Meghan Shinn

Cincinnati, Des Moines, United States

Editor at Horticulture Magazine

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hortmag.com

Articles

Create Annual Planters that are Dramatic and Full of Color

1 week ago | hortmag.com | Meghan Shinn

New Jersey garden designer and educator Laura Janney works from the premise that plants bring happiness. Through her design studio, The Inspired Garden, she helps homeowners determine their preferred garden style, then draws up a plan that will create true joy. Annual planters factor significantly into her work, with clients requesting pots that are colorful and dramatic, especially by the front door.
'Silver Anouk' Lavender Stands Up to Drought in the Garden or Containers

1 week ago | hortmag.com | Meghan Shinn

Silver Anouk lavender (Lavandula stoechas 'Silver Anouk') combines silver foliage with dark violet flowers crowned by lighter purple bracts. This fragrant lavender easily handles heat and drought, resists diseases and performs very well in borders, rock gardens and containers. Flowering begins in spring and continues for weeks. 'Silver Anouk' is a cultivar of Spanish lavender, considered more likely to succeed in hot and humid climates than English lavender (L. angustifolias and L. xintermedia).
Grow Geranium maculatum, or Wild Geranium, for Its Spring Flowers and Rugged Health

2 weeks ago | hortmag.com | Meghan Shinn

A native plant of eastern North America, wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) is a pollinator-friendly spring bloomer that contributes pink-purple flower color, leafy texture and weed suppression to woodland gardens. Common name: Wild geranium, spotted geraniumBotanical name: Geranium maculatumOrigin: Geranium maculatum is native across much of the eastern half of North America, from central and eastern Canada as far south as Arkansas and Georgia.
Foliage Plants for Sun Lend Lasting Interest to the Garden

3 weeks ago | hortmag.com | Meghan Shinn

The shade tables at your favorite garden center offer many perennials with foliage as their main feature. Think the intricate fronds of hardy ferns, the bold, broad leaves of giant hostas, the polka dots on lungwort (Pulmonaria). Many gardeners know how to combine foliage perennials for texture and color in shaded spaces, yet this strategy isn’t as often employed in the sun. That’s probably because there are more sun-loving plants with flowers as their main draw.
Pearls of Perfume Mock Orange Offers Lengthy and Fragrant Bloom

Feb 25, 2025 | hortmag.com | Meghan Shinn

Pearls of Perfume is a hybrid mock orange (Philadelphus) that reblooms from spring through fall, with white double flowers that emit a citrusy scent. This fragrant shrub works in a mixed garden border or a large container, or it can be planted in multiples as a flowering hedge. Pearls of Perfume mock orange made the shortlist for Plant of the Year at 2023’s Chelsea Flower Show.
Growing Eastern Arborvitae, Plus Exciting New Varieties

Jan 30, 2025 | hortmag.com | Meghan Shinn

Eastern arborvitae, or Thuja occidentalis, are garden favorites for their evergreen leaves, which provide color and texture in the garden all year long. The species itself is a needled evergreen native to eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, where it grows on lakesides and open hills. Selective breeding has given gardeners a wide range of options in arborvitae; cultivars come in all shapes and sizes, with foliage in gold, reddish tones and all shades of green.
The 2025 Perennial Plant of the Year: Clustered Mountain Mint

Jan 16, 2025 | hortmag.com | Meghan Shinn

Each year, the Perennial Plant Association, a membership group of plant and garden professionals, votes one species or cultivar Perennial Plant of the Year (view them all here). Criteria for the award include a wide growing range and availability, resistance to pests and diseases, ease of care and, of course, beauty, preferably in more than one season. Named Perennial Plant of the Year for 2025 is clustered mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum).
The 2025 Hosta of the Year: Skywriter

Dec 17, 2024 | hortmag.com | Meghan Shinn

The American Hosta Growers Association (AHGA) is made up of professionals who specialize in Hosta. Members include wholesale and retail nurseries, both mail-order and walk-in, as well as the growers that produce starter plants for these nurseries. The AHGA aims to promote interest in gardening with hostas and to share the best information on their care. Want to grow the 2025 Hosta of the Year?
This Dwarf Conifer Has Soft and Beautiful Blue Needles

Dec 12, 2024 | hortmag.com | Meghan Shinn

Grow 'Blue Ball' Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis 'Blue Ball') for its gorgeous blue-green needles, which outline its loosely globular shape. This is a dwarf conifer whose slow growth rate and undemanding nature should earn it a spot in foundation beds, mixed borders, rock gardens or any other suitable site where it can be admired year-round but especially in the winter.
Weeping White Spruce Brings Bold Winter Interest to Small Garden Spaces

Dec 10, 2024 | hortmag.com | Meghan Shinn

With its silver-blue needles, cascading branches and narrow silhouette, weeping white spruce (Picea glauca 'Pendula') makes a handsome specimen in a tight garden space. It serves equally well planted as a small group to anchor a garden bed or in a row as a privacy screen. However you use it, this evergreen conifer deserves the spotlight in winter, when its color and shape can really come to the fore.