Professional Gardening Tips
LOBELIA (Named for M. L’Obel, botanist and physician of King James I) Clear blues are found among the annual Lobelias. The varieties of the Edging Lobelia, Lobelia erinus, the common species, are of two sorts-those which produce compact plants four […]
LINUM Flowering Flax (From linon, flax) There are several annual Flaxes, including Linum grandiflorum (coccineum), the Scarlet Flax, about a foot tall, with wide-open, glossy flowers, and L. usilatissimum, the Flax of commerce which bears blue flowers, and grows 3 […]
LEPTOSYNE (Greek for slenderness) A Daisy-like flower related to Coreopsis, Leplosyne stillmani, grows 18 inches tall. The flowers are golden yellow, 2 inches to 3 inches across; the tips of the ray florets are 3-lobed. The foliage is very finely […]
LAVATERA – Treemallow (Annual-mallow) (Named for the Lavater brothers, botanists of Switzerland) The name Mallow is applied to a number of plants of various habits, all of which bear flowers that resemble Hollyhocks. The common Layia elegans annual Lavatera is […]
LAYIA Tidytips (Named for Thomas Lay, naturalist) A California Daisy-like annual, Layia elegans, has yellow flowers with the rays often white-tipped. The plants are more or less hairy throughout. It grows about 12 inches tall. USE. The unusual white tipped […]
Reminding one of a small, symmetrical evergreen, the Summer cypress is commonly seen in gardens. The plants grow quickly and make an upright, compact growth, producing numerous branches covered with fine leaves. There is an objectionable feature that must be […]
IONOPSIDIUM – Diamond flower (Carpet plant)(Violet cress) (From io-the violet; violet-like, referring to the color of the flowers) Related to Candytuft, lonopsidium acaule is one of the most charming of the diminutive plants. It comes from Portugal. The flowers are […]
IMPATIENS – Balsam (Snap weeds) (Touch-me-not) (Name from Impatiens, refers to elasticity of seed capsules, which when ripe spring open) The Garden Balsam or Lady slipper (Impatiens balsamina) is an old-fashioned favorite which is again coming into its own. The […]
HUNNEMANNIA – Goldencup (Giant Yellow-tulip poppy) (Bush-eschscholtzia) (Named for John Hunnemann, an English botanist) An aristocrat among the Poppies, the Goldencup, bears a difficult botanical name, Hunnemannia fumariaefolia. The buttercup-yellow flowers are like those of California-poppies except that they are […]
HIBISCUS (Abelmoschus) – Sunset Hibiscus (Goldenbowl H.) (Ancient name for the Marshmallow) Comparatively unknown to gardens, the Sunset Hibiscus, H. manihot, is the loveliest yellow tall annual. The plants grow 8 feet tall, the divided leaves, character of seed vessels […]