Your Backyard Garden Information Source
PERILLA Perilla is mentioned here because in years past it was a great favorite as a foliage plant. The leaves are dark purple and have a metallic luster causing the plant to resemble a Coleus. It grows about 1/2 feet tall. The pinkish flowers, in form like those of Catnip, are inconspicuous. Perilla frutescens is the species but there are […]
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 […]
PHACELIA (Named from the Greek for cluster; refers to clustering of flowers) The best known sort is Phacelia campanularia, the Harebell Phacelia, which bears Gentian-blue, bell-shaped flowers with contrasting white stamens on one-sided curved racemes. The plants grow 9 inches tall and are somewhat hairy. They remain in bloom for a long time, the flowers being produced in one-sided curving […]
PHLOX – Texas pride (Name from Greek for a flame, perhaps first applied to another plant) The brilliance and clean colors of the annual Phlox, P. drummondi. make it a favorite in the garden. The flowers range from white to pink, primrose, scarlet, crimson, rose, and lavender, some being perfectly clear while others have dark or white eyes. An interesting […]
There are some annuals with showy fruits and among them none is so much admired as the Chinese Lantern plant, which produces large, inflated, orange-red, lantern-like pods containing small, fleshy fruits much like Tomatoes. The flowers are inconspicuous, being borne in the axils of the leaves, and it is after the leaves have fallen that the fruit is most showy. […]
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 few other plants. The dazzling, glossy-petaled flowers are clear yellow, white, scarlet, crimson, orange, and rose. The double sorts are […]
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 […]
NEMESIA (Name found in Dioscorides, an early botanical writer) The English have admired and grown Nemesias in their cool climate and all have admired them in places where they grow well. At Ohio State University they grown them in the greenhouse but find that our Summers are too hot and dry, except when they are started in the Winter and […]
HUNNEMANNIA – Goldencup (Giant Yellow-tulip poppy) (Bush-eschscholtzia) (Named for John Hunnemann, an English botanist) An aristocrat among the Poppies, the Goldencup, bears a difficult botanical name, Hunnemannia fumariaefolia. The buttercup-yellow flowers are like those of California-poppies except that they are more crinkled, and of greater substance, furthermore, the plants are upright. The leaves are glaucous and thick, but finely cut. […]
IMPATIENS – Balsam (Snap weeds) (Touch-me-not) (Name from Impatiens, refers to elasticity of seed capsules, which when ripe spring open) The Garden Balsam or Lady slipper (Impatiens balsamina) is an old-fashioned favorite which is again coming into its own. The double and semi-double sorts, well called Camellia-flowered, are practically the only ones grown. These plants are closely related to the […]