Your Backyard Garden Information Source
When you want lots of color quickly, flowers to cut by the armful and bloom all summer, you want annuals. For earliest possible bloom, sow seeds indoors, then transplant-or buy started plants in May. But you’ll still get plenty of flowers if you wait till the danger of frost is past and sow the seed of quick-growing varieties where you […]
How to grow Snapdragon flowers (Greek for like a nose, refers to form of the flowers) Few of our flowers are as fantastic in form as the Snapdragon, Antirrhinum majus. At the same time the colors attract us. There are delicate pinks, such as we find in a Rose, the yellows are like giant flowers of Toadflax, the deep maroons […]
SALVIA – Sage (The Latin name used by Pliny meaning safe, referring to the medicinal properties) It is unnecessary to describe the Scarlet Sage which is now much planted in some sections of the United States. There is no question regarding its growth or its blooming qualities, but in some cities its hot color is seen on so many streets […]
Learn the August garden tasks for your gardening hardiness zone. Do you know what your hardiness zone? Once known, then find the required task. Zone 1 Sow seeds of wildflowers and fall veggies Aerate, dethatch and fertilize the lawn As first frosts threaten, pick mature green tomatoes to ripen in a dark, cool place indoors Purchase containerized trees and shrubs […]
Digitalis – Foxglove, Witches’ Thimbles A well grown Foxglove in full flower is a plant of dignity and beauty. The long flowering spikes grow from 3 to 6 feet tall, rising high above large clumps of broad, downy leaves. Upon the flowering stalk, the flowers open slowly as the impulse to bloom moves upward. This tends to lengthen the blooming […]
The bold and hearty character of the Purple Cone Flower makes it a striking plant. The flowers are rosy purple with dark, stiff, quill-like centers touched with golden crimson. Echinacea purpurea is the common sort and is frequently listed in catalogs under Rudbeckia purpurea. Sometimes when plants are raised from seed objectionable muddy colors are obtained which are not worthy […]
The Chinese Balloon Flower is very closely allied to the Campanulas. It grows erect and the stems are rigid. The flowers have five petals and open out rather flat, but when in bud they look like inflated balloons, from whence the common name is derived. The flowers are both single and double. They are blue and white in color and […]
The grace of the Dicentras charms us whether in the woods or the garden. The Bleeding Heart, Dicentra spectabilis is one of our most showy old-fashioned flowers which everyone loves. It grows from 2 feet to 4 feet tall and spreads out almost the same distance. The leaves, which are a light, transparent green, are very neat, exceedingly graceful, and […]
Papaver – Oriental Poppy, Iceland Poppy There are Poppies and Poppies, old-fashioned ones and new varieties, and it would almost seem that they grow more dazzling and more gorgeous each year. Perhaps they are grown in a greater number of gardens and we see their brilliant colors everywhere during the early Summer months, or perhaps, we too have learned the […]
TOMATOES All gardeners take pride in vine-ripened tomatoes. In addition to traditional red tomatoes, you can grow tomatoes that ripen to yellow, orange, and even purple. Small cherry tomatoes are ideal for salads and fleshy paste tomatoes cook into a rich, thick sauce. Tomatoes are not difficult to grow provided they get plenty of sun and warmth. PEPPERS Peppers are […]