I WISH THAT when I was a college freshman, a course like the Harvard seminar called “Tree” had been part of the curriculum, because since I learned about the class last year, I’ve never looked at a tree quite the same way again. It’s not a botany course, nor one for aspiring arborists, despite its name. A sentence from the syllabus for “Tree” hints at its core intention: “Ima...

YOU’VE SEEN and heard the list of no-no plants that were showy longtime nursery and garden standards, but have proven invasive and need to go. Yes, we can yank out the barberry and butterfly bush and the rest of the long list—and should. But then what? We need to know what to plant instead. A new book called “Plant This, Not That” by Elise Howard establishes some basic princi...

WWHEN SPRING APPROACHES and we get out into the garden again, it’s easy to get distracted by the to-do list, or just by the latest pretty thing that’s emerging after winter’s relative blank slate. But there’s a whole other layer out there in front of our eyes and ears and noses, and it’s actually the foundation layer of life. How about we gardeners learn to tune in not just t...

MARGARET RENKL’S newest book, “The Weedy Garden: A Happy Habitat for Wild Friends,” is aimed at children, but it’s really for everyone, she says. And indeed, we grownups, too, often need a reminder that our gardens are not just “our” gardens, but critical habitats for our wild neighbors. How we manage these spaces determines whether bees and butterflies and frogs and fireflie...