Western Gardening Blog

Inspiring western gardeners to grow beautiful flowers with less effort in Colorado, Utah & the intermountain west

The latest flower tips

How Can You Tell If a Perennial Is ‘Marginally Cold Hardy?’

It was a winter week to make a gardener shudder. In February 2021, an arctic blast covered the western United States like a frosty ice pack from the kitchen freezer. Where I live in Colorado, the high temperature for several days was a not-so-balmy zero degrees. The...

4 Tips to Make Your Spring Flowers Look Prettier: Spring Bulb Garden Design!

You want your spring flowers to look pretty, but what's the best way to design them? How do you make the biggest impact? Great questions! In this week's post, you'll find 4 simple tips for spring bulb garden design. Use these tips when you plant your bulbs in the...

PODCAST: Find Your Confidence With Flowerpot Gardening

Wondering how to get started with flowerpot gardening? Pop in your ear buds, find a comfy spot and listen to this 30-minute episode of the @liveblissedout podcast! I was honored to be a guest and chat about flowerpot gardening in Colorado, Utah and the West. Click the...

5 Helpful Tips for Buying Spring Flowering Bulbs in the Fall

Let’s say you’d like to grow pretty spring flowers in your western garden, like tulips or daffodils. Awesome! These spring flowers grow from bulbs that you plant in the fall in Colorado, Utah and the West. Here are a few examples of spring flowering bulbs: In this...

“What’s Making Round Holes in My Plant Leaves?”

Let's say you’ve noticed some strange, round holes in your plant leaves. These circular holes have fairly smooth edges. It almost looks like someone took an office hole punch and punched circles along the edges of your leaves. What’s making these round holes in your...

How to Protect Flowers From Hail Damage

9 ways to prepare for hail to minimize damage to your western garden Hail can leave you wanting to yell, “WHHHHYYYYYYYY?????” to Mama Nature. Sometimes, thunderstorms pop up so suddenly, there's very little that can be done except for cleaning up the damage. But other...

“Do Some Plants Do Better in Hail Than Others?”

When you live in states like Colorado, Wyoming and Texas, you may not get hail every year, but some years, you’ll get it 2 … 3 … 7 times. (I’m not crying. I have something in my eye.) It’s like playing the lottery, except hail is a prize you DON’T want to win. In this...

“Hail Destroyed My Garden. What Do I Do Now?”

In my opinion, there is nothing that will suck the soul from your gardening body like hail You can have your flowers looking SO DARN GOOD ... And after a few minutes of hail, your Instagram-worthy flowers have become a sloppy, shredded mess. Ugh. Mama Nature doesn’t...

“My Flowers Look Sick. What Do I Do??”

There is no perfect gardener, no matter what your neighbor up the street with the pristine landscape wants you to think. So, if you have a flower that looks sick, is struggling or is dying, take heart. It happens to everyone. (Yes, even to your neighbor. Though, she...

“Where Can I Learn About Plants for Waterwise Flower Gardening?”

If you've been wondering, "Where can I learn about plants for waterwise flower gardening?", you're in the right place. It's dry in the West, which means we need to be strategic about the flowers we grow in our gardens. Where I live in Colorado, we're lucky if we get...

11 of the Best Gifts for Flower Lovers 2026 (That Western Gardeners Will Loooove)

Looking for fun gift ideas for flower lovers in the West? You'll find 11 of the best gift ideas for flower lovers below — perfect for holidays, birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day and more. And if you’re looking for gardening gift ideas for yourself… well, then,...

“Help! I Can’t Find the Flowers I Want at the Store”

Have you ever had trouble finding the flowers you want at the store? You aren't alone! Figuring out which flowers to plant and tracking them down in a garden center can get overwhelming quickly. And if even if you don't feel overwhelmed, it can be frustrating to want...