Expert Advice on Home Improvement TV Host of Emmy®-Nominated Today's Homeowner® and home expert for The Weather Channel

A butterfly garden is an easy way to bring some beauty and fun to your garden. Many species of plants and flowers attract butterflies – some provide nectar for the adults, and some provide nutritious leaves for the larvae to feed upon. As a bonus, many butterfly-attracting plants are low-maintenance, hardy, and quite possibly native to your area, which means that your butterfly garden may be the easiest patch of flowers you’ll ever grow.

August begins right in the middle of the “dog days of summer,” the hottest and most sultry time of the year. Ancient cultures believed that the excessive heat was caused by the alignment of Sirius, the Dog Star, with the sun during the summer. These are the days when everything seems languid and still – except mosquitoes, of course – and the sun threatens to bake lawns, gardens, and gardeners alike.

Barbara asks, “Many years ago I used gypsum pellets to break up clay soil. We can not find them anymore but the problem of the hard packed clay soil still exists. Is there a different product that will solve this problem?”

Hello everyone, and welcome! What an exciting summer this has been so far with ideas, energy, and dirt flying like confetti. Around the Yard is growing, and I’m thrilled to be able to share information, ideas, and gardening experiences with you.

Our Around the Yard site at dannylipford.com has a new face! Gardening enthusiast Julie Day will be posting her insights, writing articles, and answering your questions concerning everything green. Julie has been digging in the dirt since an early age and her passion for gardening and the outdoors shows. Find out more About Julie and read Julie’s blog on Around the Yard. You can also e-mail your lawn and garden questions to Ask Julie, some of which will be answered on the site.

After having drawn a detailed plan of the layout, Tommy Martiniere of Martiniere Landscaping turned a neglected corner of this yard into a secluded retreat by adding a stone walkway that leads to a patio. Plants added include Japanese yew, African iris, yellow anise, oakleaf hydrangea, camellias, and ferns.

If a drought-tolerant garden makes you think of cacti and rock gardens, then think again – there are many colorful and lush choices that are perfect for a low-maintenance, water-conserving landscape. As parts of the country experience a reduction in rainfall or restrictions on water use, drought-tolerance has become an increasingly desirable characteristic in cultivated plants.

House plants in containers depend on us for food and water, so it’s important to recognize the warning signs indicating that they have received either too much or too little water.

Grapefruit rinds can serve as nutrient rich, biodegradable pots. After eating, clean out the interior of the rind, cut slits in the bottom for drainage, fill with soil, and add seeds or seedlings. When the rind start to decompose, dig a hole, and plant it in the ground.

Building a stone waterfall involves careful planning and design to achieve the desired result. The interior of the waterfall is made of concrete blocks then faced with stone to reduce the amount of stone needed.