Ok, anyone who gardens probably knows you can mulch or wrap fabric row covers over plants to protect them from frost bite....but in a pinch, and especially when you have a last minute freeze warning and a lot of new plantings in early spring; a great way to protect them is with your household tupperware. Just turn it upside down and cover the plant...scoot your mulch up close to it and place a brick or stone on top to keep it from blowing away. Then next morning simply remove the stone and tupperware. I've saved quite a few plants from freezing this way just in the last month.(Milk jugs and soda bottles with the bottoms cut off work well too!)

Bill and Caroline White

   Yes, one can get water lilies to bloom in a shady garden, as long as they get some sun, even an hours sun or a lot of filtered, indirect light will help. Keep lilies in pots, putting  them on top of anything that will raise them up in the pond, leaving only 2 inches of water  covering them.  The more you raise them up, the more light they will get.  It also helps to select those in catologs that say they will tolerate and bloom in shade.  They will need to be fertilized a little more than usual.  I use tree spikes, cutting them to1/2 inch and putting 3 to 4 pieces in the pots.  This also saves lots of money on fertilizers.

 Aysen Gillespie

I live in a wooded area with lots of Disney characters as neighbors, such as deer, foxes, woodchucks and raccoons.  I also have lots of hostas.  In order to keep the neighbors from using my hosta beds as a salad bar, I put out dog hair around the hostas and any other tender tasty flower buds.  When I groom my beautiful Afghan hounds, I keep the hair that comes out in the brush.  Then, in the spring as things are greening up, I go out and make like the Easter bunny, hiding tufts of dog hair among the emerging greenery.  Every couple of months I replenish the critter repellent.  Works like a charm.

Lynne Miller

If you have a sweet gum tree, or have access to one, you can have a free, environmentally safe way to keep slugs away from your hostas.  Just spread a good amount of these prickly balls under the hosta leaves.  The slimy, soft slugs will not crawl over the sweet gum balls.  You can also use them around other flowers to keep rabbits away.  Many animals find it uncomfortable to walk on these "porcupines."

Carla Litmer

When planting any plants that have to be brought in before frost, I find it easier to plant them in a pot.  I then dig a hole in the garden & then put the pot in the hole. When it is time to bring the plant in all you have to do is loosen the soil & take it out, pot & all. By doing it this way there is no chance of damage to the roots & the plant doesn't have to be potted. When the plant is indoors I just give a light washing to the pot & cover the outside of the pot with colored foil (just make sure to punture holes in the foil for drainage).

Mary Engelage

I have many perennials at my house that get quite large and tend to sprawl over their neighbors in the perennial beds. In order to contain these plants and keep them within bounds and looking neat in the garden, you can buy those expensive "grow-through supports" from gardening supply catalogs which can cost up to $25 for a set of three, or do what I do.  For a few dollars, I buy tomato cages ... some of the shorter ones for your shorter perennials and taller ones for your tall growing perennials.  I then take heavy duty wire cutters and cut them just above the middle circular supports.  What you end up with are two circular support rings that you can position over your plants for support by pushing the spokes into the ground.  You need to do this in early spring so the plants' growth can be contained within the circular boundary of these homemade supports...and the best part is you don't have to spend a fortune!

Carm Varvaro

Hello -  I love growing the tall Pacific giants Delphinium, but here in Livingston, Montana it tends to get a little breezy from time to time!  For an invisible support system, we insert natural-colored bamboo stakes (that have been "lengthened" by duct-taping two together) around the patch & also a few in the middle.  Then we tie natural jute twine to the stakes, connecting them to each other & weaving through the stakes in the middle. When the flower show starts the supports just disappear!

Christine Miller

Deer are an ongoing problem for our garden, and while there are lots of plants out there that don't appeal to them, the varieties I want to grow (especially the lilies and daylilies) always seem to be their favorites. Because I am bad at keeping up with sprays and other anti-deer deterrents, I have started planting a few chives in the hole with each bulb or plant the deer like. As the young plants grow the chives grow with them, and the deer quickly learn that a mouthful of daylily tastes like onions, and so on. By the time the more desirable plants outgrow the chives, the deer have learned to feed elsewhere. And, the nodding purple flowers of the chives look great with nearly any other flower.

Karen MacCauley

When introducing a new plant species or variety to my garden, I plant several of each type in varying locations. I find that even subtle differences in the local environment can not only lead to more success with the " newcomer", but this process also informs me about the characteristics of my environment. For example, a dense shrub near but not shading, my gladiolus' helped by blocking the wind. They are giants and needed no staking. My snapdragons and dianthus did very well near the Park's bush beans...a little short shade, a perfect match.

Priscilla Ferguson