Posts By

Katherine Rowe

Katherine is a garden professional with a background in design, conservation, and public horticulture. She holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture and a love of gardens, parks, and natural lands alike. Katherine enjoys exploring gardens and wild spaces through work and travel and designing gardens with nature at the helm.

Close-up of a cluster of ripe, round, glossy, bright red-orange skinned fruits among green foliage

Vegetables

11 Taste-Test Winning Tomato Varieties to Plant in June

Summer’s approach means tomato-growing season is here, with anticipation of the juicy, tender fruits. Whether transplanting seedlings in cooler climates or sowing successional rounds in warm ones, we have suggestions for the tastiest tomatoes to plant in June. Not only flavorful, they boast vigorous growth and a productive yield. Join gardening expert Katherine Rowe in celebrating a handful of the best-tasting tomatoes, backed by strong performance, to plant this month.

In a sunny garden bed, big juicy watermelons with dark green striped skin ripen beside a cut slice showing bright pink flesh and rows of small black stones.

Fruits

7 Pro Growing Tips for the Biggest, Juiciest Melons

To savor the sweet taste of summer later, now is the time to plant melons, from watermelons to cantaloupes. The long-maturing fruits thrive in warm temperatures and get to setting young fruits. With patience and practice, we’ll get big, juicy watermelons as they peak late in the season.

Close-up of flowering primrose plants with vivid pink and soft yellow blooms on upright stems above rosettes of oval, slightly wrinkled bright green leaves in a shady rock garden.

Ornamental Gardens

17 Plants Ideal for Rock Gardens in the Shade

Rock gardens are a dynamic study in contrasts, with cold surfaces softened by surrounding plants. The heightened visual interest and creative approach to challenging sites offers multiple rewards, from all-season appeal to waterwise techniques. Shade rock gardens make the plant selection all the more important. Gardening expert Katherine Rowe outlines options for shady situations to thrive with a rocky base.

Mini pumpkins dangling from vine

Ornamental Gardens

9 Mini-Pumpkin Varieties You Should Plant Now for Fall

By planting miniature pumpkins in spring and early summer, we can enjoy the long-maturing treats by fall. Both ornamental and edible, the captivating squashes delight to no end as diminutive versions of the classic seasonal favorites. In a range of colors and shapes, the perfectly proportioned minis bring big joy in a small form.

A close-up and macro shot of a striped yellow beetle on a leaf of a crop, showcasing cucumber pests in a well lit area

Garden Pests

7 Cucumber Pests to Watch for This Season

To get the crisp, juicy summer crunch of a homegrown cucumber, scouting for invading insects becomes part of their care. The easy, productive vines are susceptible to common garden pests, as well as cucurbit specialists. Join gardening expert Katherine Rowe in the insects we want around our cucurbits and the cucumber pests to prevent.

A faded, diseased petunia with rich red trumpet-shaped flowers among fading grey-green stems covered with drooping, wilted, oval leaves, in a white pot.

Flowers

5 Petunia Diseases: ID, Prevention, and Treatment

Petunias are favorite bedding and container annuals for their long, bloom-filled stems. While usually problem-free, they aren’t immune to the woes of common diseases, some recoverable and some serious. Join gardening expert Katherine Rowe in a look at common diseases for petunias, as well as how to treat and prevent them.

A close-up shot of a small cluster of red colored, tubular flowers of the vermillionaire cuphea

Ornamental Gardens

How to Plant, Grow, and Care For ‘Vermillionaire®’ Cuphea

For a nonstop summer bloom supply in an easy-going package, look to Cuphea ‘Vermillionaire.’ The award-winner brings continual firecracker blooms and sweet nectar through frost to the delight of pollinators. Gardening expert Katherine Rowe explores the long-blooming hybrid that requires little gardener intervention to perform all season.

Freshly harvested lavender bunches with upright purple flower spikes rest among blooming bushes in a sunny field, picked to preserve maximum fragrance.

Herbs

The Perfect Time to Harvest Lavender for Maximum Fragrance

It’s lavender harvest season! Whether we enjoy the budded stems and calming fragrance on a garden stroll or in the vase, dried bundles, oils, or in sweet and savory cuisine, the timing matters. Harvesting for peak fragrance is best at a certain point in the season, bud development, and time of day. Garden expert Katherine Rowe outlines the best time to harvest lavender for maximum fragrance, and when to pick for that cool glass of lavender lemonade.