Learn how to choose the right tree for your yard by evaluating size, roots, maintenance, and long-term impact before you plant.

This post is about why people plant trees...and how that decision can go spectacularly wrong. Because, if you get it wrong, you’re not just planting a tree—you’re planting a future expense, a maintenance headache, or a full-blown property problem.

A week after Phase One of Operation Garden wrapped, my oakleaf hydrangeas arrived—big, healthy, three-year-old plants from a local nursery. I splurged on the larger size, and honestly? Worth every penny the moment they went in the ground.

One of the biggest reasons for buying a single family home was to get a yard where I could garden. My new home’s yard was in abysmal shape but had fabulous garden potential. Here’s how I started to claw the yard back from decades of neglect.

After a decade of creating a huge suburban garden, I lived in a series of apartments where I couldn’t garden. Here’s how I re-educated my green thumb to design a garden that thrived in an urban space.