If you are planning to grow your own vegetables or already have a vegetable patch, you probably know that tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum) make a dependable crop, attracting luscious fruits to the family table. Rumors grow as perennials at U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 and 11, however they perform nicely as annuals elsewhere. […]
Category: Tropical Style
You will realize this project as a simple window box, however you should not restrict it to just a window. This planter can go in almost any spot where you are able to drive a few screws in, make it a wooden fencing (as shown here), a blank wall or near that window. If your […]
The final month of summer is bittersweet, even though I’m swatting mosquitoes left and right as I weed in my shade garden. With significant rains in the Northeast in June and July, the mosquitoes are especially awful in August. Many homeowners are visiting the harmful effects of storms dirt driveways that are partly washed out, […]
On occasion a garden that’s filled with crops of similar heights, especially those lower than 3 feet, can become drab. Add flair with tall tickseed (Coreopsis tripteris), a long-blooming, heat-loving, butterfly-calling skyscraper. Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens Botanical name: Coreopsis tripterisCommon name: Tall tickseed, tall coreopsisOrigin: Native in areas from the central and southern Great […]
Does your lawn resemble a jar of jumbled jelly beans — wildly colorful but with no true awareness of cohesive layout? Try toning things down with a monochromatic color scheme. Select just 1 color but utilize an assortment of tints, shades and hues — for example, light blue, rich cobalt and blue-purple. Far from being […]
Each October or November I begin my search for transplants of sweet alyssum to grow my garden. My romance with this tiny plant began decades ago when I found its broad use in my southern winter garden. If you’re searching for a winter bloomer, nonstop flowering and delicately scented flowers, sweet alyssum is the best […]
Halloween is around the corner, and if you are lucky, shortly droves of all candy-seeking ghouls and goblins will be in your door. Does your entryway show your holiday spirit? Otherwise, here are some terrific black-hued plants to produce a hauntingly unforgettable screen. Kim Gamel Black mondo grass makes a great addition to fall containers. […]
Are you bored of perennials together with the usual round flowers and mounding habit? Looking for an accent, something that cries “wowee zowee” but doesn’t take up much property? Like butterflies to boot? Liatris, or blazing star, is one of the very unique native prairie perennials, sort of a statement plant life. Its title means […]
I really don’t know about you, but where I live (USDA zone 6) it’s been a very long, hot, dry summer. Together with triple-digit temperatures for most of the summer, my containers look worse for the wear. I am starting to dream of cooler temperatures, fall colors and falling leaves. I have already started considering […]
Eryngium, commonly called sea holly, might appear anything but inviting at first, but on closer inspection you’ll realize there is nothing to be fearful of. I found this spiky flower in a friend’s birthday fragrance and have been a fan ever since. Sea holly has a long history of cultivation, and recent trending in foraged […]