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How to grow Dicentra Bleeding Heart. From the Greek di, two, kentron, a spur, referring to the two spurs on the petals (Fumariaceae). Hardy herbaceous perennials formerly known as Dielytra. Fibrous and tuberous rooted, they generally transplant badly because the roots are as brittle as glass. The flowers are pendant from arching stems, like lanterns hung along a cord. Species […]
Fine Plants for Spring Bloom in the Rock Garden and at the Front of the Flower Border Hardy, perennial, more or less evergreen, low-growing plants which bear a profusion of bloom in early spring. They are invaluable in the rock garden and wall garden, as edging to flower borders, and as groundwork for taller plants in spring flower beds. Unfortunately, […]
Climbing leaf-losing shrubby plants, from Brazil, which belong to the family Nyctaginaceae. They are cultivated outdoors in the far South and in colder climates in greenhouses. The slender woody stems are furnished with small, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, green leaves and sharp thorns. The small inconspicuous flowers which are produced in summer, are surrounded by large colored bracts which form the […]
The students have returned to school, your mailbox is crammed with a new crop of seed catalogs, the leaves are falling, and the days are getting shorter. Drive by your local garden center or roadside stand and the displays are filled with ornamental kales and cabbages. Autumn has arrived. Long after the first snowfall and frost have erased most traces […]
Columnar or Fastigiate trees To the botanist, the word fastigiate means ‘with parallel, erect, clustered branches’. It has become more widely used in a more generalized sense for trees with narrow crowns. All those mentioned are derived from natural sports and do not come true from seed (if that is produced). They are propagated as cultivars. They generally need careful […]
Tropical plants which are grown for the sake of their large, ornamental leaves; they are natives of South America and belong to the Arum family, Araceae. The leaves, which develop annually from tubers, are heart-shaped and richly colored and vary from 6 in. to 2 ft. in length; the flowers are interesting but of minor importance. The origin of the […]
Few perennials can offer what the peony does–beautiful, prolific flowers in early summer and good foliage afterwards. Once established, peonies will flower for many years with minimum care. Moreover, they’re incredibly hardy and can easily withstand cold northern winters. The basic types of peonies are herbaceous (Paeonia officinalis), which grow to heights of two to four feet; fern-leaved (Paeonia tenufolia), […]
How to grow Geranium From the Greek geranos, a crane, because the seed pod resembles a crane’s head and beak (Geraniaceae). Crane’s-bill. A genus of hardy herbaceous summer-flowering perennials with lobed or cut leaves, widely distributed over the temperate regions of the world. They are easily cultivated, free flowering and some are useful rock garden plants, others good border plants. […]
The flowers of this plant are a delight to those who admire extreme grace, dainty markings, and fantastic forms. Many flowers have been compared by writers to butterflies, but it is only this one that has received the name of Butterfly flower. The Butterfly weed (Asclepias) and the Butterfly bush (Buddleia) is so-called not because they resemble butterflies, but because […]
At last, the Zinnia has come into its own. Because it is of easy culture and does well for anyone, it has in the past been admired less than it deserves. Recently the seed growers of California have developed enormous flowers of unusual shapes and with excellent colors. We may now obtain clear rose, rich purple, golden yellows, the palest […]