A splash of daring red or a blush of cheerful pink petals might have been just what I needed to see outside my window to cheer me up when temperatures dropped and the snow was falling. Before moving to Florida, I spent most of my life in the Mid-Atlantic. For more than thirty years, the bleak brown grass or glaring white snow-covered landscape of winter was disappointing to me because I love color....
In this article, you will learn to grow perennial late season asters in your outdoor living space, you’ll find a wide assortment of species and cultivated varieties from which to choose, and you’ll also discover some unique plants that are called asters, but don’t fit the general description. Aster spp., Doellingeria spp., Eurybia spp., Inonactis spp., Symphyotrichum spp. The aster is a sturdy-stemmed flowering perennial known for its masses of small daisy-like blossoms....
My frustrations were grounded in the sheer volume of plant material to take care of, and now that I’ve spent time with verbena in a smaller and more easily manageable setting, I’ve found it to be a lovely and happy flower to grow. Verbena spp. The first time I interacted with verbena, I kind of hated it. I was working at a garden center many years ago and discovered quickly the shoulder pain incurred from watering over one hundred hanging baskets at a time, especially for one particular flower....
Looking at things that way, it’s pretty easy to do the math and realize that saving seeds is worth the bit of extra effort this gardening project requires. Once you have become a seasoned veggie gardener, the next logical step is to preserve seeds from your own crops for future plantings – and future food. Seed saving can save you money, and it is a fun way to geek out, gardener style....
Native to eastern and central regions of the United States and Canada, the species produces voluminous shrubby mounds of foliage laden with small white, pale blue, lavender, or pale pink blossoms. Symphyotrichum dumosum Perennial asters are members of the large Asteraceae family of plants that includes chrysanthemums, daisies, and sunflowers. And while many have a bushy growth habit, only one species, Symphyotrichum dumosum, formerly Aster dumosus, is commonly called the bushy aster....
These large deciduous shrubs or small trees come in a number of shapes and sizes. Acer spp. If you’re looking for a focal point to really set off your home’s curb appeal, don’t overlook Japanese maple trees. Japanese maple most commonly refers to any cultivar of Acer palmatum, which is native to Japan, China, and Korea. But cultivars of A. japonicum and A. shirasawanum are sometimes thrown into the mix as well – which are also native to Japan....
Don’t let our silly drama scare you off. G. sempervirens is a colorful and beloved vine that is native to the southeastern and south-central United States as well as to Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico with nary a homicide to its name. Gelsemium sempervirens Though the profuse bell-shaped, yellow flowers that adorn the lengthy, twisted vines of Carolina jessamine are truly breathtaking, they conceal a deep, dark secret. They, along with the rest of the plant, are capable of murder....
Black and shiny, they are often confused with beetles from the Eleodes genus in the Tenebrionidae family, such as the malodorous-when-threatened desert stink beetle. Moneilema spp. Cactus longhorn beetles, Moneilema spp., account for 20 of the 35,000 species in the large Cerambycidae or longhorn beetle family. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. However, unlike these desert counterparts, cactus longhorns cannot fly and do not feed on grasses or burrow into farmers’ crops....
If you’ve ever harvested disappointingly unappealing Apium graveolens or want to make sure your current crop zips with tasty but not overbearing flavor, this article is for you. In the life of a gardener, few things are sadder than nurturing a plant, harvesting the tasty fruit or veggie, eating it… and discovering that it tastes terrible. This happened to me a couple years ago with the carrots I grew and forgot to fertilize regularly....
In this article, we offer 7 tips for growing forsythia as a hedge with either an informal, natural contour, or a formal, manicured appearance. If you live in the Northeast, like me, or anywhere in USDA Hardiness Zones 5 to 8, it’s likely that you are well acquainted with Forsythia spp., a deciduous woody shrub best known for its bright yellow spring blossoms. In our forsythia growing guide, we discuss all you need to know to cultivate this sun-loving, vigorous shrub in your landscape....
Want to ensure that these delicious dinner veggies are just steps away? Grow your own brussels sprouts – even if your kids carry on the tradition of hating them. Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera Show of hands: How many of you detested brussels sprouts when you were a kid? My hand is up. My introduction to the infamous cruciferous veggie was in the form of the heads dumped out of a can and broiled within an inch of their lives....
And there we go, that’s all you need to know about Montauk daisies. Bet you thought I was going to pull you into some long-winded personal account of my time with these flowering plants, didn’t you? Nipponanthemum nipponicum It was a balmy day in May when I broke ground on my first professional gardening gig. My supervisor was pruning back these funny-looking, kinda stinky things that were somewhere between an herbaceous flower and a shrub in height and habit....
If so, then you know how similar the plants are and how tough they can be to tell apart, since we need a helpful saying to figure out which is which. But even that old familiar adage isn’t always enough to help you identify these grass-like plants with certainty. Cyperaceae Family Is it a noxious weed? An elegant garden addition? A precious native plant? How about all of the above? Sedges are grass-like plants that are all this, and more....
But like many garden plants, we’re not the only ones that admire their large foliage and flowers. Garden pests are quick to target canna lilies due to their tasty-looking leaves and water-loving characteristics. Canna lilies bring a special kind of tropical pizzazz to landscapes. Those iconic flowers and large, banana tree-like leaves can turn any area into a tropical sanctuary. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....
That makes the SWD a menace to a wide variety of soft-skinned fruit ranging from cherries to peaches. This fly is a particular threat to raspberries and blackberries and can totally devastate a late season crop. Drosophila suzukii You know those fruit flies that hover and get in your face when you have fruit that got too ripe? The ones that scientists use as model systems to advance medicine? They are highly annoying but don’t do much harm....
In this article, I’ll reveal the top 5 reasons why your pumpkin isn’t producing fruit — and how to fix them. There’s nothing more frustrating than watching your beautiful pumpkin plant produce gorgeous flowers but no plump orange gourds. Over and over, they flower with nothing to show for their work. You want them to be ready in time for Halloween, or maybe for a fun dinner party where all your guests pick their own homegrown pumpkins to take home with them....
Multiple varieties of cold-tolerant figs are available, and we’re going to share our favorites with you here. If you’re altogether new to growing these trees, be sure to check out our fig growing guide. Considering their Middle Eastern and western Asian roots, fig trees (Ficus carica) are generally considered warm-climate plants. But our friends in the North and Midwest may rejoice, because you of colder climates need not be fig-less....
They all share an easy-growth culture that’s suitable for a wide range of climates, and the masses of flowers attract many beneficial pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Spirea is the common name for a group of flowering woody shrubs in the Spiraea genus, widely appreciated for their many outstanding qualities in the garden and landscape. Several species and their hybrids offer multiple seasons of interest with clusters of pretty pink, purple, red, or white flowers, color-changing foliage, and beautiful forms that include elegant, swooping branches or compact, tidy clusters....
Section by Section The book is split into easily digestible chunks, which are laid out clearly in the table of contents. Let’s look at what each section contains. Beekeeping is a never-ending learning journey and I love a good word about bees, so I jumped at the chance to read “Common Sense Natural Beekeeping: Sustainable, Bee-Friendly Techniques to Help Your Hives Survive and Thrive.” A relatively quick read, this book is packed with enlightening moments and interesting perspectives, particularly that of the Bee, which the authors present in a clean, easy to digest way....
You’ll find a range of available colors to choose from, including shades of orange, pink, purple, red, white, and yellow. Often the petals are variegated, and some types are fragrant. Hippeastrum spp. Amaryllis, Hippeastrum x hybridum, is not one specific type, but rather any one of hundreds of hybrids of Hippeastrum species in the Amaryllidaceae family. Suited to outdoor growing as a perennial in USDA Hardiness Zones 9 to 11, this showy flower is often forced to bloom indoors in other zones....
