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Katherine Rowe

Katherine is a garden professional with a background in design, conservation, and public horticulture. She holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture and a love of gardens, parks, and natural lands alike. Katherine enjoys exploring gardens and wild spaces through work and travel and designing gardens with nature at the helm.

Snails and ladybugs on green leaf in the garden.

Gardening Tips

Garden Mimics: These Bad Bugs Look Like Good Bugs

While we know it’s of benefit to attract certain insects like pollinators to the garden, it can be challenging to distinguish helpful insects from devouring pests. We join Meg from the Epic Gardening team as she breaks down the nuances between garden friends and foes. Knowing what to promote and what to deter is half the battle in preserving healthy crops and ornamentals.

Upright clumps of green lance-shaped leaves topped with large clusters of star-shaped pink blooms, often part of perennials cut back in August to encourage healthier regrowth.

Ornamental Gardens

11 Perennials to Cut Back in August

Late summer is prime for some perennials to get a refresh. With August cutback, we may get another round of flowers, manage for shape, keep the look fresh, and limit the spread of diseases. Gardening expert Katherine Rowe looks at certain perennials that benefit from a light touch this month.

A close-up shows tall, spiky purple flower stalks, common among native midwest perennials, with numerous small blossoms emerging from a bed of green foliage and blurred yellow flowers in the background.

Ornamental Gardens

13 Beautiful Native Perennials for the Midwest

The Midwestern U.S. is a hotbed for native perennials that offer ecological services and multi-season appeal with high color, texture, and the energetic buzz of pollinators. Gardening expert Katherine Rowe explores superlative native perennials to incorporate into Midwest gardens for a well-rounded garden system.

Tall conical drought-tolerant arborvitae alternatives with gently drooping branches and soft, bluish-green needles arranged in dense whorls.

Trees

7 Drought-Tolerant Arborvitae Alternatives for Dry Climates

Arborvitae are versatile across garden scales with year-round appeal, although their reliance on regular moisture makes them a challenge in dry conditions. With native conifers and their cultivars, options abound for durable evergreens in a range of sizes, colors, and shapes. Gardening expert Katheirne Rowe explores arborvitae stand-ins for high-performance in low-water sites.

Close up of a delphinium inflorescence wilting due to disease, with blue-purple wilting flowers against a background of rotting stems with dry foliage.

Plant Diseases

5 Delphinium Diseases: Prevention and Treatment

Healthy delphiniums bring floriferous spires of bell blooms that create a spectacle and beckon pollinators. The short-lived perennials are susceptible to common diseases that can counteract the blooms. Gardening expert Katheirne Rowe outlines what to look for, as well as how to prevent delphinium problems for an easier show of color.

A large green tomato hornworm clings to a tomato stem among chewed leaves, highlighting the need to repel tomato hornworms naturally.

Garden Pests

9 Plants That Repel Tomato Hornworms

Tomato hornworms make quick work of devouring otherwise healthy tomato plants. While the North American natives become pollinating hawkmoths, their work on our crops leads to fruit loss. To deter the hearty caterpillars, implement tomato companions with pest-repelling qualities. Gardening expert Katherine Rowe outlines favorites that contribute to a balanced garden system.

Gardener’s gloved hand showing brown, drying leaves among green foliage on an arborvitae turning brown.

Plant Problems

Why Are My Arborvitae Turning Brown?

Aborvitae are rugged performers with a stately presence that anchors the landscape all year. Whether the native species or their cultivars, their multitude of forms, sizes, and colors highlight various garden scales. While durable, they are susceptible to disorders that cause browning. Garden expert Katherine Rowe outlines reasons an arborvitae may turn brown and ways to remedy the situation.

Clusters of deep pink and golden tubular flowers bloom among green, oval leaves on mildew-resistant honeysuckle vines.

Vines

7 Powdery Mildew-Resistant Honeysuckle Varieties

Honeysuckle captivates with vertical interest and pollinator action. With non-invasive, disease-resistant varieties, the low-maintenance vines grow with easy vigor. Garden expert Katherine Rowe explores powdery-mildew-resistant honeysuckles to enjoy for extended flowering.

Clematis vine with drooping, blackened stems and shriveled leaves showing signs of sudden wilting.

Vines

Clematis Wilt Disease: Identification and Treatment

While relatively carefree, clematis sometimes falls victim to a species-specific disease that causes quick wilting and dieback. Clematis wilt pops up right before the beautiful blooms open. Explore what the fungal disease looks like, as well as prevention, with gardening expert Katherine Rowe.

A close-up and overhead shot of several freshly harvested green crops placed in a wicker basket, showcasing when to harvest zucchini

Vegetables

When to Harvest Zucchini for Best Flavor

Zucchini, the prolific summertime producer, grows before our eyes. Knowing when to harvest all those fruits brings peak flavor and texture. Join gardening expert Katherine Rowe to learn when to pick zucchini and the tender blossoms, too.