Winter Gardening Stories
Norfolk Island Pine Needs TLC
Unlike most pines that are familiar to Midwesterners, the Norfolk Island pine is far too tender to plant outdoors in our climate and, in fact, is not a true pine at all. But the good news is that it makes an elegant houseplant when given proper care. It also makes a terrific living Christmas tree; its lush green twigs of soft needles provide a lovely backdrop for festive holiday ornaments. Known botanically as Araucaria heterophylla, […]
Deicing Salts Helpful For People But Not Landscape Plants
Deicing salts can save your neck this winter, but they can spell disaster for landscape plants. Whether the salt is sprayed on the plants from passing traffic near the road or is shoveled onto plants near the sidewalk, the salt can cause damage. Salts can adversely affect plants in several ways. Salts deposited on the surface of twigs, branches and evergreen leaves can cause excessive drying of foliage and roots. They can be taken up […]
New Vegetable Varieties 2010
What better way to melt the snow than a cozy read through garden catalogs with all their promise of mouth-watering produce for the coming season! Here’s a look at just a few of the new vegetable seed offerings for 2010. Try a few alongside your old standby favorites so that you can compare performance in your garden. Basil ‘Amethyst Improved’ is a dark purple basil with large, thick, curled-down leaves similar to the classic variety […]
Baptisia australis Perennial of the Year for 2010
If someone asked me to design my idea of the “perfect” perennial, it would come pretty darned close to being this year’s selection for Perennial of the Year. Gorgeous purple-blue flowers, widely adaptable, native, well-behaved, relatively pest-free, and long-lived garden plant all describe Baptisia australis, which was named the Perennial Plant of 2010 by the Perennial Plant Association (PPA). Native to much of the Eastern United States, B. australis is a legume and can fix […]
Hakonechloa Grass Named 2009 Perennial Plant of the Year
The Perennial Plant Association (PPA) has announced that Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ its 2009 Perennial Plant of the Year. Also known as Japanese Forest Grass, this graceful, well-behaved grass provides color and texture nearly year round. Unlike most other ornamental grasses, Hakonechloa gives its best performance in partial shade, forming a dense, cascading clump about 1-2 feet tall and up to 3 feet in spread. Its compact, weeping habit is perfect for softening the edge of […]
Spice Up Your Holidays
Some of the most popular spices used this time of year are harvested from various parts of exotic tropical plants, lending a special flavor to our holiday recipes. True cinnamon comes from the bark of the semi-tropical evergreen tree Cinnamomum zeylanicum, native to Ceylon and Southwest India and hardy in the U.S. Gulf states. For the best quality cinnamon, the bark is cut in strips from two-year-old branches, just as the new foliage leafs out […]
New Vegetable Varieties 2009
What better way to chase away the winter blues than a stroll through garden catalogs with all their promise of gardening adventures for the coming season! Here’s a look at just a few of the new seed company offerings for 2009. Basil ‘Cardinal’ is a strikingly handsome addition to the herb garden, with spicy, fragrant foliage crested by tightly packed clusters of deep cardinal-red flowers, resembling Celosia. Plants reach up to 2.5 feet in height. […]
Have a Heart for Your Valentine
Looking ahead to Valentine’s Day, here are some ideas for plants that will delight your plant lover. Heartleaf philodendron, also known as sweetheart plant, is easy to find, easy to grow and an excellent choice for a beginning gardener. The philodendron takes its name from Latin for love and tree, “philo” – love and “dendron” – tree. The heart- shaped leaves arise from sturdy stems that can twine around an upright support or trail from […]
New Garden Vegetables for 2008
Perhaps the only thing vegetable gardeners enjoy more than harvesting their crops is making plans for the coming growing season. Garden catalogs fill the mailbox and online seed houses come alive with tempting photos of luscious ripe harvests, which makes this a perfect time to plan the spring garden! Here’s a look at what’s new for vegetable gardeners in 2008. Bean ‘Gold Dust’ bears butter-yellow wax pods set high on upright bush plants. Good disease […]
Gardeners’ Glossary
Gardening enthusiasts have their own jargon, as do many other hobbyists. Some of these terms can be confusing, especially to the gardening newcomer. So here’s a brief list of terms that all gardeners should be familiar with. Annual — Plant that completes its life cycle from seed germination to seed production in one growing season. Biennial — Plant that completes its life cycle over two growing seasons; usually produces only vegetation its first season, then […]