Your Backyard Garden Information Source
Ants are unwelcome in the garden for various reasons but chiefly on account of their nest-building activities which interfere with the roots of the plants, often causing death. They may also be a nuisance on lawns. They are often seen running over plants infested with greenfly to which they are attracted by the sweet honeydew. They may help to spread […]
X Sitemap BOUVARDIA (Bouvar’dia). Dwarf greenhouse flowering shrubs, from South America, which belong to the family Rubiaceae. They have slender upright stems, furnished with small green leaves and terminated by clusters of red, pink or white, single or double flowers in autumn and winter. The flowers are in the form of slender tubes opening out at the top into four […]
Dianthus : Gorgeous Kinds for Borders and Rock Gardens (Dianth’us) This important group of hardy plants includes all the Pinks and Carnations as well as the Sweet William and furnishes many delightful garden flowers. Dianthus belongs to the family Caryophyllaceae. The name is derived from dios,divine, and anthos, a flower; the name is said to have been given by Theophrastus […]
BRASSAVOLA (Brassav’ola) Orchids which grow wild in Honduras and some parts of South America, and in temperate regions are grown in greenhouses with a minimum winter temperature of 55 degrees. They are closely allied to those favorite Orchids Cattleya and Laelia and belong to the family Orchidaceae. They vary considerably in appearance but most of them have small, stemlike pseudobulbs, […]
BRASSIA—Spider Orchid (Brass’ia). Evergreen Orchids which grow wild in Brazil and other warm regions of South, Central and North America. Brassia commemorates William Brass, a botanical collector. It belongs to the Orchid family, Orchidaceae. Greenhouse Orchids Some kinds must be grown in a hothouse having a minimum winter temperature of 60-65 degrees; others thrive better in cooler conditions, in a […]
Dendrobium These Need a Warm Greenhouse for Their Successful Cultivation A large and popular group of greenhouse Orchids found wild throughout the East, in Ceylon, Burma, India, Australia, the Philippines, and in parts of China and Japan. Each kind has more or less adapted itself to its own special climatic conditions, with the result that the plants vary greatly in […]
Colorful Summer and Winter-flowering Shrubs That Are Easy to Grow The Buddleias (Buddlei’a) are beautiful flowering shrubs of vigorous growth, which are found wild in northern Asia, South America and South Africa and belong to the family Loganiaceae. Some are hardy; others are suitable only for planting out of doors in mild districts. Most are deciduous or leaf-losing. The […]
BULBOPHYLLUM (Bulbophyl’lum). A remarkable and varied group of Orchids which are found chiefly from Ceylon to Java, but also in Central and South America, particularly in Brazil: they grow wild on trees. None of the American kinds, and only a few of those from eastern Asia, are worth cultivating, as the flowers of many are insignificant. The name Bulbophyllum is […]
CACTI: FOR GREENHOUSE, WINDOW GARDEN AND OUTDOORS The collective name commonly used to describe the various members of the family Cactaceae is Cacti. These plants are primarily native to the Americas, especially Lower California, Texas, and Mexico south to Chile, Peru, and Argentina, where they grow in the desert and mountainous regions; however, various species, particularly the Opuntia (Prickly Pear), […]
BAMBOO A collective name for various tall, vigorous, evergreen ornamental Grasses which are described under their botanical names of Arundinaria, Bambusa, Dendrocalamus, Phyllostachys, Pleioblastus, Pseudosasa, Sasa and Semiarundinaria. Consult entries under these names. Best Place for Bamboos. Bamboo should be planted in moist ground in a position where the roots cannot become dry during a period of drought. They thrive […]