Professional Gardening Tips
The form and size of interest determine the herb garden these plants hold for the individual. It can be a tiny border of commonly used culinary herbs such as mint, parsley, sage, and thyme or an elaborate garden designed to house a wide collection of herbs. Many plants could legitimately be included in one of these large gardens so that […]
This hardy Marguerite is a sturdy, very easily grown plant. It is about 1 foot or 1 1/2 feet high, very bushy, with finely cut foliage somewhat resembling the Pyrethrums, and bears Daisy-like, yellow flowers in great profusion from June until Fall. The colors range from purest white to a rich yellow. Anthemis tinctoria Kelwayi is the best one for […]
Arabis – Rock Cress, Wall Cress The Rock Cress is a small, white, four-petaled flower, and its masses of snowy bloom early in the Spring contrast beautifully with the Basket of Gold (Alyssum saxatile compactum) and the blue False Wall Cress (Aubrietia). It blooms very soon after the snow disappears and the flowers are so numerous that when a plant […]
Erigeron – Fleabane The Erigeron has Aster-like flowers which are in bloom during the Summer months. The different species vary in height from 5 inches to 3 feet. The flowers grow from small tufts of leaves, somewhat like the English Daisy (Bettis) and the blooms of the taller varieties measure 2 inches and 2 1/2 inches across. The colors are […]
Cottage Gardens The cottage garden tradition is one that is peculiarly English in character. The old-world charm of the cottager’s plot owed little or nothing to any of the major developments in garden design or landscape architecture. The English cottage garden just ‘happened’ and its chief attraction lies in the effect of ordered chaos that it produces. Like the wild […]
The pea is a vegetable which helps the soil, has an interesting history, is easy to grow, and is a more versatile food than you might know. It is loaded with helpful vitamins, protective phytonutrients that provide antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits, protein and fiber. They’re low in fats but, what they have, are healthy omega-3 fats. Some research (whfoods.org) indicates […]
STRELITZIA — Bird of Paradise Flower A group of tender perennial plants, only one of which is commonly grown. This is Strelitzia Reginae, which has large ornamental leaves on long strong petioles (leafstalks), and bears brilliant orange and purple flowers, several together within a large bract, on stems 3 ft. or more high in spring. It is a native of […]
Sooner or later, every gardener falls in love with a few select perennials. Perennials are flowering plants that live many years, but die back during their dormant season which is usually winter. When planted under the right conditions, perennials grow and prosper for years, often with little attention. Each perennial has a peak season of bloom, usually lasting from one […]
The students have returned to school, your mailbox is crammed with a new crop of seed catalogs, the leaves are falling, and the days are getting shorter. Drive by your local garden center or roadside stand and the displays are filled with ornamental kales and cabbages. Autumn has arrived. Long after the first snowfall and frost have erased most traces […]
I am very prone to love at first sight. In fact, it happened just last week. I saw a tall southerner “across a crowded room”, as the song says. My heart stood still (as another song says). I was enraptured. The tall stranger was plumbago (Plumbago auriculata, also known as Plumbago capensis), which is sometimes also known by its extremely […]