Professional Gardening Tips
PHACELIA (Named from the Greek for cluster; refers to clustering of flowers) The best known sort is Phacelia campanularia, the Harebell Phacelia, which bears Gentian-blue, bell-shaped flowers with contrasting white stamens on one-sided curved racemes. The plants grow 9 inches […]
PETUNIA (Named from petun, the Brazilian name for tobacco, to which Petunia is allied) Everyone has some room for Petunias because they are the most profuse flowering of any annual. Few other annuals produce so many of such large flowers. […]
PERILLA Perilla is mentioned here because in years past it was a great favorite as a foliage plant. The leaves are dark purple and have a metallic luster causing the plant to resemble a Coleus. It grows about 1/2 feet […]
OENOTHERA, Evening primrose, Sundrops There are many biennial and perennial Oenotheras but several are rather popular annuals. Oenothera drummondi. Drummond Evening-primrose. This annual, 1 to 9. feet tall, has bright yellow flowers. Like all Evening primroses it is four-petaled. Oenothera […]
NIGELLA Love in a mist (Devil in the bush) (Lady-in-the-green) (Fennel flower) (Jack- in-the-bush) (Named from Latin for little black, alluding to the seeds) The fantastic names given to Nigella, which alone tempt anyone to grow it, have reference to […]
NICOTIANA Flowering Tobacco (Named for Jean Nicot, French consul to Portugal, who first presented tobacco to the courts of Portugal and France) The evening fragrance of the flowers of this plant is most delightful. Besides this, the flowers are attractive […]
These small, dainty plants from California are of a spreading habit and the leaves are pale green, deeply cut and slightly hairy. In Nemophila menziesi var. insignis, Baby-blue-eyes, the flowers are cup shaped, blue or white. The tips of the […]
NEMESIA (Name found in Dioscorides, an early botanical writer) The English have admired and grown Nemesias in their cool climate and all have admired them in places where they grow well. At Ohio State University they grown them in the […]
MIRABILIS Four-o’clock (Marvel-of-peru) (Name from mirabilis, wonderful, or some say shortened form of Admirabilis) The Four-o’clocks are well known and were favorites with our grandmothers, just as they are admired by us today. The flowers remain closed until late afternoon, […]
LUPINUS Lupine (From lupus-wolf, destroying soil as does the wolf) Lupines are attractive plants bearing Pea like flowers in whorls upon long, graceful spikes. There are annual and perennial species. The annual varieties are mainly derived from the following species: […]