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Whether you specialize in any particular plant or not, the general design and layout of your garden must be pleasing and practical. There are some hard and fast rules to bear in mind, but in the main gardening is a subject upon which it is very hard to dogmatize, and the thing to remember is that the success or otherwise […]
From the Greek malakos, soft or soothing, probably in reference to an emollient yielded by the seeds (Malvaceae). A genus of hardy herbaceous perennial and annual plants. M. moschata, the musk mallow, is one of the most decorative of wild flowers, quite suitable for the herbaceous border. It is even more lovely in its white variety. All parts of the […]
Summer care and Algae By the Pond Lady Summer is here and everything in your pond is in full rhythm, flowers are blooming, and your fish are active. Algae is growing and you’re wondering what do I do about that green water or what is that fuzzy green stuff on my pots and around the sides of my pond. You […]
Garden Problems Saving seeds, Compost, Tree stumps Saving Seeds Q. If I do not use all my vegetable and flower seeds one season can I sow them the following season? A. In principle the answer is yes, but there will be a lessening of the percentage of germination. I would not hesitate to sow any flower seeds left from a […]
My favorite Salvia is one which I have never seen listed in any catalog. It is Salvia uliginosa, a tall plant with willowy stems to a height of four feet. Each branch ends in a narrow plume of sky-blue which lengthens with the season until it sometimes measures a foot or more in length before the summer is gone. The […]
Parsley Cultivation The point to remember about parsley is that it is certain to be needed by the cook at all times of the year. To allow for this, frequent (at least three) sowings should be made between March and September. Large beds of parsley will not be required by the average family and so the plants may be used […]
The name was first used by Pierandrea Mattioli, a sixteenth-century Italian botanist, and physician, and possibly means ‘shaking in the wind’ (Ranunculaceae). This genus of 30 species, distinguished from Anemone only by minor botanical differences, includes some of the most beautiful of low-growing flowering plants, and one in particular, P. vernalis, which is so lovely that it must have converted […]
Trees are the most long-lived growing features in any garden. Once they are well established, it is very difficult to move them; pruning them if they become too big is difficult, needing skilled workmanship, and is never a permanent solution to the problems of excessive roots and over-extensive shading that arise. Since Victorian times the gardener’s problems in tree-planting have […]
Alluding to the fact that alternate anthers are usually infertile (Amaranthaceae). Joy weed. Used in the main for foliage effect, these half-hardy shrubby perennials have brightly colored foliage. The flowers are insignificant and are not usually allowed to develop. Species cultivated A. amoena, 3 inches, leaves, green veined with orange-red blotches; vars. amabilis (leaves orange-scarlet), rosea and spectabilis. A. bettickiana, […]
In spring any color is welcome, but I sometimes think that we end up with a glut of yellows, especially when the daffodils are out. Fortunately, Mother Nature gave us contrast in the form of a few blue flowers that bloom at the same time. The best ones, lungwort (Pulmonaria sps.), false or perennial forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla) and true forget-me-not […]