This time of year many gardeners are setting out bird feeders, including those filled with a sugar solution to encourage hummingbirds to visit your garden. Unfortunately, the sugary drink will also attracts numerous ants, bees, and wasps. When warm spring and summer weather arrives, the solution clouds up with bacteria which ferments or perhaps fatal […]
Archive for the ‘Purchasing Plants’ Category
Attracting Hummingbirds
Posted by Hugh on July 6th, 2020
Posted in acidic soil, alkaline soil, Annuals, Attracting birds, Attracting Butterflies, Bee Favorite, Butterflies, Container garden, Daylilies, Disease resistant, Environmental issues, Fall Garden Interest, Foxglove (Digitalis), Honey bees, Honeysuckle (Lonicera), Landscape ideas, Lantana, Liatris, Lobelia (cardnial flower), Monarda (Beebalm), Native Plant, Native Plant, Native wildflowers, Nepeta (catmint), Penstemon, Perennials, Phlox, Purchasing Plants, Rhododendrons, Sage (Salvia), Salvia, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Summer flowering, Summer heat tolerant, Summer phlox (P. paniculata), Trees & Shrubs, Vine, Weigela, Wildlife attractant 
Comments Off on Attracting HummingbirdsTorch Lilies (Kniphofia)
Posted by Hugh on July 1st, 2020
Torch lilies (Kniphofia spp.) are easy to grow long-lived perennials from South Africa that are remarkably (USDA hardiness zones 5-9). They go by a number of common names including red hot poker and tritoma. The colorful floral spikes (and a little imagination) resemble fiery torches or sizzling pokers, visited often by hummingbirds, bees and butterflies. […]
Posted in acidic soil, Attracting birds, Attracting Butterflies, Bees and other pollinators, Butterflies, deadheading, Deciduous, Deer resistant, Disease resistant, Disease resistant, Drought tolerant, Flower Arranging, Flower arrangments, Hummingbird, Landscape ideas, mulching, Planting tips, Propagation (dividing), Pruning, Purchasing Plants, Red hot Poker (Kniphofia), Southern Appalachian Region, Summer flowering, Summer heat tolerant, Torch lily (red hot poker), watering tips, winter hardiness Comments Off on Torch Lilies (Kniphofia)Compass Plant – Prairie Giant
Posted by Hugh on June 26th, 2020
Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum) are impressive prairie plants that look like – but are not – sunflowers. Native to the central U.S. (USDA hardiness zones 3 to 8), these sturdy prairie giants grow upwards of 5-8 feet in height (1.5 – 3 feet wide) on stiff, hairy, resinous stems. The group (Silphiums) are also called […]
Posted in acidic soil, alkaline soil, Attracting birds, Attracting Butterflies, Bees and other pollinators, Compass Plant (Silphium), Deer resistant, Disease resistant, Disease resistant, Drought tolerant, Fertilizing plants, Heat Tolerance, Landscape ideas, mulching, Native Plant, Perennials, Planting tips, Propagation (Seed), Purchasing Plants, Soil drainage, Summer flowering, Summer heat tolerant, Uncategorized, watering tips, winter hardiness Comments Off on Compass Plant – Prairie GiantGaura (Wand Flower)
Posted by Hugh on June 21st, 2020
Gaura (Gaura lindheimeri), also known as wand flower, whirling butterfly, and bee blossom (Gaura lindheimeri) is one tough perennial that blooms through the summer into fall. Gaura is native to Texas and Louisana and is hardy to USDA plant zones (5)6-9. It lives many years in hot humid climates and requires very little care after […]
Posted in acidic soil, alkaline soil, Attracting Butterflies, Bee Favorite, Bees and other pollinators, Butterflies, Container garden, Deer resistant, Disease resistant, Disease resistant, Drought tolerant, Fertilizing plants, Flower Arranging, Gaura, Heat Tolerance, Landscape ideas, mulching, Native Plant, Native Plant, Perennials, Propagation (dividing), Propagation (Seed), Purchasing Plants, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Summer flowering, Summer heat tolerant, watering tips, winter hardiness Comments Off on Gaura (Wand Flower)Four Landscape Shrubs That Are Early Summer Stars
Posted by Hugh on June 16th, 2020
Bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) is one of our finest early summer native flowering shrubs for sun or shady sites. It is a dense, mounded, suckering, deciduous, multi-stemmed shrub which grows 6-12 feet tall and 15-18 feet spread. It flaunts unique palmate green leaves (5-7 leaflets) and white 10-12 inch tall floral candles. The dynamic bottlebrush […]
Posted in acidic soil, Bee Favorite, Bees and other pollinators, Beneficial insects, Bottlebrush buckeye, Butterflies, Buttonbush (Cephalanthus), compact shrub, Container growing, container shrub, Deer resistant, Disease resistant, Drought tolerant, Fertilizing plants, Flowering shrub, Heat Tolerance, Hummingbird, Landscape ideas, mulching, Native Plant, Planting tips, Propagation (Cuttings), Propagation (dividing), Pruning, Purchasing Plants, Root suckering, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Spring flowering, Summer flowering, Summer heat tolerant, Summersweet (Clethra), Trees & Shrubs, Vitex (Chaste tree), Wildlife attractant, winter hardiness Comments Off on Four Landscape Shrubs That Are Early Summer StarsHakone Grass – On The Shadier Side Of A Garden
Posted by Hugh on June 11th, 2020
Japanese Forest grasses, also called Hakone grasses (Hakonechloa macra), hail from Japan (USDA hardiness Zones 5-9). They are a wonderful choice in a drab woodland garden spot. You will love them for their bright foliage and low growing habit. Hakone grass grows in a mounding clump. The foliage cascades over rocks, edges over garden walls, […]
Posted in Bees and other pollinators, Garden paths, Hakone grass, Landscape ideas, Ornamental Grasses, Perennials, Purchasing Plants Comments Off on Hakone Grass – On The Shadier Side Of A GardenQueen Of The Prairie Or Meadowsweet
Posted by Hugh on June 6th, 2020
Q “Tall and pretty spectacular” very much describes Queen of the prairie (Filipendula rubra) (USDA hardiness zones 3 to 8). Twelve species comprise this genus of U.S. perennials (USDA hardiness zones 3-8). Best known species are meadowsweet (F. ulmaria).dropwort (F. vulgaris), both native to Europe, and queen-of-the-forest (F. occidentalis) and queen-of-the-prairie (F. rubra), both native […]
Posted in acidic soil, Aggressive grower, alkaline soil, Bees and other pollinators, Butterflies, Deciduous, Disease resistant, Filipendula, Flower Arranging, Foliage plant, Fragrant, Heat Tolerance, Landscape ideas, mulching trees, Native Plant, Native Plant, Perennials, Planting tips, Powdery mildew, Propagation (dividing), Propagation (Seed), Purchasing Plants, Rust diseases, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Summer flowering, Summer heat tolerant, watering tips, winter hardiness Comments Off on Queen Of The Prairie Or MeadowsweetSix Easy Perennials To Grow
Posted by Hugh on June 1st, 2020
Rozanne (‘Gerwalt’) Cranesbill (Geranium X ‘Rozanne’) – low growing flowering groundcover that forms a 20 inch tall by 24 inch wide mound; blooms almost non-stop from mid-spring to early fall. For a cranesbill, its 5-petaled, violet-blue flowers are huge (2.5 inches wide) with off-white centers; in bloom from late spring to early summer. (Zones 5-8). […]
Posted in acidic soil, alkaline soil, Alliums (onion), Aster, Attracting Butterflies, Autumn flowering, Bees and other pollinators, Container garden, Cranesbill (Geranium), Deciduous, Drought tolerant, Evergreen, Fertilizing plants, Flower Arranging, Flower arrangments, Landscape ideas, mulching, Native Plant, Perennials, Planting tips, Platycodon (Balloon flower), Propagation (Cuttings), Propagation (dividing), Pruning, Purchasing Plants, Sage (Salvia), Sedum (Groundcover types), Southern Appalachian Region, Spring flowering, Summer flowering, Summer heat tolerant, watering tips, winter hardiness Comments Off on Six Easy Perennials To GrowTwo Kinds Of Maidenhair Ferns
Posted by Hugh on May 26th, 2020
Maidenhair ferns (Adiantum spp.) are deciduous hardy perennial ferns. Two native species are commonly planted in U.S. gardens. These delicate-looking ferns typically grow 1 to 2 feet tall and frequently grow in rich soils in eastern and Midwest U.S. woodland gardens. The palmately compound fronds are finely-textured along with thin wiry black stems. Coiled young […]
Posted in alkaline soil, compost, Deciduous, Disease resistant, Disease resistant, Ferns, Landscape ideas, Maidenhair fern (Adiantum), mulching, Native Plant, Native Plant, Perennials, Planting tips, Propagation (dividing), Purchasing Plants, Southern Appalachian Region, Summer heat tolerant, watering tips, Wind protection, winter hardiness Comments Off on Two Kinds Of Maidenhair FernsGarden Phlox Attract Pollinators
Posted by Hugh on May 21st, 2020
Phlox (Phlox spp.) are popular perennials that are also U.S. natives. A multitude of species and hybrids are available to landscapers and gardeners for almost any type of garden environment, including containers. Here is a list of the intermediate garden species: Border phlox (Phlox paniculata), Meadow phlox (P. maculata), Carolina phlox (P. carolina), Smooth phlox […]
Posted in acidic soil, Attracting Butterflies, Bee Favorite, Butterflies, Container garden, deadheading, Disease prone, Disease resistant, Disease resistant, Drought tolerant, Fertilizing plants, Landscape ideas, mulching, Native Plant, Native Plant, Perennials, Phlox, Planting tips, Powdery mildew, Propagation (Cuttings), Purchasing Plants, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Summer flowering, Summer heat tolerant, Summer phlox (P. paniculata), Weed control, winter hardiness Comments Off on Garden Phlox Attract Pollinators
