 You can't get too much winter in the winter. Robert Frost
|
|
Orchestrating Color Throughout the Season
From early March when the forsythia first bursts into bloom, to around mid-October when the last anemone dies back, my garden is a constantly changing flower display. Creating stunning displays of color throughout the growing season is easier than you might think. |  |
|
|
How to Grow and Care for Surprise Lilies (Lycoris)
The common names for plants in the Lycoris genus, including resurrection flower, surprise lily, and magic lily, hint at their allure. The strappy foliage grows for a few months and then dies back. Then, in late summer, leafless flower stalks rise majestically from the dead foliage and open into a bouquet of stunning blooms, as if by magic. |  |
|
|
Super-Nutritious Vegetables
To all the reasons you might choose one vegetable variety over another — appearance, flavor, yield, pest resistance, or regional adaptation — now you can add enhanced nutrition. The vegetables you'll read about here aren't just good for you. They've been bred to be better for you. |  |
|
|
Planting a Windowsill Herb Garden
Growing herbs indoors on a sunny windowsill can provide a convenient source of fresh basil, dill, rosemary, thyme, and other herbs. With a little planning and some good cultural techniques, your indoor herb garden will thrive. |  |
|
|
How to Grow and Care for Air Plants
Though a few are terrestrial, most tillandsias are epiphytes, meaning they use other plants for support. Travel in the southern United States, or Central and South America, and you see them living way up in the trees, sometimes covering entire branches like some kind of vegetative fur. |  |
|
|
An Artful Garden
This old Connecticut homestead is a testament to what can be achieved in just a few years. The owners did the work in a series of steps -- they finished one project before starting the next. And, of course, it helped that they have an ample supply of very good taste. |  |
|
|
How to Create a Water Garden
Many people think that water gardening is difficult. Water gardens look so exotic. But nothing could be further from the truth. If you follow a few simple rules, it's fall-down easy. However, the rules may seem odd because all sorts of garden wisdom gets turned upside down when you're gardening in water. |  |
|
|
Together with Victory Seed Company As a small child, my family visited my grandparents' farm in Wisconsin (pictured above), and my grandmother showed me the most amazing thing, a gigantic zucchini that she forgot to harvest when it was normal sized. To a five year old, it was amazing to see how huge this fruit could be. She tried to get her neighbors and friends to take it, but nobody would, so she placed it prominently on a crate in her front yard for everyone to enjoy seeing as they drove by, and there it stayed for who knows how long. Grandma's gone now, but her love for gardening lives on in the family she left behind, and I think of her every time I look at my own zucchinis. Growing zucchinis is the classic vegetable gardener activity for their beauty, their nutrition, and their infamous productivity. Everyone loves having a neighbor or friend who grows zucchini. 'Black Beauty' is a 1957 All-America Selections winner and is still today a perfect choice for your garden. Check it out.
|
|
Zinnia
Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Annual
Sun Requirements: Full Sun, Full Sun to Partial Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic, Dry Mesic
Plant Height: 1 to 8 feet
Plant Spread: 12 inches
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: White, Yellow, Orange, Pink, Red, Purple, Lavender
Bloom Size: 1"-2"
Flower Time: Summer, Late summer or early fall, Late fall or early winter, Fall
Suitable Locations: Xeriscapic
Uses: Groundcover, Cut Flower, Suitable for miniature gardens
Wildlife Attractant: Butterflies, Bees
Resistances: Deer Resistant, Drought tolerant
Containers: Needs excellent drainage in pots
|  |
|
|
Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeeana)
Plant Habit: Shrub
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun to Partial Shade, Partial or Dappled Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 8b -9.4 °C (15 °F) to -6.7 °C (20 °F)
Plant Height: 3-5 feet
Plant Spread: 3 feet
Leaves: Evergreen, Other
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: Multi-Color, Other, Brown
Bloom Size: Under 1"
Flower Time: Late spring or early summer, Summer, Late summer or early fall
Suitable Locations: Houseplant
Uses: Windbreak or Hedge
Wildlife Attractant: Hummingbirds, Butterflies
Resistances: Deer Resistant, Rabbit Resistant, Humidity tolerant
Pollinators: Other
Containers: Suitable in 3 gallon or larger, Needs excellent drainage in pots
Awards and Recognitions: RHS AGM
|  |
|
|
Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum)
Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Annual
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Water Preferences: Mesic
Plant Height: 3 feet
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: Yellow, Orange, Pink, Red
Bloom Size: 1"-2"
Flower Time: Summer
Uses: Culinary Herb, Cut Flower
Edible Parts: Seeds or Nuts
Eating Methods: Raw, Cooked
Resistances: Deer Resistant, Rabbit Resistant, Birds, Squirrels
Pollinators: Self, Bees
|  |
|
|
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Emerald Starburst')
Hybridizer: Doorakian
Year of Registration or Introduction: 2004
Foliage type: Dormant
Scape height: 32 inches
Bloom size: 5.25 inches
Bloom time: Midseason
Plant Traits: Diurnal
Bud Count: 21-25
Branching: 4-way
Fertility: Pod Fertile, Pollen Fertile
Bloom Form: Polymerous, Single
Color description: green and raspberry above emerald green throat
AHS Awards: Honorable Mention
Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun to Partial Shade
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 3 -40 °C (-40 °F) to -37.2 °C (-35)
Flowers: Showy
Ploidy: Diploid
Parentage: sdlg x sdlg
|  |
|
|
Aglaonemas (Aglaonema)
Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Partial or Dappled Shade
Leaves: Evergreen
Flower Color: White, Other, Green
Flower Time: Other
Resistances: Humidity tolerant
Toxicity: Other
Containers: Suitable in 1 gallon, Needs excellent drainage in pots
|  |
|
|
 Photo by Vals_Garden
"Side buds in late bloom"
|
|
 Photo by Valery33
|
|
 Photo by HamiltonSquare
|
|
 Photo by Valery33
|
|
 Photo by Ursula
|
|
 Photo by dnrevel
"Light Pink Hollyhocks at CSS garden, Fordhook Giant Mix,"
|
|
 Photo by treehugger
|
|
 Photo by HamiltonSquare
"Tag says Luminis."
|
|
 Photo by NanasNiche
|
|
 Photo by FPF
|
|
Active threads from our forums:
|
Thread Subject
|
Forum
|
Replies
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The numbers from this week:
301 members joined.
3,448 posts written in our forums.
799 photos posted to the plant database.
496 plants added to personal inventory lists.
|
|
 In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. Aristotle
|
|
|
