Your All Things Plants weekly news
May 21, 2014

This Week's Gardening Ideas:

By dave May 21, 2014 ATP Podcast #57: Summer Bulbs Week This week is Summer and Tropical Bulbs Week at All Things Plants, so today we're going to talk about our own personal favorite summer bulbs. Trish will tell us how to know the difference between the different genera of elephant ears. After that, we'll talk about our usual farming adventures in East Texas and finally we'll talk about our exciting new feature on the site: The Green Pages.

By greene May 21, 2014 Alstroemeria psittacina aka A. pulchella Alstroemeria: beautiful or invasive and irritating? (967 words - Read the full article)

By drdawg May 20, 2014 Gingers Gingers, also called "ginger lilies," make great landscape or patio plants. They are tolerant of temperature extremes, will grow in poor soil, and can even grow in those wet areas where little else will grow. Most species are grown for their beautiful, fragrant flowers, but there are varieties used as condiments and varieties used as natural shampoo/conditioner in Hawaii. (517 words - Read the full article)

By Dutchlady1 May 19, 2014 Gloriosa Lily Gloriosa superba is a striking plant, and the only climbing lily in existence. (183 words - Read the full article)

By SongofJoy May 18, 2014 Four O'Clocks Most people who have experience with these tuberous plants that thrive in the heat of summer seem to have definite opinions about Four o'Clocks. Because they are prolific re-seeders, some find them an annoyance to be yanked out of the garden asap. Others love them, as I do. (304 words - Read the full article)

By dave May 17, 2014 The 2014 All Things Plants Top 25 Summer Bulbs and Tubers What a fun and diverse group of plants! Come on in and check out the report of the top 25 most active summer bulbs and tuber entries in our plants database. You will be surprised at some of the plants that made the list! (5,350 words - Read the full article)

By Eric4home May 16, 2014 Movable Garden Paths Do you need walkways in your garden? I've been using used carpet for my pathways for years. It's easy on the knees while planting and weeding, holds moisture in the soil, reduces soil compaction, and blocks weeds (160 words - Read the full article)

By TBGDN May 15, 2014 How Does Your Garden Grow? Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockleshells and pretty maids all in a row. (All smiling, of course.) This old nursery rhyme leads us to believe there was an orderly garden decked out in flowers and pretty maidens lined up in a row! But, read on for a different train of thought. (784 words - Read the full article)

The most popular images last week from our plant database: Photo of Hosta (Hosta 'White Feather') by Hazelcrestmikeb: Photo of Sage (Salvia x sylvestris 'Mainacht') by dirtdorphins: Photo of Iris (Iris 'Carnival Ride') by Dodecatheon3: Photo of Lily (Lilium 'Tiny Padhye') by lovemyhouse: Photo of Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Handwriting on the Wall') by JWWC: Photo of English Pea (Pisum sativum 'Green Arrow') by farmerdill:

The most popular Multi-Plant Photos from last week: Multi-plant photo by Calif_Sue: Multi-plant photo by valleylynn: Multi-plant photo by clintbrown: Multi-plant photo by Calif_Sue: Multi-plant photo by bonitin: Multi-plant photo by Paul2032:

Noteworthy acorn tips given this week:

6 people gave for the Multi-Plant Photo #1327 by Calif_Sue 5 people gave for post #615976 in "Banner for May 17, 2014 by Sharon" by Sharon 4 people gave for post #614289 in "Banner for May 15, 2014 by Natalie" by Natalie 4 people gave for the idea "Four O'Clocks" by SongofJoy 3 people gave for the idea "Gingers" by drdawg 3 people gave for post #615133 in "Banner for May 16, 2014 by rocklady" by rocklady 3 people gave for the Multi-Plant Photo #1331 by valleylynn 3 people gave for a photo of Sage (Salvia x sylvestris 'Mainacht') by dirtdorphins 3 people gave for post #614222 in "Iris Database" by pardalinum 3 people gave for post #616668 in "Banner for May 18, 2014 by 4susiesjoy" by 4susiesjoy

The most active threads this week:

Subject	OP	Area	Replies
Introducing the Green Pages!	dave	Site Talk forum	126
Brightest Colored Daylilies	Seedfork	Daylilies forum	50
Well It's Official	Cat	Daylilies forum	41
My Few	Wes	Irises forum	22
The late show	Henhouse	Irises forum	22
Count me in as loving them.	Newyorkrita	Four O'Clocks	22
Banner for May 17, 2014 by Sharon	Sharon	Site Banners forum	19
I have a bloom!	DamonGardens	Irises forum	18
Preen	Paul2032	Ask a Question forum	17

Some new reviews from the ATP Green Pages:

daylily recommended Baker's Acres Greenhouse and Garden Center and wrote: This is THE place for wonderful perennials, alpines, heirloom tomatoes, vegetables, annuals, tropicals in Central Ohio. They grow many of their own plants, and have many display gardens so you can see the plants growing. They do not mail order, but people come from all over Ohio because of the wonderful selection and quality that Baker's offer. I am so lucky to live so close! Chris Baker is also known for breeding coleus. Baker's is always clean, and neat and the staff is always friendly and available to help. If you visit - be sure to make a trip to the rest room - each year it is decorated differently and is quite a treat! Really! And be sure to pick up a copy of the catalog, or check it out online. It is full of - well - you just need to check it out to see. Some of the coleus Hosta area Part of the perennial area

OldGardener recommended Irrigation Direct and wrote: I have ordered from them a couple of times and have been pleased with both the cost and the longevity/quality of their products. Their customer service is unusually helpful. I made an error when ordering some hard-to-locate "special order" pieces and the woman I spoke to was not only quick when correcting the order but very friendly, too (no irritation what-so-ever). Currently, they offer free shipping on $99 minimum orders.

Joebass recommended Garden Harvest Supply and wrote: I won the herb raffle in February. I got to pick four herb plants and through email I placed my order. I received 4 beautiful plants, carefully packed upon best time for planting in my area. Great plants and great communication. I will order from them in the future.

We keep growing, because ATP is where all the excitement is these days! Check out these numbers from last week:

• 472 members joined.
• 5,142 posts written.
• 1,495 images posted to the plant database.
• 933 plants added to personal inventory lists.