Birds and Blooms

“Every autumn, I look forward to the monarch migration. One day, I was looking for butterflies to photograph at a marsh near my home. I was so excited when I found this one, feeding on a velvet sage bloom,” says Birds & Blooms reader Cynthia Lockwood.

Learn how to help monarch butterflies

Fall can be a tricky time for gardeners in growing zones that experience true winter. What should you cut back? What should you leave alone? When is it time to pull certain flowers, and when do they still have a few more weeks to bloom? And last — but certainly not least — which backyard critters will appreciate plants left standing? Below, Birds & Blooms readers...

While we love nature and can come to see certain birds or critters as our friends, at the end of the day, they’re still wild. Acknowledging that means acknowledging that sometimes, upsetting as it is, heartbreak happens. One such tragedy befell half of Big Bear Valley’s globally beloved bald eagle pair,

As summer temperatures rise and wildfires rage in forests arou...

Increasing temperatures, frequent wildfires, and the resulting smoke-riddled air makes it difficult to be outside — much less to get in a great day in the garden. With that said, gardeners are certain to wonder if they’d need to take precautions to protect their plants, or whether their vegetable garden is a loss. Here’s what you should know about keeping the plants and veggi...