Well, this could get confusing. Anise, hyssop, and anise hyssop are three unrelated perennial plants, all having value in the garden, kitchen, or medicine chest. The overlap in common plant names is a lesson in the importance of using Latin names when you are looking for a specific plant. Anise – Pimpinella anisum – is [Continue]
The three or four or seven-foot wide strip of grass or weeds between the street and sidewalk is mostly ignored by gardeners. But what an opportunity for gardeners to take on a new challenge! Typically this area, sometimes known as the “hellstrip,” is a hot, dry area subject to dogs doing their business, road salt, [Continue]
Nasturtiums are one of the easiest annuals to grow from seed and once they germinate, they are carefree until frost. The big seeds look like bumpy brown peas, making them a good planting choice for beginning gardeners and children. Soaking the seeds overnight in warm water before planting makes them sprout faster. After all danger [Continue]
About this time last year I took a lackadaisical trip through the leftovers in the garden center at Fleet Farm. No matter how good the care given these plants, it is almost impossible to keep a flower in a tiny plastic pot looking good into July. Everything was pretty sad-looking. Then, the prettiest yellow flower [Continue]
The Perennial Plant Association has named Amsonia hubrichtii (pronounced am-SO-nee-ah hew-BRIK-tee-eye) the perennial plant of the year for 2011. Its common names include Arkansas blue star, narrow leaf blue star and thread leaf blue star, giving a hint to its native range in Arkansas and Oklahoma and also a good description of its flowers and [Continue]
When children learn to draw flowers, they usually first draw a daisy-like flower, a circle surrounded by petals. By second or third grade, they add the cup-shaped tulip to their drawing repertoire. Most people, even those who don’t know a lily from a lilac, recognize the tulip. It is the third most popular flower in [Continue]
A jewel of a plant blooms from mid-July until frost in wet, shady places like ditches and along creeks. This is jewelweed, also called spotted touch-me-not. Jewelweed’s bright orange tubular flowers speckled with dark orange spots have large open mouths with a generous supply of nectar. They are constructed perfectly for hummingbirds and butterflies. [Continue]
The Perennial Plant Association has chosen blue false indigo, Baptisia australis, as its 2010 perennial plant of the year. Other common names for the plant are wild indigo, baptisia, indigo weed, rattleweed and rattlebrush. The Perennial Plant Association describes the plant as follows: “Newly emerging shoots produce violet-blue, lupine-like flowers in erect 10- [Continue]
One out of every three bites of food we eat is provided through the work of animal and insect pollinators. The mysterious colony collapse disorder among commercial honeybees, disease and loss of habitat have severely affected pollinators that sustain our food crops and quality of life. Other insects besides bees act as important [Continue]
Early September is a wonderful time to take a drive out of town to see beautiful wildflowers along the roadsides. Let’s take a look at what’s blooming now. Queen Anne’s Lace is a white lacy flat-topped flower. It is also known as wild carrot and in fact is the predecessor to our garden [Continue]