conditions to help transplants establish before the winter freeze. Dig up the entire root ball to divide your hellebore and cut cleanly through it to make divisions that have at least two to three healthy crown components each. Replant the new divisions right away.

5. Check for Volunteer Seedlings

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If your spring hellebore flowers were allowed to go to seed, you will probably see a crowd of small volunteers all around the mature plants. These self-sown seedlings can get overgrown by September, so look for them and pull them out. Take care not to disturb the roots of the parent plant as you do this.

You can simply dispose of volunteers, transplant them, or pot them up. You can also leave some in place to create new clumps. Just be aware that many hellebores are hybrids, so the volunteers will not be the same as the parents.

Hellebores are very easy-going plants that don’t need a lot of care once established. A little attention in early fall can benefit these mostly hands-off plants, though. Keep an eye on moisture, tidy up lightly, and feed or divide if necessary, and they should transition well into their active growing season, providing gorgeous late winter to early spring blooms.

Terracotta pots not only bring classic good looks to your patio but provide growing conditions that help some plants flourish and cause others to fail. So, if you’re choosing planters on looks alone, listen up! Pair the right plants with terracotta rather than plastic, resin or ceramic pots, and they’ll be happier and healthier, rewarding you with more flowers and foliage. And once you know which popular plants detest growing in clay containers, you'll avoid unnecessary patio-pot deaths, too.

You see, terracotta clay is breathable, rather like your fancy Gore-Tex jacket that lets moisture escape when you work up a sweat. Terracotta works like a membrane between the potting mix and the air, drawing excess water outwards to ensure the soil never sits soggy. There's another factor that's vital to successful container gardening, too: as well as being porous to allow moisture out, terracotta lets air in. Almost all plants have respiring roots that must continuously consume oxygen to survive, just like us humans. Some plants need more airflow than others, so really benefit from a clay container's breathable sides.

It just so happens that most plants that evolved to flourish in a dry, fast-draining environment also like well-aerated soil packed full of oxygen – and it’s no coincidence, as the more moisture sits in the soil, the less room there is for oxygen. So, pair those plants with terracotta pots and hey presto, you have containers brimming with healthy growth.

All these 10 plants grow far better in terracotta containers than they do in suffocating plastic, resin or ceramic pots. Give yours a clay-based home before fall rain arrives and they'll survive winter far better for stronger plants and more abundant blooms and leaves next year.

1. Thyme

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If you're growing thyme in a patio pot, know that it will do far better in a terracotta pot that removes dampness from the soil to create the dry, fast-draining conditions that this flavorful herb loves. Mimicking the plant's native Mediterranean habitat, the clay walls wick excess moisture away, which is vital as thyme is highly susceptible to root rot if it sits in soggy soil. There's a benefit for you, too, as these quick-drying conditions concentrate the thyme's essential oil production, resulting in tastier, more fragrant leaves for cooking.

2. Lavender

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While modern hybrid varieties have been bred to better withstand high rainfall and resist root rot, all lavenders do best in well-draining soil so love life in a terracotta pot. Move your lavender from a plastic or ceramic pot to a terracotta one and you'll quickly realise there's a world of difference between surviving and thriving. Add a couple of handfuls of coarse horticultural sand like this from Amazon to the potting soil and treat your lavender plant to a gravel mulch, and you’ll heighten the benefits of that porous, breathable container. Choose the exact right lavender for your zone, too, and you can look forward to incredibly abundant, highly fragrant patio pots.

3. Hardy Succulents

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If you’re a fan of hardy succulents like Sempervivum (houseleeks), Sedum (stonecrop) and Delosperma (ice plants), then growing them in terracotta pots will make these low-maintenance lovelies even easier to look after. The sun-loving plants need fast-draining soil to thrive, so really appreciate the moisture control a porous clay container brings. As they only need irrigating when soil is fully dry from May to September, and prefer to be kept even drier through winter, housing them in terracotta pots makes it easy to avoid the damp conditions that lead to an untimely death. And nine times out of 10, it's the wetness of winter rather than the cold that kills these drought-adapted darlings.

4. Rosemary

(Image credit: Getty Images)

This woody herb evolved in the rocky, dry environment of Mediterranean hillsides so it's naturally suited to the aerated, well-drained soil a terracotta pot provides. Good drainage helps rosemary survive winter, too, as its roots quickly rot in soggy soil, a real danger when growing herbs in wetter zones. Practicalities aside, the pairing of cool blue rosemary blooms with the warm hues of a terracotta pot is just divine, especially if you have a trailing variety like blue cascade rosemary, available from Nature Hills, with stems that spill oh-so-stylishly over the rim.

5. Bird of Paradise

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Sterlitzia has exceptionally strong, fleshy, active roots that consume high levels of oxygen, so housing bird of paradise plants in terracotta pots where they'll benefit from the clay’s breathability is a smart move. That epic root system supports huge sail-like leaves, so the weight of a terracotta planter is also a wise precaution. Growing these tropical plants that are only reliably hardy in zones 10+ in a container also makes it easy to overwinter them indoors as houseplants, where their epic evergreen leaves make quite a statement.

While bird of paradise appreciates a thorough watering, the plant likes the soil to dry out in between, and terracotta accelerates this process. Do choose a sturdy pot though, as these roots are powerful enough to break through a flimsy planter.

6. Agapanthus

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Another plant with a heap of flower power and a hefty root system to fuel it is agapanthus, also called African lily and lily of the Nile. This beauty also has a high root respiration rate so benefits from the breathability of a terracotta pot and the oxygenated soil it brings. While you will need to keep agapanthus growing in a clay container well watered over summer, you'll reap the rewards of that fast drainage for the rest of the year as its roots hate to sit in waterlogged soil.

Make sure you plant agapanthus in a straight-sided terracotta pot or a classic design with sides that taper outwards though, as its enthusiastic root system will expand to fill every inch of the planter; if the container curves inwards at the rim, you won’t be able to remove the plant when it’s time to repot. You needn’t be in a rush to move lily of the Nile up a pot size, however, as this plant blooms far more profusely when its roots are constricted.

7. Pelargoniums

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Terracotta pots are a natural match for all pelargoniums (sometimes called tender geraniums) whether you like to grow zonal, ivy-leaved, scented-leaved or regal types. These glorious plants need fast drainage and good airflow around their roots, and poor aeration is a prime reason they fail – though forgetting to bring the tender plants in out of the cold comes a close second! But even then, growing a pelargonium in a stylish terracotta pot means you can easily bring it indoors for the winter, where it'll make a handsome houseplant.

8. Cacti

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Cacti need even more airflow around their root balls, so also do best in terracotta pots. Because they’ve evolved to live in such a dry environment, cacti are highly sensitive to a lack of oxygen in the soil. Waterlogged soil effectively suffocates roots by excluding oxygen, and quickly causes irreversible damage to their hyper-sensitive surface cells. While most plants can deal with a short-term lack of oxygen, cacti quickly struggle, so a breathable container that helps to control moisture levels is a real asset. Standing the terracotta pot on a little pea gravel or pot risers helps to keep the drainage hole unobstructed, too.

9. Santolina

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Lavender cotton brings cushions of fragrant foliage and cheery yellow flowers to a patio pot, and this low-maintenance plant will be all the happier if that container is made of clay. Another Mediterranean native, Santolina chamaecyparissus evolved to grow in dry, stony soil so benefits from a terracotta pot’s breathability. Santolina actually performs better under mild moisture stress, so the fluctuating conditions inside a clay container actively help it flourish. Adding a few handfuls of perlite, available from The Home Depot, to the potting mix will improve drainage and aerate soil some more, for showstopper results.

10. Rockrose

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With its beautiful rose-like blooms, Cistus is another Mediterranean shrub with a high demand for oxygen and low tolerance for soggy soil, so does far better in a terracotta pot. Even a compact dwarf rockrose can get a little top-heavy, so the weight of a clay pot prevents the plant being blown over, too.

Terracotta Pots that Don’t Bust the Budget

Fabulous

Set of 2 Rustic Round Terracotta Planters

Functional

14" Diameter Vigoro Standard Clay Pot

Fancy

Set of 3 Handcrafted Clay Planters

Choose the Right Terracotta Pot

• Depending on your zone and what you’re planting in them, check if your planter needs to be frost-proof. Because of its porous nature, clay holds water which can freeze and crack. Terracotta that’s frost-proof is typically fired at a higher temperature, and its winter weather resistance should be outlined in the product description.
• There’s no need to pay more for a frost-proof pot if you’re matching it with a tender plant that needs to overwinter indoors or in a sheltered spot. Simply stand the pot on a wheeled dolly such as this plant caddy from Ace Hardware that makes moving it easy.
• If you choose a planter for its porosity and breathability because you're growing plants that thrive in terracotta pots, don’t pick a design that’s glazed. The hard glaze forms an impenetrable layer over the terracotta that neither air nor moisture can pass through.
• Sitting your terracotta pot on a set of risers such as these Pot Toes from Amazon through fall and winter allows the drainage hole to drain freely and ensures the clay container doesn’t sit in pooling water.

(Image credit: Getty Images)What Not to Plant in Terracotta Pots

Terracotta containers don’t make good homes for all plants, and these in particular will suffer in a clay pot:

• Moisture-loving plants such as hydrangeas and hostas, which appreciate more consistent water levels in the soil.
• Acid-loving plants such as camellias, azaleas or rhododendrons, as the alkaline clay can change the pH of the compost over time.

In B.C., fireproofing your home has never been more critical. Structure Defence is a new North Shuswap-based company that consults with homeowners to protect their property from wildfires.

“We started this based on our experience fighting wildfires, being around communities that have been exposed to wildfire, and seeing that there are things that you can do beforehand,” said co-founder Warren Gray.

“We wanted to help people prioritize things that they can do to make their home more wildfire resilient. We’ve definitely seen that there’s a spot for people to improve, and we want to help.”

Gray and the company’s other co-founder, Craig Nygard, are both NFPA-certified firefighters. Drawing on their experience, they use internationally recognized principles to help homeowners and builders identify wildfire vulnerabilities and turn mitigation strategies into practical steps for protecting properties.

They started the company earlier this year, says Gray, after seeing the devastation wrought in B.C. by this and previous years’ wildfire seasons.

Despite burning less land than the province’s record-setting 2023 wildfire season, 2026 has been one of the province’s most destructive years for homes and other structures, with more than 500 damaged or destroyed by mid-August.

“The Bush Creek East fire here, in 2023, was kind of a big eye-opener in terms of something happening right in our community,” Gray said.

“It’s a whole different thing when we’re out doing it in somebody else’s community,” Nygard said. “But seeing in happen so close to home and personally experiencing the devastation really kicked us into high gear to get something going.”

Protecting a house from wildfire may increasingly begin with prevention, long before smoke appears on the horizon.

“One of the things that we try to impress upon people is that the more time you have, the more options you have,” Nygard said.

“If you’re leaving your decisions or your plan until the last minute, instead of having options, now you basically have priorities. We try to make it as proactive as possible. ‘Wildfire preparation starts before the wildfire arrives’ is one of the big messages that we try to get across.”

Some things people can do is remove high-priority wildfire hazards from within five feet of a home.

These include combustible material like patio furniture, propane tanks, gas cans, and wood. “If you have bark mulch nearby and you have time, replace that with gravel,” Nygard said.

Cedar trees, sometimes used as “privacy fencing,” can be hazardous. “You grow the cedar hedge up and now you can’t see your neighbours. Those are extremely flammable, and they put off a lot of embers.”

The company also consults on new homes and provides emergency services.

“In the event a wildfire is happening right now at your property, we have personnel available who can walk you through top priorities, things you can do in the immediate time before you evacuate,” Gray said.

Structure Defence will be discussing these and other fire prevention principles and mitigation strategies at their booth at this year’s Vancouver Fall Home Show. Nygard will be on hand to conduct a property review for anyone providing their address and asking for help.

“They can bring in pictures of their home, but we’re going to be able to pull their address up on an iPad and look over their property from satellite view and run down what we see as the major concerns, or positive things that they’re doing,” said Nygard.

Nygard will also be a presenter at the home show on Oct. 16 and 17.

“We’ll discuss how firefighters would look at a property, how we would evaluate it, what our priorities are, explaining what the pathways are and what the dangers of certain things can be.

“We really just want people to leave saying, ‘I’ve never looked at my property that way before.’ And hopefully it makes more sense to them.”

The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

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Someone once told me that there is no better way to prepare for marriage than by owning a home in a subdivision. Each homeowner has rights, but the rights of one can infringe on the rights of others. Good neighbors (like good spouses) learn to understand and respect each others’ positions, communicate calmly, and compromise in a way that safeguards everyone’s dignity.

Dealing with waste water is a perfect example. If you are homeowner 1, with a higher site, you have the right to grow thirsty plants and to water them generously. If you are homeowner 2, with a lower lot, you have the right to protect your garden against flooding. And, just in case neighborliness does not proceed as planned, the law is there to impose a compromise between these conflicting rights.

I cover more questions like this in my Gardening Lawyer series, drawing on my experience as both a gardener and former attorney. Let's dive in and explore how to avoid a soggy situation.

The Law Is the Voice of Reason

(Image credit: Bluezung / Shutterstock)

It would be lovely if neighboring homeowners could always find the middle ground that works for both of them. But that is not always the case. Sometimes neighbors discuss, argue, yell, and finish up by feuding. Knowing the law can help. It’s easier to compromise if you know in advance what the law is going to require in your case.

Generally, the law sets property rights laws that sound natural and reasonable. In the case of drainage issues, many states and most localities impose laws that stick firmly to the middle ground. The “reasonable use” doctrine, often discussed in these cases, accepts the fact that it is natural for rainwater to flow from higher ground to lower ground.

That means that the neighbor with a lower lot cannot complain if, after rain falls, the water falling on higher lots drains down to their property. And this is true even if, one year, it rains daily in buckets. The neighbor with the lower lot cannot blame the upper lot owner for damage caused by all that rainwater rushing down the slope into their land.

Artificial Drainage Is a Different Cup of Tea

(Image credit: Osarieme Eweka / Getty Images)

If you are the owner of the upper lot, do not laugh too long or hard. The reasonable use only applies to natural rainfall. You cannot “enhance” this benefit artificially. That means that it does not qualify as reasonable use when an upper-lot neighbor takes steps to divert water from their property to the neighbor’s property, or pipe it over there.

The consequences of shifting your excess water onto adjoining property can be significant. If your drainage scheme results in soil erosion, standing water, or foundation damage to the neighbor, you can be legally responsible for repair costs. In addition, your actions can violate local building codes, HOA rules or zoning laws. They often prohibit discharging sump pumps, downspouts and French drains across property lines.

Understanding Drainage Issues

(Image credit: KatarzynaBialasiewicz / Getty Images)

Most drainage disputes do not result from intentional wrongdoing. There is generally no villain, twirling his mustache while his workers add drain pipes directly into the neighbor’s yard. Rather, most drain issues start out as changes one neighbor makes at soil level that disrupt normal drainage patterns.

This can happen when a neighbor installs new plants, grass, or hardscape. It can happen when a neighbor changes the grade of their backyard, or adds drain pipes to the turfgrass. These minor adjustments can lead to water problems for the neighbor, soil erosion, flooding, or damage to their foundations. If that happens, they can take the neighbor to court to remove the changes and restore the natural flow of water.

Laws differ from state to state, but – when a neighbor alters the land to change the natural flow of surface water – many states including California hold the owner who made the adjustments strictly liable for all damages, regardless of whether they intended to cause harm.

Examples of Drainage Problems

(Image credit: bgwalker / Getty Images)

• Any action that changes the natural flow of surface water.
• Installing drains, downspouts or pipes that take water from your land to someone else’s land.
• Doing anything that speeds up the flow of surface water flow.
• Any alteration of property that increases the amount of water, the speed of water, or the concentration of water draining into the neighboring property.
• Any alteration of the property that directs water to a location it did not previously reach.
• Any work that involves retaining walls or concrete or paver installations can eliminate the natural absorption of rainwater and send it into the neighboring property.

Preventing Drainage Issues

(Image credit: schulzie / Getty Images)

Are there steps you can take to prevent your rainwater from impacting the neighbor on the lot below you? Yes, there are. Consider installing these landscape features, also known as rainscaping:

• Rain garden - Install a rain garden in your yard. This involves planting a garden bed in a depressed area. Use soil rich in organic material and install native plants with deep-roots.
• Dry creek beds - If there is a shallow trench running through your yard, line it with landscape fabric and river rocks to create a dry creek bed. You can use this dry area to channel heavy streams of runoff.
• Rain barrels - You can actually buy kits premade if you like. This 50-gallon rain barrel from Amazon has a flat back so it fits snuggly against your house and a spigot allows easy access to collected water. Alternatively, hook a large, waterproof container to your gutter system. A rain barrel can capture many gallons of water that you can save for your garden irrigation. Some kits provide a hose hookup to the container.
• Permeable pavers - Regular concrete pavers prevent water from seeping into the soil - and the more pavers you put out there, the more water flows downhill toward your neighbor’s land. Instead, use gravel, turf blocks, or porous flagstones for garden pathways. Permeable pavement materials let rain soak straight into the earth.

More from the Gardening Lawyer

• Why Taking Cuttings From a Plant You Bought Could Land You in Legal Trouble
• If Your Tree Falls Into a Neighbor’s Yard, Who Pays for the Damage?
• Can You Take Garden Plants With You When You Move House?
• Is Your Neighbor's Tree Blocking the Sunlight in Your Yard? Here’s What You Can (and Can’t) Do About It
• Is It OK to Take Plant Cuttings From Garden Centers?

The choice of colour combinations selected by Vancouver’s Studio Roslyn can come across as slightly peculiar — but that’s the idea.

Studio Roslyn, founded by Jessica MacDonald and Kate Snyder, has a reputation for interiors that are richly composed, confident and somewhat unusual. Their rooms do not feel decorated, but orchestrated. A colour appears where perhaps it should not, a material feels a little rougher than expected and an unusual pairing suddenly makes sense.

The studio’s choice of hues can raise eyebrows, which is intentional. MacDonald and Snyder love mixing muddy, earthy, heritage tones with fresher, more vibrant hues, creating rooms that feel balanced, but not predictable.

“We’re drawn to the tension between the two,” MacDonald says. “Heritage tones carry a sense of depth and familiarity, grounded in something already lived with, while brighter colours introduce immediacy, freshness and playfulness.”

This contrast helps explain why the studio’s projects feel both nostalgic and current. They have depth, without the heaviness.

A little friction goes a long way

The colour combinations are a mix of instinct and editing, MacDonald adds.

They aim for balance, but not necessarily symmetry or calm. A calm room can be beautiful, but it can also feel flat. A room with friction has life, she says.

The success of an unusual palette often depends on hierarchy.

“There’s usually a push and pull between the colours — one anchoring things, the other introducing a bit of friction or surprise,” she explains.

At It’s Okay, a Vancouver bar and restaurant, Studio Roslyn chose neon pink table edges to offset retro wood tones. At Vancouver beauty studio Umeglow, they used lipstick red, electric chartreuse and pale mint green to contrast warm and cool. The studio also keeps returning to yellow and blue palettes, which it describes as the quirkier sibling of the more familiar orange and blue combination.

“We tend to place bold colour in moments of close encounter, places you touch, open, or pass through slowly. Joinery, thresholds, shelving, furniture details, stair elements,” MacDonald says.

This may be useful advice for anyone curious about colour, but wary of going too far. You don’t have to paint an entire room oxblood red to introduce drama. You might place it inside a cabinet, along a shelf edge, in a tile detail or on a single piece of furniture. The colour becomes an encounter rather than a command.

Colour as composition

MacDonald says the studio is currently drawn to muted yellows, dusty lilacs, oxblood reds and earthy browns.

“They’re not necessarily new colours, but the combinations feel fresh again, depending on how they’re placed and weighted within a space.”

Colour is not just a surface choice. It has mass. It can anchor, lift, unsettle or soften a room. Studio Roslyn’s work treats colour as part of the architecture of feeling.

“We tend to think of colour less as surface decoration and more as part of the composition of a room,” MacDonald says.

Playful, not chaotic

The Studio Roslyn palette can seem peculiar, but not careless. The difference between playfulness and chaos is restraint.

“A bit of restraint goes a long way,” MacDonald says. “Even when there are multiple colours in play, there’s usually a shared logic — whether that’s tonal softness, material consistency or simply repetition across the project.”

That shared logic is what makes the work feel cohesive rather than busy. A colour may reappear in an unexpected place. A material may connect one room to another. A bright detail may be grounded by timber, stone or plaster.

The same thinking applies to materials. Studio Roslyn is drawn to things that age well and shift over time, including handmade ceramics, coloured natural stone, brushed aged metals and textured plasters. Breccia is a current favourite.

“We also like pairing more refined finishes with slightly rougher or more tactile ones. That contrast keeps interiors from feeling too polished and introduces a bit of looseness, which we always find important,” MacDonald says.

“This year has continued to shape the studio in a direction we’ve long been moving toward — working across both architecture and interiors as a single, connected process.”

One current residential project, Camassia House, has been particularly meaningful.

“As interior designers first, we naturally began from the inside out — starting with how the home is lived in day to day, and in particular, the kitchen as the nucleus of the home.”

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Fall is a great time to refresh your home, and paint is one of the most impactful ways to do that without spending a lot of money. In addition, autumn’s cooler temperatures and lower humidity create the ideal conditions for painting.

Inspiration awaits at the 44th annual Vancouver Fall Home Show , being held Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West.

Colour can transform a space, and the hues you choose can evoke a calming or stimulating effect, says Trish Picariello, specification and design specialist at Cloverdale Paint .

At the heart of Cloverdale Paint’s colour trends palette is an overarching theme for colour, with cool tones replaced by warmer ones. According to Picariello, the 2026 colour selections reveal a collective move toward comfort and stability in a world going through chaos.

Cloverdale Paint’s Colour of the Year 2026 is Day Spa.

“Day Spa is the most beautiful blue, it is deep but not bold, not bossy but relaxed,” says Picariello. “Day Spa is best used for a living room feature wall, because it doesn’t overwhelm the room. It is calm yet commanding, serene yet indulgent.”

Day Spa is also ideal for creating tranquil nooks, serene bedrooms, or mindful workspaces, as it inspires a sense of grounding, comfort, and peace.

Bright or stark whites and silver-grey are now decidedly warmer and organic.

“In times of chaos, whites and off-whites offer an ease in our surroundings, with calm whites that adapt well to both natural and artificial lighting,” says Picariello. “Think refined esthetics with imperfect whites, inspired whites instead of the cool whites.”

Colour is also dictated by the season.

“The fall evokes thoughts of reds, greens, oranges and navy,” says Picariello.

“However, we are seeing new interpretations of these colours; more yellow in our greens, more terracotta in our reds, blues that are more saturated but softer, and more blue undertones in greens.”

The other “hot blue” is Atmospheric Pressure.

“This blue It reads as fresh and beautiful, much like the air and sky on a gorgeous day,” says Picariello. ”There is a trend continuing toward clearer blues that speak freshness.”

Whether you want to add a touch of personality to your bedroom, create bold statements in every room in your home, design a bedroom for your baby, Picariello is always ready to talk about inspirational palettes for everyone, from the very colour-timid to the outrageously colour-bold.

When it comes to children’s rooms, she says: “Colour is one of the most influential yet often underestimated elements in children’s interior design. While it certainly shapes the look of a space, its impact goes far beyond esthetics. The colours chosen for a child’s room help set the mood, influencing everything from creativity and concentration to relaxation and restful sleep.”

So, what colours does Picariello suggest for your child’s room? Soft blues and greens, and warm neutrals. In the end, Picariello says: “There are no rules stating you can’t use a dark colour palette in every area of your home, so go for it if you want to!”

It’s entirely possible to turn a bland living room into an impressive retreat and a boring kitchen into a luxurious gathering place with a few coats of dark paint. Catch Trish Picariello at the Vancouver Fall Home Show on Oct. 16, at 5:30 p.m., where she will talk about everything paint.

The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

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I have a bit of a weakness for celebrity gardens that look impossibly expensive but turn out to have one surprisingly simple idea hiding behind all that glamor, and Jennifer Aniston's yard more than fits the bill.

Whether you know her from Friends (of course you know her from Friends!) or The Morning Show, Jennifer is one of those stars who has long-held on a grip on us, inspiring everything from our hairstyles to our lunches (green goddess salad, anyone?). It stands to reason, then, that her gardening efforts would have just as much of an impact.

The actress has worked with designer Stephen Shadley to create an outdoor space that looks beautiful, both by day and night; however, it's the garden lighting that has really caught my attention.

Jennifer Aniston's Cozy Garden Lighting Trick

That's right, folks; Jennifer Aniston has gifted us one of those cozy backyard ideas that just makes so much sense for fall, and it's all hinged on her lighting.

How? Well, her trees are wrapped in warm white lights, with the strands winding around the trunks and into the lower branches, creating a soft glow that makes the whole garden feel rather magical.

Check it out:

A post shared by Stephen Shadley (@stephenshadley)

A photo posted by

Now, while I can't promise that a few strings of lights will transform anyone's backyard into Jennifer Aniston's Bel Air estate, I can promise that this particular idea is much easier to steal than it looks. You don't even need a huge garden, a Hollywood-sized budget or an entire team of designers! In fact, all it requires is a tree, some warm white lights and roughly $50.

The trick is to make the trees (or plants) themselves part of the lighting design. In this instance, LED Tree Trunk Wrap Lights like these from Wintergreen are wrapped around the trunks and carried into the lower branches, tracing the natural shape of the trees once the sun goes down. Elsewhere, smaller lights pick out areas closer to the ground.

So, if you're tempted to recreate it, take a long hard look at your own yard, pick one tree (or any other particularly lovely feature), and get ready to help it become the star of the show.

Shop Garden Lighting:

Wintergreen Lighting Led Tree Trunk Wrap Lights

VIHOSE Vihose 1 Pcs Tree Trunk Wrap Christmas Lights 10 X 2 Ft, Warm White

Jnaurb Solar Rope Lights, 66ft 200led Solar String Lights, 8 Modes, Waterproof

The good news is that you don't need to commission Stephen Shadley to get started; these LED Tree Trunk Wrap Lights from Wintergreen are currently around $46 and are designed specifically for wrapping around tree trunks.

They have 100 warm-white lights on brown wire, which means the wire should blend more naturally into the bark than something bright green or black. Just start at the base of a tree and work your way upwards, keeping the spacing relatively consistent as you wrap around the trunk. Once you've reached the lower branches, you can carry the lights out slightly to emphasise the tree's natural shape.

There's one temptation I'm going to urge you to resist here, and that's buying approximately 47 boxes of garden lights and attempting to illuminate every available surface. Say it with me, people: you don't need to cover every branch. In fact, I think leaving plenty of the tree in darkness is part of what makes Jennifer Aniston's cozy garden lighting trick look so appealing.

(Image credit: Katarzyna Bialasiewicz/Getty Images)

No tree? No problem! You can use exactly the same principle on a smaller ornamental tree, a multi-stemmed shrub or even a pot in a large container. In fact, the same warm glow can be created by winding lights around a sturdy garden structure, pergola post or other feature you want to highlight.

The trick is to make the most of the darkness and create a warming glow, so, honestly, just choose the feature you most enjoy looking at from your patio or from inside the house. Then, make like Jennifer Aniston, wrap it with warm white lights and see what happens after dark.

You might just find that you don't need anything else at all...

Starting a new garden from scratch can feel daunting but there are plenty of easy, inexpensive ways to quickly give your plot a more lived-in look. Landscape designers use these tricks and techniques all the time to make a new garden look mature, and they're straightforward enough to DIY yourself on a budget. So, if you're wondering where to start when faced with a bare patch of earth and a big stretch of fencing, these garden design ideas will get your new yard established, fast.

If you've moved house and have a newbuild plot, or you're thinking about giving your existing yard a makeover, this blank canvas gives you the opportunity to design the garden of your dreams, in the same way you might be rethinking the interior layout and decor to suit your tastes. The joy of designing a garden from scratch is that you can tailor it to be the outdoor living space you want, rather than inheriting someone else's dream yard. And with these DIY garden design techniques, there's no need to wait years for your new plot to mature, even if you're on a budget.

All these clever landscape designer tricks to make a new garden look mature will quickly give a freshly-created yard a lived-in look. Which ones will you choose to use in your garden?

1. Invest in a Tree for Instant Impact

(Image credit: Neil Hepworth/RHS)

In a new garden, a well-positioned specimen tree will become the focal point around which the rest of the planting develops, as well as adding instant interest. Choose a multi-stem tree variety such as a Japanese maple,like the Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium' in this design and the shapely branching structure will immediately create a diversion, drawing attention away from other, less developed areas of the garden.

Buy the most mature tree you can afford, and if you can stretch the budget to a few, do. Larger trees will immediately make the design feel it's been there for a while; smaller trees will simply draw attention to the fact everything is new. Choose varieties with interesting sculptural outlines, foliage, blossom or berries and you will enjoy four seasons of interest as well as instant privacy.

2. Clothe Fences With Fast-Growing Climbers

(Image credit: Sarah Cuttle/RHS)

Freshly-erected walls and fences stand out as they look so stark. While their bright tones will dull down over time, introducing a softer element to landscape your garden boundaries quickly fixes the issue. A combination of trellis and your choice of fast-growing climbing plants that don't scramble out of control is one of the speediest ways to create a lived-in look. Even covering a small mid-section of a wall or fence with a climber will break up the hard landscaping and make the garden feel like it's been there for longer.

Do treat your fence first if needed, or paint it if you fancy. If your garden feels boxed in by its boundary, painting a fence a darker color to make it less visually overwhelming is one of the simplest DIY ideas garden designers use to make a small yard feel bigger.

3. Layer Planting to Add Depth

(Image credit: Neil Hepworth/RHS)

New gardens are often dominated by plants of the same height, so introducing a layered planting effect will create the impression the space has been established for a while. This garden-design technique will also help to distract from bare areas of soil while you're waiting for plants to mature.

When deciding on your planting, aim for a range of plants that fill three vertical zones and you'll automatically avoid the flat layout typical of so many newbuild gardens. Mid-height perennials in borders and beds are your mainstay, but mix in tall structural plants to act as focal points. Your final layer is low-growing, and don't dismiss this as an afterthought because there are lots of glorious flowering groundcover plants that can add color as well as texture to your garden design.

As you can see in this beautiful garden, it's safe to ignore the old 'big plants at the back of a border, small plants at the front' rule! Layering the planting height like this immediately makes borders look more mature, and allowing foliage to sprawl over paths and other hardscaped areas achieves a similar effect by blurring the edges.

Do ensure you improve the soil before you get planting, though, especially if you have a newbuild garden and have been left with a combination of rubble, clods of poor soil and weedy patches. It's always worth investing in your soil by adding a natural product like this Organic Compost Soil Improver from Home Depot that will nourish plants and help them thrive, quickly creating a more mature garden.

4. Claim Your Vertical Space

(Image credit: RHS/Sarah Cuttle)

Another common issue in a newly planted garden is an absence of height. While you're waiting for trees and shrubs to mature, a speedy solution is to add a pergola or gazebo planted with a climbing vine. Clematis is a super choice, especially fall-flowering clematis that peak just as the rest of the garden is fading and, whether you're looking for a compact vine or fast coverage, you can find a clematis vine to suit every garden spot.

Using a structure to claim your vertical space quickly makes a garden feel more established, and it doesn't have to be a big spend. A simple design like this Outdoor Metal Pergola from Wayfair won't blow your budget yet will add that all-important height factor to switch up a flat plot. A pergola improves privacy, too, one of the most common requests landscape designers are asked for.

5. Use Hedging to Add Dense Foliage

(Image credit: Runna10/Getty Images)

Adding a hedge to a new garden can double the foliage count and also provides shelter to wildlife, helping to quickly establish an ecosystem for healthy, thriving plants. Buy in fall or in bulk and hedging plants are surprisingly cost-effective, allowing you to afford more mature plants and cut the time it takes to soften boundaries.

An established hedge immediately gives a garden enclosure and privacy while creating an attractive background that will enhance any planting in front. Think too about using hedging plants to divide a larger garden into different areas or garden 'rooms', making the space feel more considered and established.

Don't skip straight to boxwood because there are all sorts of plants that work well as hedging, contributing texture, shape and color to your garden design as well as making it look more mature.

Shape-shifting blooms

Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangea

This compact hydrangea makes an attractive hedge, and drops its shapely leaves in fall to allow precious sunlight into your garden.

Cool evergreen leaves

Clusia

Clusia flava has thick, leathery teardrop-shaped leaves that resist drought, diseases and drought for a low-maintenance hedge.

Va-va-voom foliage

Tri-Color Dappled Willow Shrub

New leaves emerge a rich pink, and dense branching ensures plenty of them, and this Salix integra is a fast grower for a quick result.

6. Enclose a Seating Area With Planters

(Image credit: Joanna Kossak/RHS)

Once you've decided where to put your seating area, surrounding the space with raised planting immediately brings an immersive sense that many mature gardens enjoy. By all means hardscape an L-shape or U-shape of raised beds, or achieve a similar effect with contemporary planters.

Fill the containers with repeat planting for a cost-effective, modern look that soon fills out and looks good year-round. Opting for tall ornamental grasses or clipped evergreen shrubs is just one of many affordable planter box ideas that boost your garden style as well as your growing space, and will quickly add a sense of permanency. Think about adding recessed lights too as they will light up the plants at night for extra interest, as well as making your design feel polished.

7. Top Dress With Gravel to Cover Bare Soil

(Image credit: Neil Hepworth/RHS)

One of the biggest giveaways a garden is newly designed is the large areas of bare soil left between perennials and shrubs that require room to mature. The quickest way to address this problem is the popular landscape designer trick of adding a layer of gravel to cover the soil surface.

As well as making the area look finished, and those gaps intentional, this brings the added benefit of giving plants a boost by helping to retain moisture in the soil and suppressing weed growth. Use smaller, slightly rounded pea gravel such as this pretty warm-hued Rainforest Pink Washed Gravel from Lowe's for a natural effect.

Another solution is to banish bare soil with ground cover plants that spread beautifully but gracefully give way to taller perennials and shrubs as they mature and grow. Use a combination of both gravel and groundcover and that immature border will instantly look like it's been there for years.

8. Blur Hard Landscaping Lines

(Image credit: Neil Hepworth/RHS)

Perfectly straight edges between recently paved patios, freshly laid lawns and new paths are a clear sign of a just-completed landscaping project. To make the space look more settled, blending the different landscaping elements for a more aged aesthetic is a trick designers often use. Let ornamental grasses and low-growing perennials flop over a path, and use pea gravel to transition between different areas to banish hard lines.

The trick is to use low-maintenance plants that landscape designers favour to soften hard landscaping as they look good without much care from you. A common trick is planting in the cracks between flagstones, bricks and pavers so stems spill over the edges to soften hard outlines and make the hardscaping look aged and characterful. Using creeping thyme to scent paving and pathways is particularly successful and, once stones or pavers are partially covered with its fragrant foliage, they look like they've been there for ever.

9. Sow Self-Seeders for a Random Detail

(Image credit: Getty Images)

One of the biggest joys of a mature garden is the little pockets of colorful petals that pop up in unexpected spots as a result of self-seeding short-lived plants. It's simple to replicate this in a new garden with fling-and-forget seeds that practically grow themselves, and many can be sown in fall to flower early the following year. Don't be too careful about where you sow them but aim to recreate a natural, random positioning.

A smart choice is California poppies as they gently self-seed without taking over the garden, only grow just over a foot tall, and will flourish in poor soil and even gravel. While a cheery orange is the usual color of Eschescholzia californica, and California poppy seeds are available from Eden Brothers, there are all sorts of pretty tones to choose from such as Thai Silk Appleblossom Chiffon California poppies, with seed also available from Eden Brothers. Poppy seeds require a cold period for good germination, so sowing in fall is beneficial.

Making a new garden look more mature is simple with these landscape designer techniques. With these basics in place, you can employ all sorts of little tricks to age any parts of your yard that still look far too new. Painting yogurt or buttermilk on unglazed terracotta pots encourages the development of a natural patina, or try applying a thin coat of diluted paint to fences or walls for a more aged aesthetic.

In recent years, there’s been heightened discussion about healthy food choices and the ingredients in the food we consume. Now HGTV star Sarah Baeumler wants to bring that conversation into the home.

“We’ve started this conversation around food selections, which is incredible,” Baeumler says. “But there’s so much still not being discussed about the materials that we’re bringing into our homes, where we spend so much of our time.”

The interior design expert will make that a focus of her presentations at this fall’s home show, during which she’ll explore some of the best natural materials to incorporate into your space. In her own home, Baeumler is a big fan of wool rugs, marble countertops and linen sheets.

“Linen bed sheets changed our life,” she says. “Knowing what you’re sleeping on and putting your head on and inhaling every single night is really important.”

Baeumler says lighting can also play an important role in creating a healthier space. She wants people to better understand the role natural light plays in our circadian rhythm, and how light temperature can support our rhythms throughout the day.

“I hope we are seeing the end of the idea of designing with a million pot lights in our homes,” says Baeumler, who wants to move the conversation toward lamps, sconces and decorative light fixtures to create a calmer environment.

Colours for cosy season

When it comes to fall colour trends, Baeumler says attendees can expect to see plenty of warm hues at this year’s show, including deep browns, maroons and olives.

“These are much more grounded colours, which is great to see,” she says, adding that aged wood and metals with a natural patina—including unlacquered brass—will also be prominent. Together, earthy palettes and natural materials can help create that cosy atmosphere many Canadians crave as the weather cools and the days grow shorter.

Baeumler isn’t necessarily one to redecorate with every changing season, though. For her, it’s about making subtle changes. “I’m not a ‘change it for the theme’ person, I’m a ‘change it for how it feels’.”

For fall, that could mean bringing in heavier throw blankets, swapping your bedding for a warmer duvet or changing your lighting.

“Even swapping out a bulb that is 4,000 kelvins down to 2,000 kelvins will give a warmer light to your space and make it feel cosier,” she says. Candles, table lamps and soft light sources offer a similar effect.

A main-stage headliner for the second consecutive year, Baeumler can’t wait to be back in B.C. She and her husband Bryan Baeumler lived in Vancouver in the early 2000s and recently spent the summer in Port Alberni filming the first Canadian season of Home Town Takeover , set to air this fall.

“We just have this soft spot for the West Coast,” she says. “We feel very connected to the people out there and their way of life.”

Baeumler sees Vancouver, with its enthusiasm for health and wellness, as the perfect city to start a broader conversation about healthy homes.

“I want people to think about how our homes really support our health and well-being,” she says. “I know it’s a little different, but let’s see how it lands and at least start the conversation.”

HGTV’s Sarah Baeumler will headline the Main Stage with interactive Q&A sessions on Oct. 15 and 16. The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

Related

• Vancouver Fall Home Show: Health and wellness take centre stage
• Vancouver Fall Home Show: Celebrity chefs to focus on sustainable, locally sourced ingredients

September is a crucial time in the hummingbird calendar, as the great fall migration is officially underway. Across North America, millions of hummingbirds (from Eastern Ruby-throated to Western Rufous) are initiating or continuing their perilous journeys south toward wintering grounds in Mexico and Central America. Unlike the lazy days of early summer, when these tiny birds established fixed territories in your yard, September travelers are moving constantly. Your yard has the potential to be a vital refueling oasis along a high-stakes highway.

During this epic journey, hummingbirds require plenty of fuel, clean water and secure shelter just to survive their daily flights. Because their metabolic rates are among the highest in the animal kingdom, even a brief shortage of nectar or a sudden cold snap can prove disastrous. So making a few tiny yet thoughtful adjustments to your yard this month can help support and sustain these tiny travelers as they navigate changing weather patterns, declining flowers, and unfamiliar landscapes.

While the exact timing of migration will vary, depending on your geographic region and local weather conditions, it’s a good idea to maintain all supportive feeding stations and shelter features for at least 2 weeks after your last hummingbird sighting of the season. Keeping your backyard sanctuary fully operational ensures that late-arriving stragglers and younger birds have the emergency calories required to complete their journey safely. Here’s how to easily set up the ultimate fall pitstop.

Help Hummingbirds in September

A few simple measures to improve safety in your yard will benefit all migrating birds at this time of year, but especially hummers. In northern states, Canada, and high-altitude regions, northern hummers are heading south, making your yard a critical place to refuel and rest before continuing on their fluttery way. Meanwhile, central and southern states are experiencing a surge, as wave after wave of weary travelers bottleneck head toward the Gulf Coast. Migrating birds are tired and vulnerable right now, and more are moving through your area than you might think.

Depending on where you live, the species visiting your feeders will shift dramatically. Eastern gardeners will primarily see Ruby-throated hummingbirds, including young birds embarking on their first migration journey. Western backyards will host a mix of feisty Rufous, Broad-tailed, Calliope, and Black-chinned hummers, while West Coast and Southwestern gardeners may support Anna’s Hummingbirds year round, as well as migrating flocks. Taking extra steps to secure your yard can protect and feed every tiny visitor passing through your area.

(Image credit: Daniel Ripplinger / DansPhotoArt / 500px / Getty Images)

As well as the following key steps, one of the easiest ways to protect hummers from fatal window strikes is by adding some UV-reflecting decals on your window. These help birds visualize glass as a solid barrier. For strong adhesive clout at a bargain price, try Mesinurs Anti-Collision Bird Stickers from Amazon. it’s also important to ensure that passing travelers have thick cover to shelter from predators, such as dense shrubs, trees, or tucked-away brush piles. If you have domestic cats that go outdoors, keep them inside until peak migration passes.

September is a critical transition period, and your choices in the garden can make it more successful for these little birds. This month is your time to shine, so keep an eye out for stragglers, and make sure your yard is ready with the following easy hummer wins during fall migration…

1. Provide Plentiful and Clean Nectar

(Image credit: Bob Warner / 500px / Getty Images)

If you are a hummingbird lover, you probably already have a nectar feeder hanging in the yard. That is a fantastic start, but visiting birds could benefit from even more this month. In September, hummingbirds are either bulking up for migration or actively traveling hundreds of miles. This is an energy-intensive period, and they need as much food as possible. If in doubt, you can’t go wrong with a classic red Perky-Pet Pinch-Waist Hummingbird Feeder from Amazon with its multiple perches and ant moat.

Keep providing fresh nectar throughout September, and if possible, hang additional feeders. Position new feeders in different locations out of the direct line of sight of existing stations. Hummingbirds like Rufous are fiercely territorial over food sources and can chase off hungry travelers when there is only a single feeder to share. Make sure you choose dedicated nectar, such as BirdBros Hummingbird Nectar, available from Amazon, which is dye-free and dilutes really well in warm water.

Plentiful nectar helps birds with energy reserves, but make sure you clean and refill feeders every 2-3 days to prevent harmful mold and bacteria growth. There is a myth that keeping feeders up late in the season prevents hummingbirds from migrating. This simply isn't true: shortening day length triggers migration instincts, and extra nectar can only help to ensure they survive the trek.

2. Plant Late Season Flowers

(Image credit: Tongho58 / Getty Images)

In addition to feeders, keeping your yard blooming well into September provides vital natural foraging for local and migrating hummingbirds. While summer offers an endless buffet of wild blooms, natural sources will begin to decline rapidly in fall. Migrating hummers will appreciate any late-blooming, nectar-rich flowers you can add to your garden beds now to supplement your feeders.

Choose hardy perennials appropriate for your climate that flourish in late summer and early fall. Outstanding fall choices include cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), anise hyssop (agastache), bee balm (monarda), fall asters, trumpet honeysuckle, autumn sage, and goldenrod. One gorgeous late season hummer magnet is cherry red American Beauties Major Wheeler Trumpet Honeysuckle, available from Plant Addicts, which keep flowering through fall.

September is an ideal time to plant containerized perennials and hardy flowering shrubs in most regions. The soil remains warm enough to encourage rapid root establishment, while cooler air prevents transplant stress. Alternatively, add some annuals that continue blooming up until the first frosts. Try late-blooming salvias such as electric blue Sacred Roots Nursery Black and Blue Salvia, available from Walmart, as well as flowering tobacco, lantana, zinnias, or Mexican sunflower to supplement your permanent garden borders and draw traveling birdies from afar.

3. Go Easy on Fall Cleanup

(Image credit: Jared Lloyd / Getty Images)

It’s tempting to do a thorough garden cleanup as summer winds down, but try to resist that urge. Leaving key areas of the garden natural, overgrown, and fading through September creates a sanctuary for migrating hummers. Fading perennial stems, tall seed heads, and dense shrub branches provide cover where birds can rest, preen, and hide from predators. Leaving natural detritus also protects beneficial insects, creating a healthier, more biodiverse ecosystem for all backyard wildlife.

While light maintenance is fine, leave beds near feeders and late-blooming plants untouched until the migration window closes. Layered canopy structures are best, combining overhead tree branches, mid-story shrubs, and low perennial cover. Juvenile hummers can spend up to 80% of their day perching to conserve body heat and digest sugar water, so leaving natural branch perches will give them safe, energy-saving resting spots.

If you lack natural resting or perching branches near your feeding stations, add some simple artificial options. Bamboo stakes, tomato cages, or trimmed hardwood branches pushed into the ground can give tired hummers observation posts to digest their sugar-heavy meals. The gorgeous Copper Heart Hummingbird Perch from Uncommon Goods is a charming weather-resistant swing option that birds will trust and you can admire (from a safe distance).

4. Add a Moving Water Source

(Image credit: Andy Dean Photography / Shutterstock)

While extra nectar keeps hummingbirds fueled, clean water is equally vital for their survival during migration. Unlike larger songbirds that splash around in deep bird baths, tiny hummingbirds prefer gentle mists or fine water droplets for drinking, bathing, and keeping feathers clean. They gleefully flit through fine water sprays on the wing, using the moisture to cool down after long flights. Ruby-throated & Allen’s hummers are especially fond of fine misters, often performing aerial acrobatics.

The catch-light sparkle of dripping water catches the keen eyes of high-altitude migrants flying overhead, signaling a safe, refreshing oasis below. Consider installing a dripping or misting attachment over your garden beds, or hanging one near feeder stations. As well as being invaluable during hot spells, they are perfect for when traveling birds get overheated from continuous flight. You can get Tanbaby Standing Misters from Walmart on clearance for multi-directional misting at adjustable heights.

If you maintain a standard bird bath or puddle bath as well, keep the water level shallow (under one inch or 2.5cm) and add smooth river stones so smaller birds can wade safely without risk of drowning. Clean water basins every few days to prevent mosquito larvae and bacterial buildup.

5. Protect Your Garden’s Insects

(Image credit: Hal Beral / Getty Images)

Hummingbirds are sometimes mistakenly thought of as solely feeding on nectar, but insects make up a massive portion of their daily diet. Hummingbirds rely on small spiders, gnats, aphids, and fruit flies for vital protein, amino acids, and fats. A natural garden filled with native flora and delayed fall cleanup supports the insects these birds desperately need at this time of year.

Protein consumption becomes critical during fall migration, powering the rapid wing muscle required to fly across vast distances. Keep your garden as pesticide-free and natural as possible through autumn. Avoid broad-spectrum chemical sprays that wipe out non-target insects. Leave hollow plant stems standing for beneficial bugs, and allow fallen leaf litter to remain under shrub borders.

Creating insect-friendly habitats ensures your yard offers a complete buffet for visiting birdies. By protecting small invertebrates, you give traveling hummingbirds the balanced nutrition required to complete their journeys in peak condition. Don’t forget your pocket binoculars, or even a monocular like the Nocs Provisions Zoom Tube Monocular Telescope from Amazon, so you can watch all the joys of migration and don’t miss a hungry beak or jewel-flashed wing!

Shop Hummingbird Essentials

(Image credit: Amy OBryan / Getty Images)

Make absolutely sure your backyard is the place for hummers to refuel and relax this fall! These essentials make it easy and enjoyable to support traveling hummingbirds. Then you can just focus on keeping your hummer station clean, safe, and fully stocked for migration season.

Best Fall Trio

Everyday Feeder

Perky-Pet Perky-Pet Favored Pinch-Waist Glass Feeder, 16 Oz

This classic features a pinch-waist glass bottle, ant moat, and 4 comfortable perching pins to give weary travelers a cozy landing pad. The red base pops against foliage, while the wide-mouth bottle unscrews easily for refilling.

Late-Season Magnet

American Beauties Native Plants Major Wheeler Trumpet Honeysuckle

Support your fall feeding station with this vibrant, nectar-soaked vine. Major Wheeler produces heavy clusters of cherry-red trumpets that flower through fall, creating a stunning visual that migrating hummers can spot from afar.

Resting Perch

uncommongoods Copper Heart Swing for Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds spend considerable time perching to conserve energy and digest nectar. Hanging this weather-resistant copper wire heart near your feeder gives traveling hummers a stylish observation station to survey their territory in peace.

Need more ideas for timely gardening jobs and seasonal expert advice delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for the free Gardening Know How Newsletter!

Sure, you can buy a soil test to determine whether your soil is acidic or alkaline. If it shows a pH at 6.5 or under, you are the proud owner of acidic soil. But there’s a shortcut that can give you a quick and easy answer: take a look at the plants that thrive in your yard.

If the hydrangea bushes are always full of lush blue flowers and your blueberries are the biggest and best in the neighborhood, your soil is probably acidic. And that means that other acid-loving plants will grow well in your landscape.

But which plants can be classified as acid-loving plants? There are more than a few. But if blue mophead hydrangeas and blueberries thrive in your backyard, here are the top plants to add to your garden in September.

Acid-Lovers to Plant in Autumn

Acid-loving plants are ones that thrive in soil with a pH level below 6.5, often preferring a pH of between 4.5 and 6.0. These plants require soil that is acidic in order to absorb nutrients like iron and manganese. In alkaline soil, these nutrients cannot be absorbed and the leaves of acid-loving plants turn yellow and fail to grow.

September is an ideal time to add acid-loving plants to your garden. Early fall is perfect since cool air temperatures and warm soil help the plants’ roots establish before winter.

Here are some wonderful plants to grow in your garden alongside hydrangeas and blueberries. And if you want to make your soil more acidic in order to grow some of these beautiful species, use this soil acidifier from Espoma.

1. Azalea

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Botanical Name

Rhododendron spp.

Hardiness

Zones 5-8

Azaleas are flowering shrubs that grow well in shady locations and acidic soil. Fan-favorites in the gardens, azaleas are both beautiful and incredibly versatile. You can find them in many different shapes, sizes, and colors – some evergreen and some deciduous. The azalea blossoms are funnel-shaped, often two-lipped blooms in shades of pink, red, purple, orange, and white.

The one downside to azaleas is their relatively short blooming season, only some three weeks. But azaleas can play other roles in the garden, offering stunning beauty when in flower and as a reliable green backdrop to let other plants shine throughout the year. They thrive in shade to partial sun in well-drained, acidic soil. Water regularly until the roots are established.

Try this reblooming azalea from the Home Depot for bright pink blooms from spring through fall.

2. Rhododendron

(Image credit: imageBROKER/Erhard Nerger / Getty Images)

Botanical Name

Rhododendron spp.

Hardiness

Zones 5-8

While every azalea is a rhododendron, all rhodies are not azaleas. Rhododendrons are large, evergreen shrubs with bold, glossy leaves and huge flower clusters. Rhododendrons are among the most famous of acid-loving garden plants, and among the plants most widely used in landscaping in this country. Their magnificent spring-blooming blossoms can come in pinks, reds, mauves and shades of white.

Grow rhododendrons in a location with partial sun, dappled sun, or light shade. They need acidic soil with top drainage. Apply a thick layer of pine bark mulch around the base of the shrubs to keep the roots cool and moist. Rhodies should be trimmed just after the flowers fade.

Want gorgeous violet blooms? Choose this 'Florence Parks' rhododendron from Home Depot.

3. Camellia

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Botanical Name

Camellia spp.

Hardiness

Zones 7-9

Shrubs in the camellia genus are evergreen plants with glossy leaves. They offer big, beautiful blooms – some as wide as your palm – in a wide variety of colors, from white, to pink, to gold. These beautiful flowering plants are one of the workhorses of southern gardens.

These acid-loving plants prefer moist, well-draining soil that is rich in organic matter. They prefer a soil pH of between 5.5 and 6.5. Plant them in a site with partial shade or dappled sun, always offering protection from hot afternoon sun and winter winds.

The soil should be kept evenly moist until the plants establish, and water during dry summers – this is when the buds for the following season are forming. Trim your camellias when the flowers fade, but never prune after the buds are set in late summer or fall.

Explore dozens of lovely camellias for sale from Plants by Mail.

4. Bunchberry

(Image credit: shakzu / Getty Images)

Botanical Name

Cornus canadensis

Hardiness

Zones 2-7

Go native whenever you can, if you want to make your life as a gardener as easy as possible. Native plants require little fertilizer, are drought tolerant, and live in harmony with native insects on native soil.

If your soil is acidic, one great native option is bunchberry, a low-growing, acid-loving plant with tiny spring blooms surrounded by bone-white bracts and glossy green leaves that turn red and purple in fall. Bright red berries make a dramatic addition and attract birds.

Bunchberry thrives in shady areas and moist, well-draining soil with a pH between 5.5 and 6.8. Keep the soil moist, irrigating during dry spells. Light organic mulch can help hold moisture into the soil.

You can find this unique native ground cover online from White Flower Farm.

5. Holly

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Botanical Name

Ilex spp.

Hardiness

Zones 5-7

Forget decking the halls! You are likely to fall in love with your holly bushes and warn friends and family not to clip off a single branch! Most of the many varieties of holly are shrubs, with shiny green leaves and – if the shrub is a female and there is a male holly plant in the neighborhood – bright berries. The dense foliage makes hollies a good choice for a privacy screen.

Most holly varieties grow best in a sunny area. While full sun is great, be certain your holly gets at least 3 hours of sun a day. The soil must be well-draining and acidic, and it should be kept moist the entire first growing season to allow the shrub to establish roots. Prune the holly very lightly to shape it in late winter before new growth begins. thrive best in full sun to partial shade (at least 3 to 6 hours of daily sun).

Shop both native and non-native holly bushes and trees from Trees.com (formerly Fast Growing Trees).

Coquitlam’s Westwood Plateau, with its large lots and upscale homes, has long attracted wealthy professionals with growing families. The area’s exclusive Rockridge Estates neighbourhood goes a bit further — and higher, as it sits at a slightly raised elevation — with its luxury, custom-built homes and natural privacy thanks to mature trees and lush greenbelts.

This Rockcress Place property is also a step above, sprawling over a more than 15,000-square-foot lot with hot tub and outdoor fireplace, and nearly 8,000-square-feet of indoor living space featuring eight bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

The backyard, with expansive patio and deck space, is nearly surrounded by tall trees and lots of bushes and hedges on an irrigation system.

The three-car garage and wide driveway can accommodate parking for six vehicles.

A newer tile roof, along with other upgrades, were added within the last few years. “That was a big cost and undertaking for that size roof,” says listing agent Carolyn Pogue of Royal LePage Sterling Realty and Pogue Real Estate Group.

What’s inside

The main floor family room’s double doors open onto a 500-square-foot deck that leads down a flight of steps to the backyard. The sunken living room’s 21-foot ceilings and tall windows to match make it feel quite grand, says Pogue.

Premium quartersawn solid wood flooring covering the main and second floors has recently been sanded and stained.

The commercial-grade kitchen features appliances by Wolf, Sub-Zero and Miele. “A door beside the fridge opens into a massive walk-through pantry, which is a nice feature,” says Pogue. There’s also a dining room as well as a separate eating area.

Custom cabinetry by Downsview Kitchens has been installed throughout the home, including extensively in the office, “Making for good storage organization, and you’re never short of space,” says Pogue.

The island’s countertop is stained solid wood, with a small area below for wine storage, while the rest of the countertops are stone.

A curved wood staircase winds up to four more bedrooms, most with en suite, plus a large flex space. The primary bedroom’s en suite features a step-up tub, walk-in shower and oversized vanity with duo sinks. There’re also a fireplace and a deck that extends off the primary bedroom. Most bathroom fixtures are by Kohler.

A huge playroom in the basement area, which has a separate entrance, allows plenty of space for kid games, or can be used for a bedroom, office or extra storage.

A theatre room with six chairs in tiered row seating features Surround Sound with additional soundproofing and heavier doors to reduce sound leak, says Pogue.

There’s also a wet bar for entertaining.

The home is warmed via radiant heat and three gas fireplaces, and cooled by AC.

In the neighbourhood

“Even though it’s in Coquitlam, you get the sought-after catchment of Heritage Woods Secondary and Dr. Charles Best Secondary for French Immersion,” says Pogue. “You’re close to everything while feeling nestled in nature.”

Many other top-rated schools — elementary, secondary and Montessori — are a short drive away, as is Douglas College Coquitlam Campus.

Both Westwood Plateau Golf & Country Club and GreenTee Country Club are a six-minute drive away.

Many parks, including the Minnekhada and Belcarra Regional Parks, are within 15 minutes’ drive. Town Centre Park, with its abundant sport, recreation and cultural amenities as well as Lafarge Lake, is a seven-minute drive away. Grocery stores, shops and restaurants, as well as Coquitlam Centre Station with SkyTrain and buses, are within an eight-minute drive. Pogue says there’s also transit that services the Rockridge Estates neighbourhood. Eagle Ridge Hospital is less than 10 minutes’ drive away.

“The space this home offers, very prestigious neighbourhood, lots of greenery, close to amenities within a few minutes drive, and really good school catchment appeals to families that want that kind of luxurious, grand feeling in their home,” says Pogue.

Location:1535 Rockcress Place, Coquitlam

Listed for: $2,999,999

Year built: 2001

Type: Eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms

Size: 7,925 square feet

Realtor: Listed by Carolyn Pogue, Royal LePage Sterling Realty and Pogue Real Estate Group

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Gwyneth Paltrow recently posted a video of herself making a frittata on Instagram. It was a very Gwyneth thing to do – wholesome, polished, and faintly aspirational – and it looked delicious. But the eggs are not what caught our attention. Before the frittata took center stage, Gwyneth was seen harvesting vegetables from the most beautiful raised-bed kitchen garden, which is clearly producing real food – not merely posing for the ‘gram.

Her Montecito garden, designed by landscape designer Christine London, is the kind of setup that makes you want to rip up half your lawn. It's gorgeous. It’s also, according to the experts I spoke to, doing several specific things right that any home gardener can copy – whether you’re looking for inspiration from these raised bed ideas or hoping to recreate Gwyneth’s productive setup. Purchasing property in Montecito is not required.

The Detail Everyone Gets Wrong

(Image credit: Alamy)

If there's one thing to remember from this whole article, it's this: keep your raised beds narrow. It’s not just a style preference; it’s just the correct way to do it if you want beds that are both functional and beautiful like Gwyneth's.

Limit the width to about 4 feet (1.2 m) so that all parts of the bed can be accessed from the side without stepping in and compacting the soil. Otherwise, that gorgeous wide bed becomes a sad, neglected middle strip that never really thrives because nobody wants to climb in and squish the soil to reach it.

A post shared by Gwyneth Paltrow (@gwynethpaltrow)

A photo posted by

If you have the space, then 4x8 feet is the maximum you should go for a single raised bed. That's the size of the Yaheetech wooden raised garden bed kit on Amazon, which is a good budget-friendly option if you want a natural wood look like Gwyneth's. For a smaller area, the 4x2ft Birdsinyard galvanized raised bed is a stylish solution with an open-bottom design, which helps solve the drainage problem that slowly kills so many kitchen gardens.

The Boring Bit That Actually Matters

(Image credit: PaulMaguire / Getty Images)

Here’s the thing nobody posts about: water. Andy Layton, founder and managing director of Hello Plumbing, has worked on enough kitchen gardens to know the unglamorous truth: “The most frequent cause of raised bed gardens not doing well is not due to plant selection or garden design. It’s a matter of drainage and access to water. A bed that doesn’t have good drainage can kill plants in one growing season, and a bed that is too far from a water source will be neglected in weeks because hand watering is too much work to do every day.”

In Gwyneth’s video, irrigation appears to have been integrated into her raised beds. To make watering easier, consider the All-in-One raised bed kits from Garden in Minutes. They include an irrigation grid for even, soil-level watering, an open-bottom design to encourage drainage, and a square-foot plant-spacing grid to make planting easy and consistent.

Whatever you do, don’t overlook these vital design issues, and heed Layton's cautionary tale: “We worked on a residential kitchen garden where the homeowner had constructed four beautiful cedar raised beds, but located 50 feet (15 m) from the closest faucet. The garden was abandoned in one summer. The cost of running a drip line from an existing faucet would have been less than $200, and the garden would have required very little daily maintenance.”

This is a lesson learned the expensive way, so you don’t have to learn it yourself: before you build anything beautiful, figure out where your water is coming from.

Stylish Raised Bed Kits

Self-Watering

Garden in Minutes 17" Tall, 2x6ft All-In-One Raised Garden Bundle

This all-in-one raised bed has its irrigation built in for low maintenance, and it divides the space into a super convenient grid for square foot planting.

Budget Pick

Yaheetech Raised Garden Bed Wooden Planter Box

If you like the look of Gwyneth's wooden raised beds, then opt for this budget-friendly raised bed, which comes in two sizes to suit your space.

Stylish Design

Birdsinyard Galvanized Raised Garden Bed, 4x2x1ft, 2-Pack, Olive Green

These metal garden planter boxes come in a range of sizes, but the 2x4 ones are ideal for patios and balconies, or for adding a little herb garden to an empty corner.

Paths Matter More Than You'd Think

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Good raised-bed design is about more than the beds themselves. Leave at least 18–24 inches (45–60 cm) between beds for comfortable walking access, and consider widening the paths to around 24–35 inches (60–90 cm) if you want to move a wheelbarrow through the garden.

A dual-wheel wheelbarrow, like this one from Best Choice Products, available on Amazon, makes navigating paths between beds far easier than a single-wheel barrow.

Walking aisles between raised beds should be between 18 and 24 inches (45–90 cm) wide so that there is ample room to walk through the garden and work on the garden. These dimensions are not a matter of aesthetics; they are a matter of function.

Bed height matters, too. Raising beds to at least 12 inches (30 cm) creates a more intentional structure, while beds around 17–24 inches (43–60 cm) high are easier for people with back or knee limitations to access. If bending over makes you wince, build the beds taller. Nobody’s judging.

A simple foam kneeler pad, like this one from Gorilla Grip on Amazon, can make harvesting from lower beds much easier on your knees.

Choose Plants for a Productive Raised Bed

(Image credit: ARTFULLY PHOTOGRAPHER / Shutterstock)

Good raised-bed design is about more than appearance. Place drought-tolerant herbs such as rosemary and thyme around the edges, where the soil dries out fastest, while moisture-loving basil will be happier closer to the center. Put tall crops, including tomatoes and trellised beans, at the back so they do not shade shorter plants.

Herbs also earn their space in a kitchen garden, adding texture, color, fragrance, and food for pollinators. For an encouraging first harvest, start with productive crops such as lettuce, kale, green beans, zucchini, strawberries, and dwarf tomatoes. Just avoid overcrowding: plants need enough room, water, light, and airflow to grow strongly.

You can keep the beds productive for longer with succession planting. As one crop finishes, replace it with another vegetable or herb, creating a garden that continues to provide fresh harvests and visual interest throughout the growing season.

Your Raised Bed To-Do List

The TL;DR version? If you're taking anything away from Gwyneth's garden besides frittata envy, make it this:

1. Keep beds under 1.2 meters wide so you never have to step into the soil. Leave at least 18–24 inches between beds for proper access.

2. Sort your drainage and water source before you build anything, not after.

3. Plant your drought-tolerant herbs at the edges, thirstier plants in the middle, and tall crops at the back so nothing's shading out its shorter neighbors.

4. Resist the urge to plant one of absolutely everything; pick a handful of fast, rewarding crops to start, and let the garden (and your confidence) grow from there.

Whether you’re planning a major renovation, a seasonal refresh or simply looking for ideas to make your home work better, you’ll find plenty of worthwhile tips at the 2026 Vancouver Fall Home Show.

The event, which returns to the Vancouver Convention Centre from Oct. 15 to 18, will feature more than 200 exhibitors and bring together industry experts, products and resources across home improvement and design, fashion, wellness and food.

The overarching theme of this year’s show, says coordinator Madelyne Lemieux, is the creation of spaces that help us live better.

“Whether that means renovating, improving energy efficiency, enhancing wellness or updating your decor, the show is focused on helping people build homes that support their lifestyle,” she says.

Here are seven must-see highlights:

Presentations on the Sleep Country Main Stage

HGTV fan-favourite Sarah Baeumler will headline the main stage with interactive Q&A sessions on Oct. 15 and 16. In keeping with this year’s theme, the interior design expert will share practical advice for homeowners on how to make their spaces feel calmer, healthier and more personal.

“I’m going to talk about what it’s like to design for real life — for family routines, busy schedules and the messiness of everyday life — while designing with the idea of a calmer routine in mind,” she says.

Also returning to the main stage are sleep expert Neil Harding, who will share advice on sleep health, and My House Design/Build Team’s Graeme Huguet, who will offer advice on making design and renovation projects more approachable and achievable.

The Healthy Home

One of the most anticipated highlights of this year’s show is the Healthy Home feature, inspired by Sarah Baeumler. A series of curated room vignettes will showcase simple strategies for improving sleep, reducing stress and creating a home that supports overall well-being.

“We’re going to talk about things like lighting choices, colour choices, air quality and materials in the home,” she says. “And even just daily organization and routines.”

The YMCA Health and Recreation Zone

The YMCA Health and Recreation Zone will put the focus on “movement, mindfulness and overall well-being,” Lemieux says. The interactive space will give visitors a chance to take part in demonstrations and pick up practical tips for incorporating healthy habits into their lives.

Smash + Tess

Fashion lovers can check out loungewear, dresses, knitwear and seasonal pieces at the show’s first-ever Smash + Tess pop-up. The B.C.-based, woman-owned clothing brand will also host a fashion show on the main stage on Oct. 17, “reflecting the idea that how we live extends beyond our homes,” Lemieux says.

The Cooking Stage

The Cooking Stage will bring back Chef Bruno Feldeisen from The Great Canadian Baking Show, alongside former Top Chef Canada contestants Deseree “Dez” Lo, Haan Palcu-Chang and Billy Nguyen. Through live demonstrations, attendees will discover new techniques, food trends and recipes to create at home.

On Oct. 16 and 17, the chefs will take part in challenges, and a few lucky attendees will be selected as VIP taste testers.

The Market District

This year, the Market District will feature the show bar within the market for the first time, allowing visitors to sip while shopping local products. For those looking to incorporate more art into their home, the Art Market will offer a variety of styles, from contemporary and abstract art to mixed media and resin creations, making it a “great place to discover unique pieces to add character to your home,” Lemieux says.

The Passport Program

The newly introduced Passport Program offers visitors a chance to win prizes while exploring the show. Attendees can pick up a passport stamp card at the entrance, visit participating exhibitors to collect stamps and submit the completed card for a chance to win up to 10 prizes valued at more than $250 each. “It’s an exciting way to increase your chances of winning a prize from the show,” Lemieux says.

The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

Related

• Vancouver Fall Home Show: Sarah Baeumler will touch on everything from linens to lighting
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When asked what we can gain by watching an interactive cooking demonstration, Top Chef Canada’s Dez Lo turns to an automotive analogy.

“You can tell me how amazing it is to drive a Ferrari, but unless I get to try it myself, I won’t really know how it feels to go from zero to 60, not unless I get to step on the gas,” says the show’s season 10 runner-up.

Lo knows that some recipes can be tricky to follow, but seeing a chef work through a dish can make the process easier — and a lot more fun. That’s what Lo hopes to bring to the home show Cooking Stage stage, where she’ll team up with friends and fellow Top Chef Canada alumni Haan Palcu-Chang and Billy Nguyen.

New to the Cooking Stage lineup this year is a two-day chef’s table feature, with cooking demonstrations that will centre around B.C. seafood and local ingredients. With seafood supplied by Vancouver-based sustainable seafood provider eatfish.ca, the chefs will demonstrate how to turn fresh ingredients into dishes that can be recreated at home. Lo will appear with Palcu-Chang on Oct. 16 at 4:30 p.m., and with Nguyen on Oct. 17 at 3 p.m.

Palcu-Chang lives on Salt Spring Island, where Lo says people love to entertain with outdoor, farm-to-table dining, an approach that will influence their Cooking Stage collaboration, with dishes focused on fresh, locally sourced ingredients.

Nguyen and Lo have also become close friends, working together on pop-ups in Vancouver and Calgary. With a shared Cantonese background, they enjoy creating Asian-fusion dishes that draw on their heritage, while incorporating local ingredients. They’ll also take that approach at the home show; they’ll create a more intimate, formal dinner, but the dishes will still be approachable. “We want to focus on turning something that you already have in your kitchen into something new, and give it a new spin — teach how to make it into something you may not have known to do, a totally different flavour profile than you’ve done before,” Lo says.

While seafood will be the main focus of the Chef’s Table feature, Lo says home cooks shouldn’t be intimidated by ingredients such as geoduck or sea cucumber. Her friend Jenice Yu, the so-called Sea-E-O of eatfish.ca , introduced her to B.C.’s abundant seafood after she moved to Vancouver from New York. Now, Lo keeps preparations simple, quickly sautéing geoduck or serving it sashimi style with a little light soy sauce. “Genuinely good ingredients should shine on their own,” she says.

That simplicity is part of what Lo hopes visitors will take away from watching the chefs at work. She also encourages home cooks to experiment, rather than follow a recipe too closely. She might swap halibut cheeks into a beef rendang, for instance, or use Sichuan peppercorns in place of jalapeño. “Trust your instincts and play around with it,” she says.

When asked about an ideal fall dinner that incorporates local seafood, Lo imagines a seafood boil packed with Dungeness crab, Salt Spring mussels, Vancouver Island clams and big pieces of halibut cheek, all mixed in a creamy Cajun butter sauce and dumped over a newspaper-covered table. Add Chilliwack peaches-and-cream corn, crusty bread and a cold glass of B.C. beer, and you have a meal Lo says could be made almost entirely from local ingredients.

“You can cook the entire pot with ingredients found within 100 kilometres of B.C. You don’t even need to go anywhere else.”

The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

Related

• Vancouver Fall Home Show: Health and wellness take centre stage
• Vancouver Fall Home Show: Sarah Baeumler will touch on everything from linens to lighting

I love a houseplant that thrives on neglect, and not because I'm a particularly neglectful plant parent, but because life has a habit of getting in the way of even the best intentions. One minute I'm carefully checking the soil and rotating my plants for even light, and the next I've realised I can't remember the last time I watered anything.

I always mean well. A new houseplant comes home, I find it a beautiful spot, learn exactly what it needs and promise myself I'll stick to a sensible care routine. For a few weeks, I'm as attentive as any plant could hope for... and then work gets busy, the toddler forgets how to sleep at night, my weekend disappears, and suddenly I'm standing in the living room wondering who swapped my beautiful orchid with a very brown stick.

Thankfully, some houseplants are considerably more forgiving than others. They don't need constant fussing, perfectly consistent conditions or an owner who has their watering schedule neatly color-coded. In fact, they can tolerate the occasional missed watering and, perhaps most importantly, they don't immediately make you feel like you've failed them.

The Houseplants That Thrive On Neglect

Every houseplant collection needs one stalwart that thrives on neglect, if only to reassure owners that there is at least one thing that promises to get on with things while the rest of your life is refusing to cooperate.

So, after plenty of personal experience with plants that have survived my less-than-perfect attention, I've narrowed it down to three particularly resilient choices...

1. The Snake Plant

(Image credit: thipyada namwongsa / Getty Images)

If I had to crown the king of houseplants that thrive on neglect, it would 100% be a snake plant; there is something almost comically resilient about them.

Oh sure, their leaves look wonderfully dramatic, but they really don't demand the sort of constant attention you might expect; in fact, they are particularly good at coping with periods of dryness because those aforementioned leaves store water. They're also happy in a range of light conditions, although brighter, indirect light will generally encourage better growth.

In other words, the birth month houseplant for January babies everywhere is really rather good at the whole “I'll see you when I see you” approach to houseplant ownership. Actually, the biggest mistake you can make is probably loving them too much, as overwatering is far more likely to cause problems than forgetting to water them for a while.

Shop Snake Plants:

Snake Plant 'Laurentii'

Altman Plants Snake Plant 'Laurentii'

Snake Plant 'Moonshine'

Generic Snake Plant 'Moonshine'

Whale Fin Snake Plant

Thorsen's Greenhouse Whale Fin Snake Plant

2. ZZ plant

(Image credit: ABCowan / Shutterstock)

Almost suspiciously good at fulfilling the brief for 'houseplant that thrives on neglect', the glossy green ZZ plant has thick rhizomes that store water, helping this pretty plant to cope with periods of drought. (This is particularly useful for people like me, who occasionally look at a plant and realise I can't remember whether I watered it yesterday, last week or possibly sometime in another calendar year).

ZZ plants are also tolerant of lower light, although they will grow more slowly there, and they generally prefer you to let their potting mix dry out between waterings. All of which means, basically, that if you want something that looks elegant but doesn't require constant fussing, this is a very good candidate.

To make things even easier, you can buy a ZZ plant in a ceramic pot from Costa Farms. Just pop it somewhere to do its wonderful air-purifying thing, and reap the benefits for almost zero effort.

3. Spider Plants

(Image credit: KrimKate / Shutterstock)

Spider plants have been quietly earning their reputation as practically indestructible houseplants for decades, and I think it's time we gave them some credit.

They're cheerful, unfussy and incredibly good at producing those long trailing stems covered in baby plants. (Seriously, even if you aren't particularly interested in propagating houseplants, it's difficult not to feel a little pleased with yourself when your spider plant starts producing a whole collection of teeny-weeny offspring).

They're also wonderfully forgiving if your watering routine isn't quite as consistent as it should be, making spider plants particularly useful for filling shelves, hanging baskets or awkward corners you might find yourself forgetting about them for a while. (Guilty, as charged!).

Shop Spider Plants:

Shop Succulents 'Bonnie' Curly Spider Plant

American Plant Exchange Hanging Spider Plant

American Plant Exchange Spider Plant – 6-Inch Pot

Before anyone gets the bright idea of writing to me, I'm not suggesting you should deliberately neglect your houseplants; they still need the basics (think appropriate light, occasional watering, a decent potting mix and a little attention when something looks wrong).

That being said, I do think there's something to be said for building a collection around plants that fit your lifestyle rather than trying to become the sort of person who remembers the precise watering schedule of 27 different tropical plants. And for me, that's the real appeal of snake plants, spider plants and ZZ plants. They look good, they're forgiving, and if life gets busy for a week or two, they're unlikely to hold a grudge.

And sometimes, that? Why, that's exactly the kind of houseplant friendship I need.

Most gardens get designed around whoever built them, which holds up fine right until it doesn't. A knee goes, or somebody comes home from surgery with a lifting restriction, or a kid wants to help and can't see over the wall of the bed. Accessible gardening starts from a different place: bodies change, and the layout ought to still work when they do.

Much of what makes accessible gardens function has less to do with disability than people assume, and more to do with height and surface, plus how far anyone has to lean to reach the middle of a bed. Sort that out and the afternoon gets easier for the gardener with a bad back or the 80-year-old still growing tomatoes.

Here are some clever ways to make your garden more accessible and easier to grow in at any age or at any ability level.

Accessible Gardening Ideas

None of these ideas require a contractor. A couple are weekend projects and the rest come down to buying a better version of something you probably already have in the shed.

1. Build Tall Raised Beds

(Image credit: Alamy)

One foot to 18 inches (30-46 cm) is where most raised beds top out, which suits almost nobody. At 28 to 32 inches (71-81 cm) the soil sits around desk level and your arms do the work instead of your whole back while bending over low beds.

Reach is the other half of the equation. From my wheelchair, I can get maybe 24 inches (61 cm) in before my shoulders give up. So a bed approached from one side shouldn't run deeper than that. Four feet (1.2 m) works when both sides of the bed are open.

Home Depot carries an extra-tall metal raised bed kit from Vego in that height range. A wide cap board on a wooden raised bed gives you an edge to sit on while working in your garden.

2. Create Wide, Sturdy Paths

(Image credit: pcturner71 / Getty Images)

Loose bark looks great in photos, but makes wheelchairs roll terribly. A garden path that only works when it's dry isn't really a path. Call it a good weather suggestion. Compacted decomposed granite holds up under a wheelchair or a loaded wheelbarrow without grabbing at the wheels and so do pavers set tight against each other.

Width is as important as the material. 36 inches (91 cm) is the working minimum and 48 inches (122 cm) leaves room for somebody to walk alongside you. Dead ends should have a 5-foot (1.5 m) circle at the finish, since backing up blind is nobody's favorite maneuver.

3. Grow Up, Not Out

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Harvesting plants at chest height makes the process so much easier. Pole beans and cucumbers on a trellis pull the picking up out of the dirt and an arch over a path does the same while shading whatever grows underneath. A cattle panel trellis arch is a cheap solution and tends to outlast the plants on it.

Wall pockets on a fence handle herbs and salad greens well. What all of these solutions avoid is the part where somebody gets down on the ground and then has to work their way back up. That part can be hard for anyone, not only older gardeners or people with a diagnosis.

4. Add Wheels to Heavy Planters

(Image credit: Ashley-Belle Burns / Getty Images)

Once a pot passes about 80 pounds (36 kg) full, it stops being portable and becomes a permanent installation. A rolling plant caddy with locking casters, available on Amazon, gets that weight moving again. Easily move it out of an early frost or into shade once the July heat sets in.

Fabric grow bags and resin pots weigh a fraction of terracotta pots and hurt considerably less when one slips. A cluster near the door shortens the trip.

5. Invest in Ergonomic Tools

(Image credit: Tom Merton / Getty Images)

Grip strength usually goes before anything else, well ahead of the point where anyone wants to quit gardening in my experience. That's where ergonomic gardening tools come in.

A ratchet pruner from Fiskars cuts in stages rather than one hard squeeze, so the hand does less work at any single moment. Telescoping handles reach into the middle of a bed without the lean. D-grips and fat padded handles beat the skinny round ones for anybody, arthritic or not.

Bright colors help, too, since a red handle is easily visible in a sea of green plants and brown mulch. Green tools disappear into the bed and stay hidden until fall cleanup.

6. Water Wisely

(Image credit: AleMasche72 / Getty Images)

Water is surprisingly heavy, so hauling around a heavy watering can isn't very accessible. A full two-gallon (7.5 L) can runs close to 17 pounds (7.7 kg), and most beds take more than one trip. Watering is the chore that tends to get skipped in a heat wave and that's when the worst damage can occur.

Install drip irrigation under mulch. Use a hose timer from Home Depot (this is the one that Content Editor Laura has used for years) to simplify further. All that's left after setup is checking the emitters haven't clogged.

If you prefer to use hoses, quick-connect fittings take the wrist twisting out of threading a coupling. A guide stake at each corner keeps the line from dragging across whatever just went in the ground.

7. Provide Plenty of Rest Areas

(Image credit: Tim Sandall/RHS)

Garden benches aren't just there to look nice. Fatigue can show up sooner than anyone planned, so a place to sit down within reach may decide whether the weeding gets finished or abandoned halfway. Wide raised bed edges count as rest spots. So do a couple of upturned crates.

Add a rest area every 20 or 30 feet (6-9m) along the main route through your garden, plus one near the potting bench where the standing work happens. Shade over at least one of your rest areas. You'll thank yourself come July.

Few mulches carry a reputation quite like pine straw. If you’ve ever attended a community plant swap or browsed an online gardening forum, you’ve almost certainly encountered this warning: never put pine needles in your flower beds unless you want to turn your soil as sour as a lemon. Pine needles sour the soil, so the accepted wisdom goes, and they belong under acid-loving plants like azaleas and blueberries, and nowhere near a vegetable patch or perennial border.

The warning travels with the confidence of fact. Meanwhile, plenty of free potential pine straw mulch gets raked into bags each fall and hauled to the curb or municipal landfills. Welcome back to Garden Mythbusters – because It’s time to set the record straight on pine needles. Freshly fallen needles do carry some acidity, it’s fair to say. Pines often grow in acidic soil, so the suspicion didn’t come from nowhere. However, what this myth skips is everything that happens after a needle hits the ground.

That transformative process plays out slowly, quietly, and largely out of sight – and it’s precisely where the myth starts coming apart. If you’ve ever dodged using pine needles for fear of souring the ground near your tomatoes and perennials, this is hopefully going to reassure you. Take a closer look at pine straw, and it reveals itself not as a potential threat but as one of the most useful, budget-friendly mulches that nature has to offer. Let’s delve a bit deeper into a common misapprehension…

How the Pine Needle Myth Began

At full strength, the claim runs something like this: every fresh layer of pine straw leaches acidic compounds into the earth. Year after year, this buildup stacks, raising acid levels until the bed tips too sour for the likes of standard vegetables and perennials, which thrive best in slightly acidic to neutral ground (pH 6-7). If you haven’t tested your soil pH recently, it’s worth checking in, as this can change over time. Highly rated Raintrip Soil Meter 4-in-1 Probe, available from Amazon, is a helpful way to assess soil pH as well as light, nutrients and moisture levels.

A slightly gentler version of the pine needle myth suggests that while pine straw might not instantly kill your garden, it should be reserved for acid-loving ornamentals like blueberries and azaleas. In each case, the final takeaway is emphatic: keep your harvested pine needles away from your primary garden beds.

(Image credit: JIN HYUN KIM / Alamy)

There is a number attached to this, too. Living pine needles taken from a tree typically test between 3.2 and 3.8 on the pH scale, putting them in roughly the same acidic neighborhood as grapefruit juice. A standard vegetable bed sits 2-3 points higher on the scale. Because the pH scale is logarithmic, which means every step down represents a tenfold increase in acidity, this numerical gap looks alarming. The stark number is what powers the myth. Yes, it’s a legitimate measurement taken from a living needle. But it’s been quietly misapplied to any soil where it might then land.

Why the Pine Myth Sticks

(Image credit: Beatrice Sirinuntananon / Alamy)

The main reason this myth is so sticky is a classic case of mistaken cause and effect. Southern Longleaf (Pinus palustris) and Eastern White (Pinus strobus) pine tree varieties dominate regions with sandy, naturally acidic soils. Across the South and coastal regions, landscapers top acid-loving azalea and camellia beds with pine straw almost by default. Over time, growers start to believe that it’s the needles that created the acidic conditions underneath. In reality, the acidic soil was there first, and the pines simply evolved to thrive in it.

(Image credit: Gary Mayes / Getty Images)

Then there’s the bare earth under a mature pine tree. This looks like evidence. Grass thins out, weeds refuse to grow, and the carpet of needles lying on top takes all the blame. In reality, heavy shade is the likelier culprit. Dense pine canopies block vast amounts of sunlight, so the ground directly underneath struggles with the sunshine shortfall.

Meanwhile, a massive, shallow root network (often extending 2-3 times wider than the tree's canopy) aggressively sucks up every drop of available moisture and nutrients. Furthermore, a dense mat of interlocked needles can physically prevent seeds from reaching bare dirt. So, all this comes into play. But all we hear is that the soil must be sour – and blaming the acidity in needles becomes a tidier explanation.

Problems with the Pine Myth

(Image credit: Gomezdavid / Getty Images)

Here is the central reality, the bit where the pine needle myth falls down as it were: the acidity inside a fallen needle is fleeting and doesn’t hang around. As soon as a needle turns brown and drops, its organic compounds begin to break down. Microbes, fungi, and beneficial soil bacteria immediately digest the organic matter, neutralizing the organic acids during decomposition. Whatever minute acidic liquid does leach out hits the top layer of soil first, where natural buffering absorbs the hit.

The acid is real, but it is spent right at the surface, long before it has a chance to reach the roots of any plants growing in the ground. A 2-3-inch (5-8cm) layer of pine needles typically won't move soil pH enough to register on a test. Even fresh green pine needles dug straight into a bed tend to cause only a slight, temporary and harmless dip before microbes balance the equation.

(Image credit: Katrin Primak / Getty Images)

If you were growing an acid-loving plant and you wanted to make your soil more acidic, you’d need to go for something that means business. For example, if you are chasing a lower pH for blueberries or azaleas, you’d need elemental sulfur or a dedicated soil acidifier, like Espoma’s Organic Soil Acidifier from Walmart. Because using pine needles for this purpose simply won't cut it.

Convert an open field into a forest plantation, and over decades the soil below may lose a few tenths of a pH point. Some of that likely traces to the living trees, which pull calcium and other base minerals into their own wood and foliage as they grow. Rainfall and the rock that the soil formed from still count for a great deal. But raking a few inches of dry needles over your hostas or tomatoes will not alter your soil pH.

Beyond the Pine Straw Myth

(Image credit: Billy_Fam / Getty Images)

Once you strip away the unfounded pH worries, pine straw starts looking like a pretty good deal. For anyone with pine trees nearby, it can be a superstar mulch. It’s a free, renewable resource, dropped fresh every fall. It breaks down slowly, and it often holds up for a full season before a bed needs topping up. Unlike bark mulch nuggets, which can be dislodged in heavy rain, pine needles tend to interlock as they settle, forming a stable blanket that stays in place even on slopes. They are also unlikely to smother roots the way a fine, matted mulch sometimes can.

(Image credit: Feofra / Shutterstock)

Equally important is how pine straw behaves under pressure. Pine straw stays loose and springy, instead of packing into a crust, so rain and air move through it easily and the bed below is shielded from compaction. Come winter, that same layer helps to even out the soil temperature around the roots like a cozy duvet. It’s light enough to toss over low, tender plants on a frosty night, insulating perennial crowns against freeze-thaw cycles without suffocating root systems.

The only genuine caution applies in wildfire-prone regions. Dry pine straw is highly flammable. In these areas, you need to keep pine needles at least 5 feet (1.5m) or so away from home foundations and wooden structures.

Put the Fall Needle Drop to Work!

(Image credit: Maryana Serdynska / Getty Images)

Fall needle drop is nature’s invitation to mulch your garden for free, and putting it to good use is easy. A rake full of rust-brown needles is about as low-effort as mulch gets. Use a narrow shrub rake, like the Bully Tools Shrub Rake from The Home Depot, to pull dry brown needles out from beneath low-hanging evergreen branches and perennial borders. Spread a 2-3-inch (5-8cm) layer across flower beds and vegetable plots, and around established shrubs. Leave a 2-inch (5cm) gap around woody stems and trunks to prevent moisture buildup against the bark. Maintain that crucial 5-foot (1.5m) safety buffer from house foundations in wildfire country.

If you live in a region with freezing winters, save a few bags for late fall. Stash extra needles in breathable yard bags off the ground until the first hard freeze arrives. If you don’t have any, you can get generous Joyhalo 72-Gallon Leaf Bags from Amazon to help you store your pine mulch out of the rain. Once the top layer of soil freezes solid, spread a loose blanket of needles over tender perennial crowns and garlic beds to protect them during freeze-thaw swings. Just avoid applying winter mulch too early in the fall, as a warm, cozy pile of needles can attract nesting voles and mice.

In milder regions where the ground rarely freezes, pine needle mulch can go down whenever a bed starts looking thin. Every needle has a job waiting in the beds below, and the soil underneath will likely test the same pH next spring as it does today. But you can be sure the earth will be well looked after if you’ve put your pine needles to good use this month!

Shop Soil Care Essentials

Putting fallen pine needles to work in your yard is one of the easiest, most budget-friendly ways to protect your soil and tender plants through winter. That said, a few smart extras can help you enhance your soil care routine this fall. From tools to help gather needles to amendments to really lower soil pH for true acid-lovers, these curated products will help you tackle your fall prep with confidence.

Ground Control Trio

Narrow Debris Collector

Bully Tools Bully Tools Lightweight Shrub Rake

With its narrow profile and lightweight design, this rake glides smoothly between tight perennial stems and under low-hanging branches. Gather fallen needles cleanly without pulling up tender plant foliage or damaging shallow roots.

Strong Soil Acidifier

Espoma Espoma Organic Soil Acidifier

If you genuinely need to lower soil pH for acid-loving crops like blueberries, azaleas, or hydrangeas, this elemental sulfur formula gets the job done. It safely lowers soil pH over time, providing the precise acidity these plants require.

Soil & Bloom Booster

TPS Nutrients Seaweed Fertilizer Organic Liquid Kelp Plant Food

This gentle blend helps to strengthen soil microbial activity (to decompose organic mulches like pine straw), while delivering essential potassium and trace minerals to all your winterizing perennials and heavy feeders.

More Garden Mythbusters

• Does the Pointy End of a Bulb Really Need to Be Facing Up When You Plant It?
• Vegetable Companion Planting Myths – Plus, the Planting Pairs that Really Work
• Does Gravel in the Base of Pots Really Help with Drainage?

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