I have a patch of zinnias and some milkweed, and cat mint and I was wondering if it would be better for pollinators if i left them over winter and cleared up in the spring? I know that zinnias are annuals, but maybe little critters can use their stems to stay warm. Any advice?

This tree dried up during a heat wave. I need to replace it because it had sentimental value. Unfortunately every time I Google it I get a different answer.

Years of warehouse work have been rough on my knees, and harvesting peppers and tomatoes from ground-level beds is getting harder. Last spring I built a few 12-inch cedar raised beds, thinking that would help. It did a little, but I still end up in an awkward squat whenever I need to reach the back.

I tried kneeling pads, but they keep sliding around on the gravel paths between the beds. Now I'm considering adding a sturdy rail along the edge for support, or rebuilding one bed at a more comfortable height. I'd rather modify what I already have than start everything from scratch.

Has anyone made similar changes to their raised beds? I'm especially interested in what height worked best, whether support rails were actually useful, and what materials held up outdoors in North Carolina weather.

Trying to make the garden easier to work in without spending a fortune rebuilding it.

Figured you all would appreciate these.

I love old books and these are the Audel's Gardeners and Growers Guides - a 4 book set circa 1928.

Audel makes informational books on all kinds of subjects and have been doing so from a very long time.

I have the Carpentry set and a few of their one off books on home improvement and I just got these.

You can find these books on Etsy and Ebay.

Hey everyone! I’m looking to switch careers into horticulture (in UK) and want to know if my CV is suitable for an apprenticeship application. I’ve removed my personal details. Ideally, I’d love to get some feedback from a professional.

My Sambuca Nigra, around 2 yrs old, grew like crazy this spring and summer. A week or so ago, it started looking dead. I have drip irrigation for it and the surrounding area, so no real change in water. I'm in Zone 7b and we haven't had a frost yet. Most trees still have green leaves. Any idea what the problem might be?

I work for a small garden shop in the New England area of the US. Our previous vendor stopped selling houseplants and local options are the usual plants everyone has been buying since the 1970s.

Can anyone recommend an East Coast vendor who is near(ish) to New England or charge freight that is unlikely to exceed $1k.

Types of plants? Wide range of hoyas, calathea, philodendron, alocasia, ferns, succulents and cactus, etc.

I appreciate any ideas.

10.11.2026 ♡

Hello, I recently moved in to my future mother in law's house to assist her after she had a heart attack is taking a break from work. Her backyard is severely overgrown with weeds, shrubs, and a cactus. I have spent some time every weekend hand pulling weeds and plan on trimming the grass next, but this cactus...

I am not too familiar with cactus management, since I grew up in the Midwest, but MIL wants to prune this down, potentially even get rid of it.

Does anyone have advice to get this down to a manageable size or extra advice on how to get rid of it? It would

Hi everyone! 👋 I'm Manasvi, a student doing my dissertation on why gardening feels so hard for beginners, even with so much info online.

I'd love to hear from anyone: complete beginners, people who tried and struggled, balcony/indoor gardeners, or experienced gardeners.

⏱️ 3–5 minutes, anonymous, purely academic
🔗 https://forms.gle/72bZyCbTG2t3WR7y5

If you'd rather just comment on what you find most frustrating about gardening, I'd love to read that too. Thank you so much! 🌿

Do you think this will help to get extend growth and vegetative state as appose to ever bearing like Bonnie’s claims?

For any growers out there selling fruit or vegetables to more than one packhouse, wholesaler, or supermarket program: are you constantly re-sending the same certs and test reports, or do they all accept the same documentation?

I’m curious how this feels day-to-day for Australian growers, especially with things like Freshcare or HARPS. Are you dealing with a mess of different buyer portals and email chains?Even if you're not in Australia, I'd love to know how you usually handle this on your end.

(Forgive my messy window.) My lilac bush hasn’t bloomed all year yet suddenly this week boom two bloom clusters out of nowhere. The bush is completely barren save for new growth and these two blooms. Is this normal and what is happening?

I run a warehouse. Twelve hour shifts some days. Come home wanting fresh basil for the grill and the stuff's gone to flower again. Tried growing it inside last winter under a cheap shop light. It lived. Barely. Leggy and pale. Now I'm wondering if I should even bother moving my outdoor pots indoors for fall. My kitchen window gets maybe four hours of direct light. The rest is that weak filtered stuff through old glass. I see these fancy grow light setups online. Hundreds of dollars. Not happening. Tried one of those thirty dollar purple bulbs before. Burned the leaves on one side and the other side still stretched for the window. Classic. My fiancée wants herbs for the wedding menu. Wants me growing them. I want to not fail publicly. Anyone got a middle ground? A bulb or setup that actually works for basil through a North Carolina winter without costing like a warehouse overtime shift. Or am I better off just buying starts every spring and accepting the cycle.

I don’t know crap about plants, taking a horticulture class and this tragedy happened as I was walking to my car. What do I do?

I have these plants in pots, anyone know what they are and how to care for them over winter in hardiness zone 5a. Thank you

I'm 22 and currently in my first year of a Philosophy BA at a Russell Group university. I do have an interest in philosophy, but naively applied because it was the only degree I had the subject-specific grades for. I'm now seriously considering leaving to pursue horticulture, which has also been a lifelong interest of mine.

I've always struggled with academic environments. I dropped science at GCSE (which I now regret), left sixth form for two years and only finished my qualifications at 20. I'm only a couple of weeks into university, but I'm already struggling. The course isn't what I expected, and I'm questioning whether a degree costing tens of thousands of pounds is worth it when I'm not enjoying it, don't particularly want the careers it leads to (law, finance, marketing, journalism etc.) and have no guaranteed job at the end.

By contrast, I've worked in horticulture for a year, across all the seasons, and genuinely miss it. I've also come close to getting apprenticeships at Kew Gardens (8th on the reserve list for 7 places) and the Royal Parks (2nd for one position), so I sometimes wonder whether I should have kept trying.

The main complication is that I don't have science A-levels, which seem to be required for many horticulture degrees. I'd therefore be looking at apprenticeships, vocational qualifications or working my way up through employment.

I'm under no illusions about the financial realities: I know the work can be physically demanding, wages can be low and progression isn't always easy. But I'd rather develop a practical skill I genuinely care about than spend years on a degree and career that are making me miserable.

I'd particularly appreciate advice on:

Can you build a lifelong career in horticulture without a degree?

What are the best routes into the profession without science A-levels?

Can specialising lead to decent wages, or should I expect to struggle financially long-term?

Which areas offer the best opportunities for developing skills and progressing?

Would you recommend reapplying for apprenticeships, and how concerned should I be about AI and automation?

I'm trying to work out whether leaving university would be a mistake or whether I'm recognising that this path isn't right for me. I'd appreciate honest advice, especially from people with experience in the industry. Thanks!

I'm a student at University of Vermont in the landscape design/horticulture program and I hate all of my classes that aren't directly tied to horticulture. I took greenhouse management last year working directly with staff at the greenhouse on campus and literally all of them had either dropped out of college or not majored in the subject - and now they're working high-paying jobs at a prestigious institution.

I keep looking at Indeed and seeing all these jobs that I know I could do that pay fine (sometimes very well) and are in nice towns and it's so tempting to just apply to a ton of them and drop out of college to start working. I feel like in greenhouse management especially it's a career with a lot of upward mobility where real experience matters more than a degree.

Am I stupid?

Does anyone do anything like this?

This is my "cutting kit".

Basically I have this in my bag in case I come across a plant that I want to clip and clone at home.

I use the water to moisten a compressed towel to put in the Ziploc bag to been the stem moist till I can get the plant home in the Ziploc bag.

• Small plastic container
• Small bottle of water
• Small clipping scissors.
• Compressed towels
• 1-2 Ziploc bags