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This image provided by Bugwood.org shows adult ants feeding on the sweet nectar-like substance secreted by a peony bud in Fort Collins, Colo. on May 7, 2006. (Whitney Cranshaw/Colorado State University/Bugwood.org via AP)

Are ants harmful to the garden? Usually not

Ants are common in the garden, possibly even swarms of them. But are the tiny little insects harmful to our plants? The general answer is no.

This July 28, 2023, photo provided by Jessica Damiano shows a purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) growing in a Long Island, New York, garden. The plants are heat- and drought-tolerant. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

The right plants and some TLC can help your garden get through the heat

The record-breaking heat that’s striking many places around the country and the world is doing a number on gardens.

This Aug. 25, 2023, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows a thriving border of Beacon Pink Lipstick impatiens in Long Island, New York. Together with other annuals and tender perennials, the plants carry the late-summer garden as hardy perennials begin to fade. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

It’s time to celebrate annuals, the type of loyal friend every gardener can use

Summer annuals are the champions of the late-season garden. True annuals, like zinnias and marigolds, are plants that complete their entire life cycles in one year.

This July 5, 2023, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows a scarlet lily beetle on an Asiatic lily stem on Long Island, N.Y. Caught early, the pests can be controlled by knocking them off plants into a container holding water, vinegar and dish soap. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Catch garden pests and diseases early by keeping a close eye on your plants

Every day brings changes to the summer garden. Usually those are pleasant. But other times a plant that looked fine yesterday has pests or spots on it today.

This July 31, 2023, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows a squash plant with yellow, wilted foliage — symptoms that present after both flood and drought — on Long Island in New York. Crops that have been touched by flood water should not be eaten. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Where flooding has become more frequent, here’s how gardeners can respond

Atmospheric scientists say extreme rainfall is more frequent now, and many parts of the world have seen flooding this summer. What does that mean for plants and gardens?

This Sept. 18, 2023, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows a low-maintenance Aloe vera plant in Syosset, NY. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Easy houseplants for neglectful gardeners

The biggest hurdle in caring for a houseplant is often remembering not to neglect it. So, especially if you’re a houseplant novice, bring home a low-maintenance, happy-go-lucky variety.

This July 17, 2022, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows a rabbit munching on clover in Twin Mountain, N.H. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Rabbits and deer and voles, oh my! What’s eating your garden?

Nature is a beautiful thing, but sometimes it can wreak havoc on a garden. Insects and wildlife have to eat, of course, and when we lay out a veritable buffet, who can blame them for gorging?

This 2022 image provided by SOW Local shows freshly cut ranunculus flowers in Oakdale, N.Y. (Chris Demchak via AP)

If you grow your own cutting garden, you’ll have beautiful flower bouquets all season long

If you grow your own cutting garden, you can have beautiful flower bouquets all season long. Almost every flower can be cut and enjoyed indoors.

Secrets of Versailles palace perfume gardens

The Versailles flower gardens were once a symbol of the French king’s expeditionary might and helped water-deprived courtiers perfume their skin.

This May 26, 2023, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows a soaker hose system installed in a raised vegetable garden bed on Long Island, N.Y. Using soaker hoses or other drip irrigation methods instead of overhead sprinklers saves water and money, reduces waste and helps protect plant health. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

How you water the garden can save you money, gallons and your plants, too

If you water your garden right, you can save water and money and make plants healthier. Watering with a hose allows you to direct water precisely where you need it, above the roots.

This Sept. 8, 2023, image provided by Justine Damiano shows a hummingbird seemingly suspended in the air in Southwick, Massachusetts. Hummingbirds must beat their wings in a figure-8 motion up to 80 times per second in order to hover in one spot. (Justine Damiano via AP)

How to help migrating hummingbirds and see their antics up close

Most of the hummingbirds that visited our gardens over the summer are now on their way to winter homes in Central America.

Weed-killing robot displayed at IFA tech show in Berlin

Looking after you garden could get a little bit easier, thanks to a new autonomous gadget. An AI-powered robot that can find and kill weeds has been launched at this year’s IFA tech show in Berlin.

White House gardens show signs of Spring

White House staff gave a tour of the executive mansion’s gardens where flowers and trees are starting to bloom, signaling that Spring has arrived in the oldest continually maintained landscape in the United States.

Prison guard who missed killer’s escape is fired, as hunt for fugitive focuses on botanic garden

Pennsylvania officials say a prison tower guard has been fired after a convicted murderer slipped out on his watch in a brazen escape.

This June 3, 2023, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows farm-fresh strawberries and rhubarb for sale in Glen Cove, N.Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

June is rhubarb picking time in the garden, so pucker up

Years ago, when my now-grown daughter Justine was a toddler, we visited a U-pick farm where she plucked plump, ripe strawberries from a field of sprawling plants.

Italian rockers Måneskin continue to revive the genre, selling out Madison Square Garden

In an era where rock bands seem endangered and most of the genre often seems formed in the last millennium, Måneskin has become something of an anomaly.

Flower power and diplomacy: Versailles perfume gardens transport public back in time

VERSAILLES, France (AP) — The Versailles flower gardens were once a symbol of the French king’s expeditionary might and helped water-deprived courtiers perfume their skin.

This Oct. 28, 2019, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows parsley, sage, basil and chives growing in a raised bed herb garden in Glen Head, N.Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Tips for growing herbs (you don’t even need a garden)

You don’t even need a garden.

FILE - Sonny Seiler looks on from the sideline during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Georgia Tech, Nov. 28, 2015, in Atlanta. Seiler, an attorney who owned the University of Georgia's famed line of “Uga” bulldog mascots and served as lead defense counsel in a notorious case that was chronicled in “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” died Monday, Aug. 28, 2023, in his hometown of Savannah, Ga. He was 90. (AP Photo/Brett Davis, File)

Sonny Seiler of Georgia football mascots and “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” dies at 90

Georgia attorney Sonny Seiler has died at the age of 90. He was owner of the University of Georgia’s famed line of “Uga” bulldog mascots.

An athlete rides a horse along the canal of the Chateau de Versailles garden during a cross-country test event for the Paris 2024 Olympics Games in Versailles, west of Paris, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. New facilities are being built in the world-famous, historic site which will host equestrian sports, with the promise to be dismantled without leaving any trace at the end of the Olympics Games. (AP Photo/Sophie Garcia)

Horses gallop in Versailles Palace gardens to test the track for the Paris Olympics

Horses galloped across the spectacular gardens of the Versailles Palace in a test event for the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.

This July 14, 2023, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows recently planted summer squash growing near more mature plants to ensure a continued harvest on Long Island, N.Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

How to extend the growing season in your garden and get multiple veggie harvests

Succession planting is a gardening term covering a few different strategies for extending the growing season.

FILE - This undated photo shows beds in a weedless vegetable garden in New Paltz, N.Y. Smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada has affected air quality across vast swaths of the U.S. East and Midwest, which might have some effect on garden plants if the exposure is prolonged. (AP Photo/Lee Reich, File)

Your garden doesn’t like the wildfires, either. Here’s how to help plants handle smoke and ash

Smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada drove down air quality across swaths of the Eastern U.S. this week, a problem all too familiar in many Western states.

People walk in the excavation site of the ancient Roman emperor Nero's theater, 1st century AD, backdropped by the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, during a press preview, in Rome, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. The ruins of Nero's Theater, an imperial theater referred to ancient Roman texts but never found, have been discovered under the garden of the future Four Season's Hotel, steps from the Vatican, after excavating the walled garden of the Palazzo della Rovere since 2020, as part of planned renovations on the Renaissance building. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Ruins of ancient Nero’s Theater discovered under garden of future Four Seasons near Vatican

Rome’s next luxury hotel has some very good bones. Archaeologists said Wednesday that the ruins of Nero’s Theater have been discovered under the garden of the future Four Seasons Hotel.

FILE - Pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana) covered with rime appears in Ludwigsburg, Germany on March 12, 2010. Experts say some plants are more flammable than others but all plants can ignite under the right conditions. Those conditions include improper pruning, insufficient watering, and poor sanitation practices that allow dry, dead plant parts to remain on the soil surface. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

Some plants are more flammable than others. How gardeners can reduce the risks

The deadly wildfires in Hawaii this month were fueled in part by plants, in particular invasive grasses.

This May 9, 2023, image shows annual and vegetable seedlings being “hardened off,” or gradually acclimated to outdoor weather conditions, in Glen Head, NY. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Don’t stress your plants when transferring them from indoors to an outdoor garden

It’s prime planting time in many regions, and gardeners are flocking to garden centers for annuals, and herb and vegetablestarter plants.

This combination of images show gardening apps, from left, the Seed to Spoon mobile gardening app by Park Seed, from left, the Google Lens app that has image-recognition technology to identify plants, and Apple's AI-powered Visual Look Up feature to identify flowers. (Park Seed’s From Seed to Spoon/Google/Apple via AP)

Gardening help in the palm of your hand: 5 apps, phone tips

You’re in your garden and notice a beautiful, new-to-you flower that has popped up somewhere unexpected — pull it or leave it?

This image provided by American Meadows Inc. shows a lush wildflower meadow growing in place of a residential lawn. (American Meadows Inc. via AP)

When planting a meadow, heed conditions in your garden, yard

Wildflower meadows have been growing in popularity among gardeners, and for good reason. They’re low-maintenance and drought-tolerant, provide food for birds, wildlife, pollinators and other insects, and they’re pretty.

This March 15, 2023, photo provided by Jessica Damiano shows ornamental grasses left standing in her Long Island, N.Y. garden over winter. The dead foliage provides shelter for hibernating pollinators and other insects until they emerge from dormancy and resume their lifecycles in mid to late spring. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Itching to start spring garden cleanup? Not so fast!

When the blare of the year’s first leaf blower awakened me one morning last week, I realized spring cleanup had commenced -- no matter that March could still roar like a lion here in my Long Island, New York, neighborhood.

Lauren Serpe, back left, and Rashida Holman-Jones pose for photos with their kids from left, Zynn Jones, Sydney Serpe, and Zuri Jones, during the White House Fall Garden Tour in Washington, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

‘Bucket list': White House garden tours prune a US divide

Thirty-thousand people are estimated to have poured through the gates of the White House for an annual weekend fall garden tour.

This March 3, 2023, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows "FLORASTRUCK," the orchid-adorned entrance garden at the 2023 Philadelphia Flower Show held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

At the Philadelphia Flower Show, display gardens bloom

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Upon entering the Philadelphia Flower Show space at the Pennsylvania Convention Center last week, I was entranced by a forest of stunning orchids suspended from the ceiling above the color-changing entrance garden.