Have you seen those little white daisy-like flowers growing in the gravel at the very edges of country roads? That is the herb chamomile. You can grow a taller, prettier version in your garden. There are a few different types of chamomile with many different common names, but for simplicity here, we’ll talk about [Continue]
Annual flowers bloom, set seed and die in one growing season. Perennial flowers live three, five or even thirty years. At first glance, it would seem that perennial plants are the way to go to save both the time of replanting each year and the money spent every year to purchase annuals. There is [Continue]
Annual flowers bloom, set seed and die in one growing season. Perennial flowers live three, five or even thirty years. At first glance, it would seem that perennial plants are the way to go to save both the time of replanting each year and the money spent every year to purchase annuals. There [Continue]
The International Herb Association has named calendula its 2008 Herb of the Year. Calendula is also known as pot marigold, but it isn’t the marigold you think of when you go to buy bedding plants. “Pot marigold” doesn’t come from the fact that it is grown in pots, although it is an excellent container plant, [Continue]
Every year brings new and exciting plants for gardeners and this year is no exception. Here are some of the latest offerings for 2007. One of the flashiest new flowering shrubs is ‘Pinky Winky’ hydrangea. Despite its rather silly name, it is a gorgeous plant with large two-toned light to dark pink flowerheads. [Continue]
The last two summers have been much drier than usual. Other parts of the country have been dealing with lack of rain for years, but in the Midwest, with a few exceptions, we’ve had ample rain for the past several decades. Xeriscaping is the term coined to describe a method of water conservation through [Continue]
You’ve made the plans for your new flower bed and have just returned from the nursery with your trunk full of plants. You unload the car and wonder why you ever thought making a new flower bed was a good idea. How do you do this right and make it look good? Ideally, [Continue]
Over the past decade, gardening has become the most popular leisure-time activity in the United States. There are so many benefits – physical, spiritual, the production of healthy fresh food, the satisfaction in saying “I grew it myself,” and the connection to nature. Then there is the reason most people start gardening – to [Continue]
Remember the Gilligan’s Island episode where the crate of radioactive seeds floated into the lagoon? When the castaways planted them they got beets the size of Mary Ann’s head and beans as long as Gilligan’s arm. A perusal of seed catalogs I recently received convinced me that I can grow vegetables and flowers [Continue]
Two types of plants are commonly referred to as geraniums. One, which is the true geranium, is really the cranesbill, a bushy long-lived perennial plant. The other is the red, pink or white-flowered plant seen everywhere in flower boxes and pots which is correctly called Pelargonium. There are five types of pelargonium: zonal, dwarf [Continue]