Focus on Flowers

I would not be without my annual larkspur, which I have enjoyed year after year and some often self-seed and return, but in order to be sure, I always buy some seeds. I don't want to risk a year without it!

While roses take care, trial and error over time will help a gardener learn which varieties thrive best in their climate.

There is a large number of more modern hybrid cultivars now available, and some produce flowers in other shades such as white, rose, magenta, burgundy, and purple.

If you want to minimize work in the garden, you can try to plant perennials that do not like to be disturbed and so never need to be divided.

I read of a grower in lower New York who has iris in bloom continuously from February until the end of July.

A walk in the woods in early April, when the air is cool and crisp, allows us the delight of discovering sweet little flowers such as the sharp-lobed Hepatica.

“I have grown wise, after many years of gardening, and no longer order recklessly from wildly alluring descriptions, which make every annual sound easy to grow and as brilliant as a film star.” -Vita Sackville-West

Twinleaf's botanical name celebrates a U.S. president who loved gardens, Thomas Jefferson.

As winter winds down, witch hazel is the shrub to watch.

Many of our best lilacs resulted from the work of Isabella Preston, who spent her career hybridizing plants.

I have been reading a book on flower arranging by Sheila Macqueen published in 1972 in England.

I have been reading a book about women gardeners in times past and find that they have wonderful wisdom to share.

Crocus sativus' stamens are the source of saffron. Henry I of England was so fond of saffron as a spice in food that he forebade ladies in his court from using it as a hair lightener.

Many people want a low-maintenance garden, yet no garden is truly low maintenance, but one possibility is an informal garden of easy-care flowering annuals.

Celia Thaxter gardened on an island off the New England coast.

Groundhogs, whistle pigs, woodchucks--whatever you call them, they hibernate all winter and wake up in the spring feeling ravenous, ready to eat your flowers.

When Beatrix died, she left over 4000 acres to The National Trust to be preserved forever in its natural state. Many visitors come from all over the world to England’s Lake District, looking for Peter Rabbit and his creator.

“She is pleased with her Pinks."

Plants add vitality to our indoor living spaces.

Select the largest herbaceous specimens that you can afford to plant. Otherwise, you may have a large house with tiny little blobs of green lined up in front of the structure for a long time.

Cold-season bloomers are rare in the flower world.

Squirrels are such fun to watch!

James I of Scotland wrote a poem in 1413 describing his view of a densely screened pleasure garden set in a corner of the castle wall.

Dr. Nathanial Ward, a naturalist and physician living in London, discovered a way to transport and protect plants from the sea air and adverse temperatures during long sea voyages.

In the fall deer start on the woody plants and most often go after evergreens in the winter.