April 20, 2019 - Issue #405

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The just-released 2019 National Gardening Survey, published by the National Gardening Association's research division, GardenResearch.com, reveals new and important information regarding the $50+ billion lawn and garden industry.

The just-released 2019 National Gardening Survey, published by the National Gardening Association's research division, GardenResearch.com, reveals new and important information regarding the $50+ billion lawn and garden industry.

Bleeding heart has attractive mounded foliage with arching stems of delicate, heart-shaped flowers in spring. It thrives in moist woodland gardens along with ferns and other shade-lovers.

Irises are grown throughout the world. Perhaps the most commonly recognized is the bearded iris with thousands of registered cultivars. But there are many other types of irises, too, as you will see in this database

You won't be idle until your first harvest. You must not let the new plants set berries in their first year. They will try to fruit, but you must pick off the blossoms as they appear. This way, instead of fruiting, the mother plants will produce vigorous daughters that will yield well the following year.

Featured in cuisines across the globe, basil is an indispensable flavoring. Plant seeds or transplants after all danger of frost has passed and soil is warm, and it will yield an abundant harvest within weeks.

Chickweed (Stellaria media) is a widespread, hardy annual often found in moist, fertile garden soil. In mild winter climates it begins blooming before winter ends. Edible but not very tasty, chickweed plants form dense 3-inch-tall mats of foliage studded with starry white flowers.

When a thunderstorm unleashes a torrent of rain, all that water landing on impervious surfaces like roofs, driveways, and walkways often runs off into the nearest storm drain and from there eventually to local waterways, or it goes directly into nearby streams, rivers, and lakes. Even when the rain lands on lawns, gardens, or other vegetated surfaces, so much comes down so quickly in a thunderstorm that much of the needed water runs off rather than soaking into the ground.

When an established perennial produces fewer flowers, or the center of the plant looks sickly while the margins thrive, it could be time to divide the plant.