Creating both edible and ornamentally pleasing vegetables has been a goal of plant breeders. Flowering cabbage and kale (Brassica oleracea) are a new landscaping niche in the autumn garden. Plants develop huge leafy rosettes and eventually form heads. Color patterns on leaves include white, cream, red and purple shades. The […]
Archive for the ‘Foliage plant’ Category
Chanticleer Garden – A Garden For Ideas
Chanticleer Garden is an estate and botanical gardens, that bills itself as a “pleasure garden”. Chanticleer is “a garden for ideas”. The property is located at 786 Church Road in Wayne Pennsylvania, approximately 30 minutes of Philadelphia. Chanticleer celebrated its 100 year centennial in 2013 as the […]
‘Mojito’ Elephant Ear Is A Tropical Joy
‘Mojito’ elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta), aka taro plant, has become a new favorite in the Conlon garden where it is not dependably winter hardy (Zone 6b). According to Tony Avent at Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, NC, tubers are dependably winter hardy in zones 7b -10. ‘Mojito’ (pronounced “Mo-he-toe”) is a sport of […]
Monitor And Manage Two-Spotted Spider Mites
Two-spotted spider mites are destructive pests that ravage a wide host of shrubs and garden plants, including certain house plants, annuals, perennials, herbs and vegetables. Many evergreens are also susceptible. Two-spotted spider mites are warm season arachnids, not insects, and are exceptionally troublesome over a hot dry summer. They […]
Japanese Holly Fern
Japanese Holly Fern (Cyrtomium falcatum ‘Rochfordianum’) is a handsome, evergreen fern for gardens in USDA hardiness zones 6-11. It earns its name from its stiffly erect holly-like fronds. Individual fronds are vase-shaped, 1 to 2 ½ feet long with glossy, leathery, serrated, holly-like compound leaflets (pinnae). The slender, arching fronds arise from erect, scaly rhizomes […]
Coleus Thrive In Summer Heat And Humidity
Coleus (Plectranthus scutellariodes) is a summer annual treasured for its colorful foliage. Plants thrive in summer’s heat and humidity (USDA hardiness zone 11). Coleus is a member of the nettle family Lamiaceae. You can create dazzling beds of color using coleus alone or mixed with flowering annuals. Modern day coleus grow more compact and better branched. […]
Three Easy Care Foliage Plants For Your Home
Chinese Evergreen (Aglaonema), Dumbcane (Dieffenbachia), and Calthea (Calthea spp.) are three similar looking tropical house plants (USDA hardiness zones 8 through 11). Likely, you have seen these easy to grow foliage plants inside restaurants, shopping malls, offices, and at the public library. They grow in medium to low light areas of the home or […]
House Plants Purify Indoor Air
Yes, house plants do indeed clean, filter and purify the air of various toxins and pollutants. Back in the 1980’s the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)conducted tests to determine the best house plants that helped purify indoor air in homes and work environments. If humans were to traveled to inhospitable planets, humans would inhabit biospheres full of plants scrub […]
Care of Holiday Cactus
Thanksgiving cactus (Schlumbergera truncata) and Christmas cactus (S. bridgesii) are popular fall- and winter-flowering houseplants. Flower colors (by variety) include red, purple, lavender, cream, and white. Holiday cacti thrive in hanging baskets. The scalped stems and foliage start out growing vertically and weeks later begin to spill over the edge of the pot. Plants flourish for many years if […]
Care Of Staghorn Ferns
Staghorn fern (Platycerium bifercatum) is an epiphyte from the forests of Africa, Australia, and Southeast Asia. In temperate regions, it is a popular house plant. In their natural habitat, it prefers to grow attached to tree trunks or rock outcroppings for support. It draws no nutrients from the tree. Two very different types of fronds (leaves) […]

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