Professional Gardening Tips
PORTULACA (Rosemoss) (Sunplant) (Seven-sisters) When one visits an old lady’s flower garden, no matter how small it may be, Portulacas are generally seen encroaching on the wide walks and in other little out-of-the-way places where the dry conditions would support […]
CLEOME Spiderflower Cleome spinosa (pungens) (gigantea), grows 3 to 6 feet tall and is a most interesting garden subject. The four-petaled flowers are pinkish-lavender and white and are given a peculiar, airy appearance by the long-stemmed stamens and pistils, which […]
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 […]
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 […]
COLLINSIA (Blue-eyed-mary) (Innocence) (Named for Zaccheus Collins, a Philadelphia botanist) The visitor to the woods knows the Blue-eyed-mary, Collinsia verna, one of the daintiest of annual wildflowers. Gene Stratton Porter also loved it, she writes: When winter’s chill has scarce […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
COSMOS (Cosmea) (Mexican-aster) (The name comes from the Greek for orderliness, hence an ornament or a beautiful plant) The Cosmos is not as impatient about coming into bloom as most annuals but waits until it has made its growth before […]
MIMULUS (Monkey flower) (Name from Mimo, an ape, refers to gaping mouth of flower) The flowers of this interesting genus are curiously shaped and spotted with contrasting colors. Those generally seen are bright yellow, spotted with maroon, red or orange. […]