A May “to-do” list for gardeners in the Southeast United States

When it comes to containers, sometimes thinking outside the box means finding…a box.

When I first started gardening, I didn't care a speck about foliage size. Itsy-bitsy leaves were fine with me as long as the flowers were pretty. (Prime example: asters.) But as 1 delved into garden books and magazines, I discovered that size matters, at least when you're a leaf.

These good-smelling plants are perfect for Southern gardens.

WINTER FLOWERS always come as a special delight—all the more so if they happen to be fragrant. Luckily, we in the South can grow a number of winter-blooming shrubs renowned for their fragrance.

Michael Dirr is one of those rare, driven individuals who make the rest of us look like we're mired in Jell-O.

This elephant ear's heart-shaped, apple-green leaves are generously dappled with large creamy yellow blotches.

The honeybee is in trouble. I first began to suspect this one sunny May afternoon in 1996, when my husband and I were accompanying friends on a picnic on a farm in south-central Tennessee.