Your Backyard Garden Information Source
The form and size of a herb garden is determined by the interest these plants hold for the individual. It can be a tiny border of commonly used culinary herbs such as mint, parsley, sage and thyme or an elaborate garden designed to house a wide collection of herbs. Many plants could legitimately be included in one of these large […]
Growing Dahlias for fun and prizes! Other than an important place in perennial borders and beds, dahlias have a definite place of their own … grown In gardens by themselves, carefully staked, fed, watered, and disbudded with extreme care, they will produce relatively few flowers of overwhelming size and perfection. They have become known as the Man’s Flower. – Today’s […]
Learn the August garden tasks for your gardening hardiness zone. Do you know what your hardiness zone? Once known, then find the required task. Zone 1 Sow seeds of wildflowers and fall veggies Aerate, dethatch and fertilize the lawn As first frosts threaten, pick mature green tomatoes to ripen in a dark, cool place indoors Purchase containerized trees and shrubs […]
Marigold (Tages was an Etruscan god, but perhaps the name is of another derivation) Even the name-Mary’s Gold-captivates us, and what could be more appropriate? The flowers of these old, old favorites are in some varieties veritably made of flakes of gold. How easy it is to be wealthy with Mary’s Gold. The Aztec (African) Marigold (T. erecla) has large […]
The Sweet Peas of our gardens delight us while they provoke us. We sincerely wish that they might bloom for a longer time, yet they are an unqualified joy when they are in flower. Many thoughts arise in the minds of true Sweet Pea lovers. For Instance, Helen Milman, writes: “I think the Sweet Pea is a frivolous flower and […]
Lavandula – Lavender Sweet Lavender is one of the well-beloved, fragrant plants of the old-fashioned garden. It was a favorite because of its delicate odor. Lavender (Lavandula vera) grows from 1 1/2 feet to 3 feet high, has downy, silvery gray foliage and long spikes of blue lavender flowers. It blooms from July through September and produces flowers very freely. […]
For the different parts of one’s garden there are many good varieties of Lychnis. Two of these are known as Agrostemma. Double Ragged Robin and Cuckoo Flower are both common names of Agrostemma, Lynchis Flos-cuculi. This plant, with narrow, grass-like, grayish foliage, grows from 12 inches to 18 inches high, forming a tuft, and producing many small, delicate, tassel-like flowers […]
To those persons who are familiar with the annual sorts of Scabiosa, we need only say that the perennials resemble the annuals, except that the perennials have shorter florets at the center, while in the annual sorts the flowers are made up of florets of more uniform length. Scabiosa caucasica is the commonest perennial with flowers either light lilac-blue or […]
When Christ was laboring beneath the heavy cross, He faltered, and a maiden, St. Veronica, rushed forward to wipe the perspiration from His brow. The impress of His face was found upon her napkin. Such is the story of St. Veronica, and because the markings of some species of Veronica resemble a face, this flower was named after St. Veronica. […]
Armeria – Sea Pink, Thrift, Cliff Rose The Sea Pink is a low growing plant which derived its name from the fact that it grows along the seashore and is pink in color. There are other colors, such as red, deep rosy pink, lilac and white. It grows in dense, low clumps with numerous, narrow, grass-like leaves, all clustered at […]