About

About Thomas Joseph

I write the guides on this site.

Who runs this site

I'm Thomas Joseph. I garden in Melville, Long Island - USDA hardiness zone 7a, sandy loam over glacial till, moderate-to-high deer pressure, exposed to nor'easters in winter and humidity in summer. I've grown the same beds for over a decade.

I also run IndoorPlantCare.com for houseplants. Same approach: be honest, cite sources, no listicles.

What this site is

A growing reference for outdoor plants - perennials, shrubs, small trees, vegetables, herbs, lawns, and the problems they get. Every claim cites a primary source from Cooperative Extension publications, university research, USDA, NOAA, Xerces Society, or peer-reviewed literature.

The interactive tools (zone finder, watering schedule generator, sunlight plant finder, etc.) are all free and require no signup or email.

What this site is NOT

  • A blog. Posts here are reference material - I update them as research changes, not chronologically.
  • A magazine. No paid features. No sponsored content. If that ever changes, sponsored material will be labeled clearly.
  • An influencer site. No affiliate-driven listicles of products I haven't used. The buyer guides recommend specific products either because I've used them or because they're the universal first recommendation from Extension publications (see editorial process).
  • A community forum. If you have a question, ask me directly and I'll answer.

Why I started this

Most gardening content online is one of two things: either thin recycled blog posts that lift from each other, or paywalled magazine articles. Neither is what I want when I need to figure out why my hydrangea isn't blooming or whether it's too late to plant garlic. So I built the reference I wanted - one that explains the underlying mechanism, cites the actual research, and respects that you have a problem to solve right now.

By the numbers

What I've built here, as of the most recent update:

  • 905 long-form guides — plants, vegetables, lawn, problems, gear, regional care
  • 30 interactive tools — zone finder, frost dates, watering schedule, sunlight finder, pollinator filter, plant quiz, diagnose, companion planting matrix, mulch/compost/fertilizer/raised-bed/lawn/soil-amendment/plant-spacing calculators, harvest and pruning calendars, garden journal, leaf ID key, what's blooming now, problem photo gallery
  • 50 state planting calendars — every U.S. state, last/first frost, what to plant when
  • 500 crop-by-state pages — 10 staple crops × 50 states with locale-specific timing
  • 40 printable PDF cheat sheets — one-page references for the most-asked species
  • Labeled photos — hero images credit their photographer; illustrative AI-generated images are labeled as such
  • 30-day onboarding newsletter + 12 monthly seasonal emails — free, no upsell
  • Sourced, not padded — every factual claim links to a university Extension publication, government source or product label, and guides say plainly when advice comes from research rather than our own garden

My garden, for accountability

I grow these and have grown them for at least 3 seasons. When you see first-person voice on a guide for one of these plants, that's firsthand experience:

  • Hydrangea (panicle, smooth, oakleaf, mophead)
  • Peony (3 cultivars; one is 30+ years old, came with the house)
  • Hosta (probably 20 cultivars across the property)
  • Daffodil (heirloom and modern hybrids)
  • Allium (giganteum, christophii, schoenoprasum)
  • Catmint "Walker's Low"
  • Russian sage
  • Lavender "Munstead"
  • Sedum "Autumn Joy"
  • Switchgrass
  • Siberian iris
  • Black-eyed Susan
  • Coneflower
  • Tomatoes (Brandywine, Sungold, San Marzano)
  • Basil, parsley, chives, mint

For plants I don't grow, the guides are explicitly source-driven and labeled as such. I do not claim firsthand expertise I don't have.

How I make money

Three sources, all disclosed:

  1. Affiliate commissions from Amazon, Home Depot, and Lowe's. I earn a small percentage when readers buy through links on the site. This does not change what I recommend - all picks are based on Extension publication consensus. See affiliate disclosure.
  2. The newsletter is free. The 30-day welcome sequence and ongoing weekly emails are sponsored-free. If that changes I'll label clearly.
  3. No paid placements, sponsored posts, or paid reviews. If a brand wants me to write about their product, they can ship me one for testing - same as anyone else - and I'll write what I find, positive or negative.

Editorial standards

Everything published here follows the editorial process:

  1. Factual accuracy - every claim cites a primary source inline
  2. SEO-friendly - keyword-targeted titles, semantic structure, schema markup, alt text, internal cross-links
  3. Visually audited - no broken layouts, no awkward text wrapping, mobile-tested

Standing guarantees

  • If I have something wrong, tell me and I'll fix it with credit.
  • If I've linked to a product that's been discontinued or replaced by something clearly better, tell me and I'll update.
  • If a source link breaks, tell me and I'll find the current URL.

Contact

  • For questions: use the ask form or email thomas at outdoorplantcare dot com
  • For corrections: same
  • For press, partnership, or sponsorship inquiries: thomas at outdoorplantcare dot com

Beyond this site