Joseph Tychonievich, a garden writer and backyard plant breeder and passionate flower grower, has gone on a bit of a sunflower binge, declaring it his personal Year of the Sunflower. He and I chatted recently about the best of the old and new Helianthus, some favorite catalogs for sunflowers and many other easy flowers—and also about growing sweet peas, which apparently are also front-and-center on Joseph’s wish list this year.
You may recall previous confessionals from Joseph, about his “issues,” shall we say, with gladiolus and hollyhocks. He is the author of books on backyard plant breeding and also rock gardening, among his many botanical interests. Our interview is another episode of the A Way to Garden annual winter seed series, when I virtually shop the catalogs with various expert friends and get growing advice, too. 
While researching a story about the endangered status of native trillium in North America recently, I was happy to meet today’s guest, botanist Wesley...
There's an old expression in gardening, a folksy piece of advice that states: "Don't fight the site." James Golden has been guided by a...
Shrubs: I think of them as the sort of human-sized plants, and they definitely are the backbone of the garden. Ken Druse and I...