Once again, the annual Color of the Year announcements have started rolling out VERY early. And once again, one has already come out before we could make our official guesses (it’s only August of 2026!). So we quickly made our picks this morning. You can see them below in this post, and just like we’ve done for 2024, 2025, and 2026 – we’ll update this post every time a new one is announced so you can see all the COTY selections in one convenient place.
In the first of this two-part series, Kaleb Wyse of Wyse Guide shares how he creates a beautiful, low-maintenance perennial bed designed for full sun, from selecting the right plants and arranging them for the best impact to planting nearly 300 perennials. After previously preparing the bed with Espoma Organic Land & Sea Gourmet Compost, Kaleb gives every plant the best possible start by adding Espoma Organic Bio-tone® Starter Plus to each planting hole, helping roots establish quickly and supporting healthy, long-term growth.
Kaleb’s Perennial Picks:
Caradonna Salvia — One of the most reliable and versatile perennials in the bed.
Summer Magic Nepeta (Catmint) — A more compact, upright version of the classic Walker’s Low.
Moonshine Yarrow — Fern-like silvery foliage — and in low light, it almost seems to glow.
Hummelo Stachys (Betony) — Tall, sturdy blooms in early summer and it’s ideal for the full-sun.
Big Blue Eryngium (Sea Holly) — One of the showiest plants in the bunch, with large structural blooms and beautiful color variation in the veining.
Karl Foerster Grass — Not your average ornamental grass. Karl Foerster stays upright and manageable.
Phantom Joe Pye Weed — A more compact Joe Pye Weed variety.
Munstead Dark Red Sedum — A rich red-pink late bloomer that’s drought tolerant, sturdy, and easy to split as it matures.
Kaleb’s Tips for Planning and Planting:
1. Plan for Easy, All-Season Interest
A perennial bed can be beautiful even when little is blooming. Choose plants with contrasting foliage, colorful stems, architectural shapes, and varied heights to keep the garden visually interesting throughout the seasons. Combine early-, mid-, and late-season bloomers for long-lasting color. To make the bed easier to maintain, look for sturdy varieties that can handle sun, heat, wind, and drier conditions once established without frequent staking or extra support.
2. Don’t Overlook Smaller, More Affordable Plants
While larger perennials provide an immediate presence, smaller plants can be a smart and economical choice. Kaleb notes that four-inch plants and plugs often establish quickly, require less water initially, and can catch up to gallon-sized plants within a year or two.
When purchasing plants don’t stress over the container size and choose your plant size based on availability, budget, and how quickly you want the bed to look full.
3. Group for Impact and Repeat Randomly
One perennial can get lost in a large bed. To prevent that, Kaleb groups plants in odd numbers—usually five or seven—to create noticeable pockets of color and texture. He repeats the groupings informally throughout the bed. Repetition helps the garden feel connected, but the groups aren’t placed at perfectly even intervals or directly across from one another. This creates what he calls “chaos within defined lines”—a garden that feels loose and natural but still looks cohesive and intentional.
4. Use an Auger and Plant with Bio-tone Starter Plus
When planting 300 perennials, Kaleb relies on a drill-mounted auger to make quick work of digging, even in tough soil. Once each hole is ready, he mixes in Espoma Organic Bio-tone® Starter Plus before planting. Bio-tone Starter Plus provides beneficial microbes and nutrients that help roots establish quickly while supporting a healthier soil ecosystem for long-term growth.
You Can Do It!
A perennial bed this size can feel daunting, but the method is the same no matter the scale. Choose plants for season long interest, group them for impact, and give every plant a strong start with Bio-tone Starter Plus and Land & Sea Gourmet Compost. Stay tuned for part 2 for more on this project.
Kaleb Wyse’s Simple Formula for Beautiful Seasonal Containers
Kaleb Wyse of Wyse Guide is refreshing the containers around his home for the season, from welcoming porch planters to decorative pots throughout the landscape. His approach is simple but impactful: choose plants that thrive in the same growing conditions, create bold statements with mass plantings or complementary pairings, and build lasting seasonal interest through texture and structure. Every container starts with Espoma Organic All-Purpose Potting Mix giving plants the organic foundation they need for healthy growth.
Watch the full video here:
Here are 6container gardening tips from Kaleb:
1. Keep Containers Simple with Mass Plantings
Instead of filling every container with several different plants, Kaleb often relies on a single variety planted en masse. One of his favorite examples is Karalee Petite Pink Gaura, which fills the entire container with airy blooms that flower continuously throughout the season. The result feels intentional, elegant, and allows the plant to make a much stronger visual statement than a mixed planting.
2. Build Around a Strong Structural Plant
For containers that will stay attractive all season, Kaleb likes starting with something architectural. An heirloom agave becomes the focal point of one planter, while a low-growing chartreuse sedum softens the edges and highlights the agave’s striking form. Rather than competing with bold flowers, the combination lets contrasting textures create the visual interest.
3. Pair Plants that Want the Same Growing Conditions
One of Kaleb’s guiding principles is choosing plants that naturally belong together. Before selecting plants, consider where the container will live and match varieties that enjoy the same amount of sunlight and moisture. Pairing drought-tolerant plants like agave and sedum means the container requires less maintenance, while flowering annuals are grouped with plants that appreciate more consistent moisture.
4. Start Every Container with Quality Potting Mix
Every container in Kaleb’s garden begins with All-Purpose Potting Mix. The organic mix provides excellent drainage while holding the moisture plants need, making it suitable for everything from annual flowers and tropical ferns to succulents and architectural plants. When filling containers, Kaleb leaves enough room below the rim for watering while accounting for the slight settling that naturally occurs over time.
Not every porch receives the same amount of sunlight, and Kaleb chooses his ferns accordingly. The shaded portion of his covered porch is home to lush variegated Boston ferns displayed in beautiful antique urns, while the brighter front edge of the porch features Kimberly Queen ferns, which tolerate more sun. Selecting the right fern for each location creates healthier plants and reduces maintenance throughout the summer.
6. Let Texture Create Season-Long Interest
Rather than relying solely on colorful blooms, Kaleb designs containers that remain attractive from spring through fall by combining contrasting foliage, strong plant forms, and complementary textures. Whether it’s the airy movement of gaura, the bold shape of agave, the soft mounds of sedum, or the graceful fronds of ferns, each planting contributes lasting beauty without feeling overly busy.
You Can Do It!
Beautiful containers don’t have to be complicated. By choosing plants with similar care requirements, using mass plantings or simple pairings, and focusing on texture as much as flowers, you can create containers that look polished from the beginning of the season through fall. Start with Espoma Organic All-Purpose Potting Mix to give your plants the foundation they need, and feed flowering containers with Espoma Organic Bloom! Liquid Plant Food as the season progresses.
Ready to refresh your own containers? Watch Kaleb’s full video for even more inspiration, and discover more organic gardening tips and products at Espoma.com.
Some plants can survive atomic blasts. Others can help cleanse polluted soil, trap pollinators overnight, defend themselves from hungry animals, or even support memory and wellness.
This blog is inspired by Episode 297 of Growing Joy with Plants, where Maria Failla talks to horticulturist and author David Domoney to go through the “superpowers” of garden plants. Here are 11 plants from the conversation and what makes each one special.
1.Ginkgo
Ginkgo is a very old tree species, and fossils show it has been around for roughly 200-207 million years, dating back to the Early Jurassic period.
In Hiroshima in 1945, some ginkgo trees were about 1.6 km from the atomic bomb. Their leaves burned off and the trunks were blackened, but about a year and a half later, they started to grow again. So people saw them as a sign of hope and recovery, and cities now plant ginkgos along streets because they handle air pollution well.
2. Sunflower
Sunflowers are “hyperaccumulators.” They take up metals and other bad things from the soil (like zinc, copper, lead, and even some radioactive material).
For a healthy crop of sunflowers, plant in full sun, use compost‑rich soil, and feed with an organic flower food such as Espoma Flower‑tone.
3. Magnolia
Magnolias were already on Earth before bees were common, so they evolved with beetles as their pollinators.
A beetle lands in the flower to feed on pollen. At night, the magnolia flower closes like a cup and traps the beetle inside. The beetle walks around, picks up lots of pollen, and in the morning, the flower opens again and lets it go. Then the beetle carries pollen to the next magnolia.
4. Lavender
Lavenders are either:
Calming – Angustifolia types; used in candles and relaxing products.
Stimulating – intermedia types; have sharper smell and are more stimulating (used often in soaps)
Those sharper types also have strong antibacterial and antifungal qualities.
5. Rosemary
Rosemary is linked with the immune system and with memory. Greek scholars and Romans used rosemary garlands as decor.
To root a rosemary spring: take a piece about the size of your finger, strip the lower leaves, and put it in water (or better, in soil) until it grows roots. You can transfer it to soil after the roots are 2 inches long and branching.
6. Parsley
Roman gladiators and soldiers chewed parsley before they went into battle. They believed it helped their strength and mental quickness.
Parsley is also high in chlorophyll, which makes it useful for fighting bacteria and cutting strong smells like garlic. So if you don’t have a toothbrush, chewing parsley can help freshen your breath!
7. Holly
Holly leaves change their shape after being eaten. They are naturally smooth. But when animals eat the lower leaves, the new leaves grow back with sharp prickles. The plant “responds” to damage by changing its leaf shape in that area.
Holly likes acidic soil, so you can feed it with Espoma Holly‑tone and keep mulch around the base to manage water intake.
8. Bee Orchid
From its name, it’s an orchid that looks like a bee it wants to attract. It has also evolved a smell that copies the female bee’s scent. So the male bee lands, thinks it’s a real bee, and tries to mate with the flower. As he moves from flower to flower, he spreads the pollen.
9. Blueberries
Blueberry is a “giver plant” because it offers:
Nice leaves
Pretty bell‑shaped flowers
Good fall color
Fruit with strong health benefits like helping control how the body burns and stores visceral fat (so it’s good for weight loss).
10. Walnut
When you open a walnut, the nut looks like a tiny human brain. And it’s not a coincidence that it also contains things like linolenic acid and polyphenols, which are good for memory, movement, and protecting the brain.
So the nut that looks like a brain… also supports brain health.
11. Currants and Raspberries
David shared that he will sit in the garden with some cheese and crackers and pick fresh currants off the bush to add a sweet element to his snack. For a great dessert for a party, stick a small piece of chocolate inside a raspberry for the perfect mix of fruit and chocolate.
Garden Plants with Superpowers
A garden with “superpower” plants feels different once you know their stories. You stop seeing them as background and start noticing the small, specific ways they interact with you, with wildlife, and even with history.
It’s easy to care so much for your plants that you start overthinking or becoming hypervigilant. Documenting every single yellow leaf or a slightly droopy stem can add stress, not organization to your life. But plants are supposed to make you happy, not stressed! They should help you breathe and step back from your usual busy day.
This blog is inspired by Episode 297 of Growing Joy with Plants, where Maria shared 5 signs you’re overthinking plant care and how small mindset shifts can help you feel confident instead.
Sign # 1: You Google Every Little Thing
A yellow leaf means a dozen different things, which is why Google searches will confuse you even more. One article says ‘overwatering.’ Another says ‘underwatering.’ A forum thread tries to convince you it’s a fungal issue, and now you’re spiraling.
Usually, the better place to start is right in front of you:
When did you last water?
How much light is your plant getting?
Is it just one leaf thats yellowing or is the whole plant going downhill?
Those details tell you more than a generic search result ever will. And if you are troubleshooting, it helps to take a few variables off the table.
Sign #2: You Follow A Strict Watering Schedule
Watering every week sounds responsible, but in practice, it can actually cause more problems than it solves. You should know by now that plants dry out at different rates depending on the season, the pot size, the type of plant, the amount of light, and even how warm your house feels that week.
That’s why a check-in day works better than a watering day. Walk through the house, touch the soil, lift the pot if you know its weight, and only water the plants that actually need it.
This gets easier when your soil drains well and doesn’t stay heavy for too long. If you like to feed as you water, Espoma Indoor! Houseplant Food fits naturally into that routine because it can be added right to the watering can.
Sign #3: You Panic Over Every Yellow Leaf
Again, not every yellow leaf is a warning sign. Remember that older leaves naturally age, and that’s especially true if the rest of the plant looks healthy.
It helps to keep your reaction small, too. A helpful habit is to:
Remove the yellow leaves if you notice them.
Quick check-in on water, soil, and light.
Watch for patterns.
If there are always yellow leaves, that can be a sign that the roots need more room or that they’ve been too wet for too long. In those cases, repotting into a fresh soil mix like Espoma Organic Potting Mix can do more good than trying to chase down too many fixes at once.
Sign # 4: You Try Every Fix At Once
It’s very tempting to do everything when you see signs that a plant looks unhappy. But the problem is that once you do that, you have no idea what treatment actually helped.
Plants respond better if you do it one at a time:
Choose one small adjustment like improving light/adjusting watering.
Give the plant time to respond and observe.
Add another change if you don’t see improvement.
Sign #5: You Forget That Plant Care Should Be Enjoyable
A lot of us started getting into plants because we wanted a home that felt a little more alive, and then somewhere along the way, every watering turned into a chore.
You don’t need a perfect routine. What you need are a few reliable habits and enough patience to just let things unfold. Some will yellow, some plants will surprise you and bounce back after you were sure they were done for.
The easiest way to take pressure off yourself is to focus on the basics: good light, sensible watering, and a healthy growing medium.
Enjoy the Process and Trust Your Intuition
The more you simplify the process, the more room there is to enjoy it (which is really the point of growing plants in the first place). So make sure you stay clear of these bad habits, and make 2026 your most joyful year of plant parenthood yet!
Got a patch of grass you’ve been eyeing for a flower bed? In his latest video, Kaleb Wyse of Wyse Guide tackles the first and most important step of that transformation: getting the lawn out and the soil ready. As part of his ongoing four-year pathway project, he’s converting a stretch of yard along the path into a new perennial border — and this video is all about doing the groundwork right before a single plant goes in, including how he uses Espoma Organic Land & Sea Gourmet Compost to prep the soil once the grass is gone.
Here are 4 top tips for converting lawn into a flower bed:
1. Start with a Clean Slate — Remove the Sod
There are plenty of ways to turn a lawn into a flower bed, but for a large bed plans like Kaleb’s, full sod removal is well worth the effort. Removing the grass and its roots creates a clean slate for planting, helps prevent grass from creeping back into the bed, and lets you start planting right away. Kaleb also avoids harsh herbicides, preferring to keep the soil as natural as possible for healthy root development.
2. Rent a Sod Cutter
For a conversion this size, hand-digging isn’t realistic. Kaleb rents a sod cutter for the day — economical for the amount of work it handles. Here’s how he uses it:
Set the depth to about 2 inches for the outer edge to pull up a solid root zone — a quarter inch just scrapes the surface and won’t get enough roots out. For interior passes, drop to 1.75 inches to make the sod lighter and easier to lift and move.
Freehand the outer curve of the new bed first to establish the shape, then make straight back-and-forth passes inside that boundary.
Do it when the ground has moisture. Dry summer sod crumbles and becomes a mess — with good moisture, it rolls up cleanly and can be saved and relocated to bare spots elsewhere in the yard.
Plan for a little hand work around trees at the end — the machine can’t get everywhere.
Once all the sod is out, use a half-moon edger to cut a clean 4-inch trench along the border to keep grass from migrating back in over time.
For a large flower bed, renting a sod cutter can save hours of work and make the project much easier. Kaleb recommends using one to quickly remove the existing lawn while keeping the sod intact, making it easier to relocate patches to other areas of the yard if needed. After the sod is removed, finish the edge with a clean trench to help define the bed and reduce grass from creeping back into your new planting area.
3. Top-Dress with Compost
Kaleb spreads Land & Sea Gourmet Compost across the entire converted area and rakes it level. It does double duty at this stage: the fine texture lets it act as a light layer on top that reduces evaporation and keeps the bare soil from sitting completely exposed, while also working as a soil amendment. Compost adds organic matter and nutrients that helps to build soil health over time.
You Can Do It!
The groundwork you put in before a single plant goes in makes all the difference. Remove the sodand reach for Land & Sea Gourmet Compost to get your new bed off to the best possible start. Stay tuned — in another video Kaleb will be back to walk through laying out and planting the perennials.
I’m honestly a little surprised by all the interest in my photo digitization project, but we continue to field questions about how I’ve organized our old family photos. So here are answers to the most often-asked burning questions about exactly how we sorted, organized, and backed up our photos throughout the digitizing process. I won’t claim to have ALL of the answers because there’s been some trial and error along the way for me. But below are the steps I wish I’d followed from the very beginning. There’s also a “rapid fire FAQ” at the end.
| Growing Joy with Maria
|| Wyse Guide