Your Backyard Garden Information Source
From the Greek helein, to kill, bora, food; some species are poisonous (Ranunculaceae). Hellebore. Hardy perennials, often retaining their leaves through the winter, with thick fibrous roots. All flower early in the year and the flowers are long lasting. Most of them have handsome, leathery, divided leaves, sometimes spiny. They are natives of southern Europe and western Asia. Species cultivated […]
While it’s true that most weddings take place in spring and summer, many couples choose a winter date for the “big event.” According to the Society of American Florists, 13 percent of weddings take place in the winter, with 11 percent of those being Christmas weddings. Summer weddings account for 35 percent, spring weddings 29 percent, and autumn weddings 23 […]
ZINNIA (Youth-and-old-age) At last the Zinnia has come into its own. Because it is of easy culture and does well for anyone, it has in the past been admired less than it deserves. Recently the seed growers of California have developed enormous flowers of unusual shapes and with excellent colors. We may now obtain clear rose, rich purple, golden yellows, […]
The long stems and tufted flowers of the annual Scabiosa (S. atropurpurea) are charming. The colors also are pleasing in all cases white, light pink, rose, fiery scarlet, pale yellow, azure blue, and deep blackish-purple. The stamens are light in color and in contrast with the petals appear like pins stuck into the flower, hence the name Pincushion flower. The […]
SILENE – Catchfly (From the Greek for saliva, referring to the stickiness of the stems of some species) The Sweet-William Catchfly, Silene armeria, is a little known but worthy annual and grows 1 to 2 feet tall. The flowers are delicate pink or rose-colored, and are produced in compound cymes, each flower with a short stem, thus differing from a […]
REHMANNIA (Named for Joseph Rehmann, physician of Petrograd) Rehmannias are seldom seen in neither gardens nor even in catalogs and yet they are lovely, long, bell-shaped flowers; as lovely as almost any flower of the garden. Rehmannia angulata is really a perennial but, not hardy enough to survive northern winters, it is raised as an annual. The flowers are rosy-purple, […]
RESEDA – Mignonette (Latin name Reseda means “to calm or appease,” and refers to the fact that the plant was employed by the Romans in treating bruises) The sweet fragrance of Mignonette, or Little Darling, is a luxury in any garden. “Its sweetness wins all hearts.” Some of the Mignonettes produce large trusses of bloom 8 inches long and 2 […]
SANVITALIA (Named for Sanvitali, a Spaniard) Sanvitalia procumbens flowers are much like tiny Zinnias, being golden yellow with very dark purple centers, some of them single and others double. The plants grow only 6 inches tall, or rather they are prostrate and spread over the soil instead of growing upward. They start blooming in June and continue until frost. USE. […]
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 in form and color, which ranges from pure and creamy white, to deep pink, violet, crimson, and flesh. The shades […]
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, hence the name Four-o’clock. They are white, crimson, violet, yellow and striped. The plants are 2 feet tall, and during […]