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Why is it important to learn how garden flowers are grouped or classified? For one, it will make it easier for you to order plants and flowers. You also will better understand terms you see in books and catalogs. And you’ll learn about some cultural or growth factors to consider when selecting flowers for your garden. To begin with, flowers […]
Late winter and early spring is a great time to start seedlings and get the gardening season underway. Growing your seedlings from seed is highly rewarding and can open doors to even more species that are not often found in garden centers. However, a couple of problems can sometimes curb the indoor green thumb and seriously affect the success of […]
To some, the Monarch Butterfly is a symbol of hope and perseverance. It is my hope we all can add some resilience to this remarkable pollinator. Like all pollinators, the Monarch is facing serious threats and possibly extinction. Recently their sightings in my location have been few and far between. They have suffered from loss of habitat, herbicides, climate change, […]
Community gardens are a great way to bond with your neighbors and improve your town. When everyone works together to accomplish the same goal, you’ll form lifelong friendships and make your city a better place. Read these 10 tips for starting a community garden so you can lead the effort to create one where you live. 1. Start a Virtual […]
I started thinking about vines when I found a turn-of-the-last-century photograph of my house and noticed that a vine used to climb up the pillar to the right of the front door. At the time, the large front porch, so beloved of realtors, was almost completely obscured by a curtain of vines. They must have been trained on wires to […]
Sometimes a garden needs a bit of intensity. For several years my front borders have been full of soothing pastels, with peaches and pale yellows predominating, accented with lots of white. The result is pleasing, but nothing reinvigorates like a bit of change, so last year I decided to add some gold nasturtiums to the mix. They proved to be […]
Reports show that the population of bees has continued to fall, putting food security at risk as they play a crucial role in pollination. The fast population decline can be attributed to the continued use of agricultural chemicals, climate change, and other factors such as urban development. When landscaping or setting up your garden, don’t only think about how good […]
Oxypetalum caeruleum is a South American member of the Milkweed Family which deserves to be better known. A reference to it in an English gardening magazine aroused my interest, and in the summer I sowed a packet of seeds in a flat. They germinated well, and in the autumn the little plants were potted up, and placed in the greenhouse […]
A genus of herbaceous perennial plants from tropical America, grown mainly for their ornamental foliage, though some also have showy flowers. They need warm greenhouse treatment in cooler areas. From the Greek dis, twice, chorizo, to part, aner, anther, referring to the 2-valved anthers (Commelinaceae). Species grown today Where to Plant and Grow Dichorisandra These plants are potted up in […]
In many places in the United States columbines (Aquilegia ssp.) still grow wild. Highbrow hybrids dominate the marketplace, but even they seem to retain some of that wildness. While cleaning out an overgrown greenhouse once, I noticed columbines of indeterminate variety growing up through the cracks between the slate floor’s slabs. In my own garden they tend to self-seed, coming […]