Your Backyard Garden Information Source
Your transplanting success will increase if you’ll observe a few simple rules that take into account the plants’ needs. Basic as they are, simple as they may seem, they are still the fundamentals around which successful transplanting is built, so follow them and give the plants the best of care following their transfer. These are the general rules. Those which have […]
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 […]
CALLISTEMON—Bottle-Brush Tree (Calliste’mon). Tender evergreen flowering shrubs from Australia which belong to the Myrtle family, Myrtaceae. They are well adapted for growing outdoors in California and in similar mild climates and for greenhouse cultivation elsewhere. They have narrow, dark-green, leathery leaves, which are slightly aromatic when crushed. The flowers are densely packed in terminal cylindrical spikes resembling a bottle brush […]
Basil is a well-known culinary herb that’s popular in many Italian dishes. But did you know that there are many other uses of this herb, including its use as a tonic to aid in digestion? The most common use of basil is for cooking, such as in tomato sauce, pesto, or vinegars. But it also can be sprinkled over salads […]
Low-growing, annual and perennial hardy plants found wild in many countries and suitable for the rock garden and flower border. They belong to the family Rubiaceae. The word Asperula,from asper, rough, refers to the leaves. Planting and Propagation. These plants thrive in a well-drained, woodsy soil and may be planted in early fall or spring. The best method of propagation […]
BUXUS — Boxwood (Bux’us). Evergreen trees and shrubs, found wild in the temperate parts of Europe and Asia, which belong to the Box family, Buxaceae. They are of neat habit of growth and have small, leathery leaves. The Box has no value as a flowering shrub because its blooms are small and dingy in color; but turners and engravers make […]
From the Latin ligula, a strap, referring to the strap-shaped ray florets (Cornpositae). A genus of about 80 species of herbaceous perennials, formerly included in Senecio but now placed in their own genus. These handsome members of the daisy family from the temperate zones of the Old World grow best in damp situations. In recent years they have been […]
Commemorating Alexander Macleay, 1767-1848, Secretary of the Linnean Society (Papaveraceae). This genus, sometimes listed under the synonym Bocconia, consists of two Chinese species of perennial herbaceous plants very valuable in the garden. Their most outstanding virtue is their great height (8 feet or more) which lifts their large airy heads of tiny petal-less flowers and unusual rounded and lobed leaves […]
ASPLENIUM—Spleenwort (Asple’nium). Ferns which are great favorites for cultivation out of doors and under glass. The cultivated hardy kinds are natives of North America, the others grow wild in tropical Africa, India and other countries. They belong to the Polypody family, Polypodiaceae. Asplenium is derived from a, not, and splen, spleen, and refers to the medicinal properties these Ferns were […]
STRELITZIA — Bird of Paradise Flower (Strelit’zia) 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 […]