How to Grow Mimulus Mimulus (mim-u-lus) From the Greek mimo, ape ; the flowers were thought to look like a mask or monkey’s face (Scrophulariaceae). Monkey flower, monkey musk, musk. A genus of hardy annual, half-hardy perennial and hardy perennial plants, grown for their showy flowers. They are found in many temperate parts of the world, particularly in North America. […]
How to treat unplanted spring-flowering bulbs, an amaryllis when through flowering, and houseplants dropping leaves, are some of the common indoor gardening questions this time of year. Many also ask if there are food crops that you can grow indoors during winter. If you purchased spring-flowering bulbs this fall but didn’t get them all planted, what should you do with them? […]
OUTER SPACE FLOWERS 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 […]
CALENDULA or POT MARIGOLD A Southern European Plant That Is Popular in Garden and Greenhouse (Calen’dula). Showy annual plants from southern Europe belonging to the Daisy family, Compositive. They have simple alternate leaves and branching stems 1 1/2-2 1/2 ft. high, bearing large heads of yellow, yellowish or orange-colored flowers which are in full beauty during the summer. Calendula is […]
Since confession is good for the soul, I feel compelled to say that I always order too many seeds. And since making excuses is one of the hallmarks of the human condition, I will also say that my seed surplus is not entirely my fault. Seed companies and garden magazines and charities send me all kinds of small seed packets […]
EVERY gardener knows that Sweet Alyssum, variety Little Gem, is among, if not the best, plant to use to outline beds or borders. In this month it needs a good shearing or cutting back at least half way, so that new growth is encouraged and the blooming season is prolonged until frost. In August one begins to make new seedbeds […]
No matter where I am, I always try to notice what is growing around me. Last week I was stuck in traffic on a busy commercial street not far from my house. Gazing at the gas station on the other side of the intersection, I noticed that the owner had installed a long raised planting bed, about 18” high, made […]
Learn the monthly garden tasks for your gardening hardiness zone. Do you know what your hardiness zone? Once known, then find the required task. Zone 1 Finish planting bare-root trees, shrubs, roses Prune roses, then apply dormant spray Apply dormant spray to trees and shrubs before they leaf out Spade or till garden beds as soon as the soil is […]
By the autumn many of the summer-flowering plants are all but over and, although there are many plants which will provide a display of flowers in September and October, and even into early November, much can be done to make the garden colorful in these months by planting some of the shrubs and trees the leaves of which turn brilliant […]
Fall in this part of the world is often more of a collision of summer and winter than a season in its own right. Temperatures swing wildly between unseasonable warmth and unexpected cold. Trees color and leaves fall right on top of lawns that still need mowing. The days grow shorter as the weeds grow taller. The tall, wild white […]