A rainy afternoon, spent watering the plants in the TFS studio, inspired this post. May these tips help you grow more familiar with the plants you have – or invite a new variety into your home.

The Plants

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The Care

Every plant is different and getting to know their preferences is an honor and a joy. Tap through each plant for tending tips:

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Asparagus Fern

African Milk Tree

Philodendron Xanadu

Narrow Sword Fern

Fiddle Leaf Fig

Arrowhead Plant

Parallel Peperomia

Banana Leaf

Dragon Tree

Rubber Plant

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Share your plants with us .

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Tips from our team to your garden - organic, effective pest repellents, fertilizers, and more.

Pest Deterrents and Fertilizers

• Crush rinsed, cleaned eggshells. Place them around the base of the plant to deter slugs, or mix them into the soil to increase calcium content.

• Soak banana peels in some water for a few hours for use as a quick fertilizer.

• Pour coffee grounds and leftover black coffee around plants that like acidic soil. It also deters slugs, snails, and other pests.

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Acid-Loving Plants

Flowering trees and shrubs: hydrangeas, azaleas, dogwoods, magnolia

Vegetables: sweet corn, cucumbers, lettuce, leeks, eggplant

Herbs: lemongrass, thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano

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DIY Insecticide

Add 2-3 tsp of dish soap to 1 gallon of water.

Spray every 2-3 days until the infestation is gone.

Fungus and weeds, be gone!

• Sprinkle ground turmeric, or apply a quick paste (made with a touch of water), to heal a damaged plant as it has antibacterial & antifungal properties.

• Sprinkle ground cinnamon on the topsoil of both indoor & outdoor plants as a fungicide. Cinnamon reduces the growth of mold and mildew on the soil and also keeps away mosquitoes, gnats, and mites.

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DIY Fungicide

Mix 1 gallon of water with 3 Tbsp vegetable oil.

Funnel into a spray bottle.

Spray on leaves, front and back.

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DIY Weed Eliminator

Mix 1 gallon white vinegar, 1 cup salt, and 1 Tbsp dish soap.

Funnel into a spray bottle.

Spray on leaves and stems of weeds, but avoid saturating the soil!

Arber Plant Care Collection

Add a nourishing organic boost to your garden and houseplants with Arber, a science-backed line of plant wellness products for indoor and outdoor green spaces.

Organic Plant Food, Organic Bio Fungicide, Organic Bio Protectant, Organic Bio Insecticide are available in our Garden Collection here.

Cheers to your garden thriving, and your future harvests, whether vegetables or blooms. Show us what you grow!

We’ve condensed our own years of trying and testing into a collection of versatile, quality essentials, all made in Japan.

Our floral clippers and floral pin frogs are perfect for precise floral arranging and practicing ikebana.

Japanese craftsmanship is unparalleled in the world of tools. The Japanese tool industry grew out of a long tradition of swordsmithing katana — or close-combat samurai swords. Precision blacksmithing and quality design have created a legacy of durable, reliable tools, from gardening and cooking to floral arranging and woodworking.

For �鶹����, we’ve collected our core necessities for floral arranging and gardening. We hope these tools bring you hours of enjoyment and creativity.

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Our Collection

1. Hori Hori Knife

   Hori means ‘to dig’ in Japanese, but these nimble and versatile garden knives do that and more. Sometimes referred to as a weeding knife, our Hori Hori Knife is also ideal for digging holes for transplants or bulbs, dividing, and pruning. It is crafted with one serrated edge and one smooth, using Japanese blacksmith heat treatments and techniques.

2. Garden Pruners

   These razor-sharp and lightweight pruners are a must-have for the home gardener. Perfect for light- to medium-duty pruning, these shears will be your go-to tool for deadheading roses, perennials, and annuals. Use for shaping shrubs, ornamentals, and fruit trees. Excellent for reviving old bouquets with woody stems and foraging branches from the woodland for vase forcing.

3. Garden Tool Set

   Perfect for small gardening tasks, houseplants, or tending to seedlings. A great size for little green thumbs, too. Both tools are hand-crafted, using Japanese sustainable beech wood for the handles and Japanese stainless steel blacksmith heat treatments and techniques.

   TROWEL

   Features hand-sharpened edges for optimal depth and angle for slicing through soil and roots with ease.

   CULTIVATOR

   Features hand-formed prongs creating optimal angles to make your weeding and cultivating tasks easy.

4. Floral Pin Frogs, Smoke and Stainless Steel

   A kenzan, commonly known as a pin frog, is the essential tool used to create Japanese-inspired ikebana floral arrangements and is also the foundation of any architectural arrangement. Ours are sharp and precise, with a sturdy weight and removable, non-slip rubber base.

5. Floral Clippers

   Our original — one of the first tools we created for TFS. With teflon-coated carbon steel blades and thermoplastic elastomer handles, the ergonomic design remains comfortable in the hand as you work. Ideal for trimming flowers, pruning plants, or cutting herbs and vegetables from the garden. Truly, the only pair you will ever need.

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Every gardening endeavor takes a bit of trial and error. Every wilted leaf has a lesson. Every unproductive plot yields tips for next season.

Our team rounded up some recent learnings from their gardening attempts – successful and otherwise! Scroll on for tips.

For consistent harvests:

“Succession planting! You can get pretty sophisticated about staggering maturation dates, but the simplest way to make sure you're harvesting all summer long is to space out plantings of any given vegetable by 2-4 weeks.” – Rosalie

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Apartment gardening:

“Mike and I currently have a window herb garden (TFS herb seeds!). Only tip I can think of for these is to make sure they are in a sunny window spot and that they are in pots with drainage holes to make sure they aren't over-watered! We love our Genovese Basil for fun summer cocktails.” –��Julia

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Productive planting:

“Companion planting is also helpful. Certain vegetables like being grown near each other in gardens (tomatoes, basil, peppers | corn, beans, cucumbers, peas | spinach, strawberries), and planting friends with friends can help increase yield, decrease disease, and limit pests!” – Caitlin

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For low light:

“I don’t get a ton of direct light each day due to a huge tree that shades my yard. I have the best luck with leafy greens and herbs. Arugula is my favorite. I did try peas this year to see what would happen and they’re already growing!” – Sierra

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Proper spacing:

“I have a shared garden with my neighbors and we've dedicated a section this year to different varieties of peppers! It's my first time planting them but I've learned how important it is to space peppers more than 12 inches apart so they have the proper room to grow. Needless to say with all of the varieties, we have quite a large pepper garden!” – Olivia

Whether you’re starting a kitchen garden, edible flowers, or herbs, proper seed starting will set you up for success. You can technically start seeds indoors throughout the year, but to determine which dates are best for your zone.

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Share your garden progress with us. We’d love to see what you grow.

For more thoughts on garden planning, visit this post and keep an eye out for more tips and tricks.

Grow your own cutting garden and surround yourself with color and texture, all season long. We’ve curated our selection of seeds with our favorites for floral arranging.

Want a few pointers on our favorite varieties? Scroll on.

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Zinnia Illumination

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We love late summer for flowers because there's so much local product available! Whether you're buying them at the farmers market or growing them yourself, zinnia is beloved because it's so easy to grow, has beautifully intricate eyes, and amazing variation in shape and color amongst a single variety. Zinnia Illumination is our favorite, and pairs perfectly with some of our tried and true juicy summer color palettes.

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Mixed Phlox

Another easy-to-grow cutting garden favorite, we sell phlox seeds as a mix of pinks because we love every variety. We also love that it blooms and blooms in the garden until the first frost, has a sweet fragrance, and lasts an entire week as a cut flower! A perennial, phlox will spread easily and come back year after year.

Snapdragon

Just as lovely in a vase as they are in the garden, snapdragons are the perfect linear element in an arrangement with their ruffly faces and many blooms. They hold a place in our hearts for providing endless amusement as children; if you pinch their dragon face-like blooms laterally their little dragon mouths pop open!

Annual Flower Mix

Includes Zinnia, Larkspur, Forget-Me-Not, Cosmos, Sweet Sultans, Calendula, Feathered Celosia, Annual Baby's Breath, Indian Blank, Tricolor Daisy, and more. Perfect for the laissez-faire gardener, the annual flower mix is a great way to direct sow for a whole range of varieties and colors. We love tossing a few packs down in neglected areas of the garden and marveling at what emerges! It's also a wonderful way for a beginner gardener to get to know the different varieties.

Forget-Me-Not Blue

Blue is a rare color in flowers, and forget-me-nots come in a most lovely delicate shade. With such an evocative name it's no wonder they are a treasured garden addition! They self-seed easily and prefer shaded moist locations, meaning that they'll happily ramble through ditches and boggy areas, bringing a little color to otherwise hard to use spots.

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Shop Individual Seeds, and our bestselling Edible Flower Seed Kit.

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We want to see what you grow this season! Share with us