Each year Greenhouse Grower* magazine compiles a listing of the best annuals selected by field garden staff and garden visitors to 19 public and seed company trial gardens across the U.S. Talleying the resuts, thirty-five (35) varieties appeared more than once, with Salvia ‘Mystic Spires Improved’ and Alternanthera ‘Purple Prince’ appearing five times. Before proceeding further, keep in mind […]
Archive for the ‘compost’ Category
Steps To Making Gardening Easier
Take an inventory of your gardening time, talley up of costs, and develop a plan how to make your garden space more beautiful with less work and cost to you. Plant Smarter Simplify! For example, in my zone 6 garden, bigleaf hydrangeas disappoint tow out of three years and they’re water hogs in the summer. Smooth (AG) hydrangeas (like […]
The Glorious Katsura Tree
Katsura Tree (Cercidophyllum japonicum) is a medium to large tree indigenous to China, Korea and Japan (USDA hardiness zones 4-8). Fossil imprints indicate that Katsura Tree has existed over 1.8 million years and flourished throughout Asia and North America. Katsura’s genus name Cercidophyllum translates to “leaf (phyllum) like a red bud (Cercis)”. A mature tree can reach […]
Tis The Season For Ornamental Kales and Cabbages
Ornamental cabbage and kale (Brassica oleracea) are very close related to the same vegetables that we eat at our kitchen table. They are edible, just not as tasty. Plants are biennials, e.g. they produce leaves one year and flower the following spring. Ornamental kales have deeply cut serrated or ruffled leaves while leaves of ornamental cabbage […]
Multi-Purpose Lavender Spur Flowers Sparkle In The Cool Fall Air
Lavender Spur Flower (Plectranthus Mona Lavender™) is a fast growing flowering annuial that is full of lavender blue flowers from late summer to autumn frost (USDA hardiness zones 9-11). Flowers can usually cope with light frosts of 25 – 30° F in early autumn. Plants grow 2 to 2.5 feet tall and wide forming […]
Comparing Encore™ and Bloom-A-Thon™ Azaleas
Hey gardeners, how about azaleas that bloom nearly 5 months a year. Flowering lasts for 4-6 weeks in spring and another 12-16 weeks in summer and fall. Check out Encore™ and Bloom-A-Thon™ series of azaleas (USDA hardiness zones 6-10). The main differences between these two azaleas is the Bloom-A-Thon series tend to bloom more abundantly in […]
Pineapple Lilies For Summer Garden
Pineapple lilies (Eucomis spp.) are native of South Africa and are easy to grow (USDA hardiness zones 7-10). Several hybrid cultivars are winter hardy in zone 6 if provide a protective layer of mulch or loose leafy compost. Plants have basal rosette of strap-like, wavy-edged, purple-spotted, dark green leaves which spread upward and outward to […]
Thistle-like Bear’s Breeches
Spiny bear’s breeches (Acanthus spinosa) is a clump-forming perennial treasured for its attractive thistle-like foliage and architecturally bold flower spikes (USDA hardiness zones 5b-9). Plant requires little maintenance and is long-lived. Deeply-cut, arching, glossy green, spiny, thistle-like leaves attain 2-3 feet in length on older plants and remain attractive through the growing season. Leaves bear mostly hidden spines on […]
Panicle Hydrangeas For Small Gardens And Containers
Panicle, PeeGee or PG hydrangeas (Hydrangea panculata) brighten up your July-August garden. They hail from China and Japan and grow almost anywhere in the U.S. (USDA hardiness zones 3 – 8). PG hydrangeas are far more reliable in northern areas (zones 3-5), than mophead hydrangeas (H. macrophylla). They flower at their best in full to partial day sunlight (6 hours […]