Your Backyard Garden Information Source
PETUNIA (Named from petun, Brazilian name for tobacco, to which Petunia is allied) Every one has some room for Petunias because they are the most profuse flowering of any annual. Few other annuals produce so many of such large flowers. The colors have been improved to such an extent that there are now varieties to please us all. Recently nearly […]
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 […]
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 […]
PANSY The Pansy, it would seem, is one of the most alluring of all garden flowers. It’s little faces make most of us laugh when we look at them. The English have given the Pansy many nicknames, such as Call-meto-you, Love-true, Three-faces-under-a-hood, Pink-eyed-John, Tickle-my-fancy, Bird’s-eye, Jump-up-and-kiss-me, God-father, Godmother, Love-in-idleness, Kiss-me-in-the-buttery, Rob-run-the-street, and Heartsease. With such names, it is not strange […]
PAPAVER – Poppy (Papaver, the old Latin name) Why should we extol the Poppy? Why note It was the favorite of the old gardens; it is the same choice flower in the newest gardens today. Dancing upon long, wiry stems, the single blooms remind us of hoop-petticoats of silk. The doubles also delight us, as we watch them open day […]
The rich colors of the Verbena have endeared it to us for years and years. Our mothers and their mothers grew it, and we have seen them use hairpins to get it to root along the stems. Most persons know its range of brilliant colors; the pinks are like those found in Trailing-arbutus, especially in the variety Miss Ellen Willmott; […]
The modern beet as such was not apparently known in ancient times. There is a story that when the Greeks paid homage to Apollo they served him beetroots on a silver platter, but the first recorded specific reference to beets is in the third century in Rome. They were mentioned in 1390 in some old English cooking recipes. Beets are […]
Gardening tasks you should perform this month if you live in the Northern Hemisphere. If you don’t know your gardening zone, you can look it up via zip code on the Gardening Zone Page. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, add six months to find your gardening tasks. Zone 1 Prune flowering fruit trees while in bloom;use cuttings indoors […]
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 […]
Asphodel – King’s Spear The classic Asphodel is rarely seen in gardens although its interesting, tall and stately spikes of yellow and white flowers are of interest to garden lovers. The Asphodels are variously cataloged as Asphodeline and Asphodelus; the former genus is erect and has leafy stems, the latter is stemless. In Asphcdeline lutea the flowers are sweet scented […]