Focus on Flowers

In her book Making Things Grow---a Practical Guide for the Indoor Gardener , Thalassa Cruso calls succulents “neglectable plants.” That is because all fleshy-leaved succulents are slow to lose the water stored in their leaves. They also can go into dormancy to conserve water during drought. Cruso says that is why succulents make such good houseplants, thriving in the hot dry conditions in our home...

Hyacinths were first found growing in Asia, but because of the efforts of Dutch growers, there are now many varieties in the genus Hyacinthus .  Most bloom in the spring from bulbs planted in the fall. The showiest are the bedding size ones with masses of florets completely surrounding 10” stems. They are dramatic planted in the sun in groups. Probably because of their strong fragrance, deer avoid...

Even after a heavy frost, the stalwart perennial sage plant stands erect in the garden. It shows its elegant silvery grey color even in winter reminding us that next spring it will give us fragrant lavender flowers. Common garden sage, Salvia officinalis , is a staple in the herb garden and a plant for all seasons.  The genus Salvia contains both aromatic and non-aromatic varieties, and the name i...

In the autumn our gardens are mellow and yet the end of the growing season is bittersweet. As we work in our gardens and put them to bed we are reminded of some of our favorite poetry. This poem is an excerpt from the well-known "Ode to Autumn" by John Keats who lived from 1795-1821.    Ode to Autumn      Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!      Close bosom- friend of the maturing sun;      C...

Alliums are members of the onion family, and the bulbs are planted in the fall and extend the bloom spring-bulb season. The most spectacular is Allium giganteum with tall, stiff stems tapped with globes, averaging 5 inches in diameter. These flowering onions look exotic floating above the other plants. Colors range from white through lavender to dark purple.  Plant a ribbon of these bulbs in the c...

If you garden in zones 5 through 9 and are looking for a small to medium shrub that has fall color, Itea virginica , commonly called Virginia Sweetspire, may be a good candidate for you.  It has an upright growth habit and flowers in early summer. The flowers are white and like bottle brushes with nectar that is sought after by butterflies and other insects.  Itea is a shrub that does well in sun...

From late fall through winter, Ilex verticillata produces a grand display of bright red berries that persist and light up its branches long after all the leaves have fallen.  Commonly called winterberry, but also known as Michigan holly or swamp holly, this is a deciduous type of holly for cold climates. However, only the female plants produce the colorful berries. Gardeners must plant one male ne...

There are some perennials that provide an added bonus of foliage that changes color in the fall.  For example, some species of Amsonia feature brilliant yellow foliage. The common name is blue stars, as the plants have pretty little blue flowers in the spring. Another, less poetic common name is dogbane.   The narrow leaves are lancelike, similar to the foliage of a willow, and the stems have a mi...

In Autumn, not only do the colors in the garden seem richer and more mellow, but textures also assume a more dominant role in plantings. The tall sedums become focal points in the perennial beds with their intricate flower heads and fleshy leaves. The flat shape of the flower heads makes perfect platforms for bees and butterflies. Trees, such as Japanese maples, and shrubs, such as Smokebush and N...

Most of our flowering plants are past their prime in fall, exhausted after their exuberant earlier displays. As we walk around our gardens, we notice all those brown stalks we need to remove from the daylilies, and lots of spent plants with shabby foliage that needs cutting back. Aggressive perennials, such as monarda and black-eyed Susans may have increased to the point where we will have to get...

The autumnal equinox occurs during the third week of September. It is the time when the sun crosses the equator making day and night of equal length on all points of the earth. After the equinox in Autumn, the days grow shorter.  In September we stop fertilizing plants, but we continue deadheading our fall bloomers, as we want flowers to continue coming until frost. The purpose of cutting off the...

Chrysanthemums have been grown and hybridized for many centuries it is difficult to determine their parentage. It seems though, that they originated in China.  Confucius wrote of them in 500 BC. The ancient Chinese valued plants for their symbolic and moral associations, and the chrysanthemums which blooms in autumn, when other plants are dying off, was esteemed as a life-prolonging herb.  Chrysan...

Greek frescoes from the second millennium B.C. show what is believed to be the earliest known representation of a rose. The name, according to legend, is because a woman of exquisite beauty, Rhodanthe, was turned into a beautiful rose. Roses grew abundantly in medieval gardens where the rose petals were compressed to make rosaries. Roses have been loved since antiquity, and today there are countle...

The name "gladiolus," is from a Latin word meaning "little sword" because of the shape of the plant's leaves. They grow from corms, which are planted flat side down, two inches apart and at least 4 inches deep. They look best if planted in clumps rather than rows, and they must have full sun. The vertical flower spikes that open from the bottom up are used by florists to provide height in large fo...

I am lucky to have a large garden space and so I have the luxury of being able to dedicate some of my beds to a single perennial species. Dianthus , alone in a small bed, can be pretty as the foliage is neat and forms a weed- suppressing mat above which the pretty, little flowers are held aloft. I have a bed of only pure white German iris that I love for its purity and conformity. And one year my...

In her book The Once and Future Gardener, Virginia Clayton provides examples of articles that were published in popular American gardens magazines between 1900 and 1940. One article by Helen Wilson focused on spire-like flowers. She also called them "steeped flowers" evoking the image of a church steeple pointing heavenward in an English village. In high summer in our gardens, we can use red-hot p...

I recently admired a beautifully planted curbside garden in full sun with a lovely color palette. Right in front were lavender creeping phlox, and behind those was the low-growing cranesbill geranium ‘Rozanne' and low-growing perennial salvias with purple flowers. Behind these low-growing plants were taller Russian sage with its grey foliage and blue/lavender blooms. They were interspersed with Ca...

Moya Andrews talks about euphorbias. The genus Euphorbia is large—about 2000 species—and there is great variation between forms.  Some plants look a bit like cacti, and many of the species have flowers that are actually bracts.  Many of the plants are tropical and sub-tropical, though some members of this genus survive well in temperate regions.  At the holiday season we see many poinsettias, nati...

Moya Andrews talks about Corydalis. Many of us have seen a ferny plant with tiny yellow flowers growing on walls and in cottage gardens in England, where it self-sows enthusiastically. This plant is Corydalis (kor RID ah liss), and it grows from rhizomes. It resembles the habit and form of Bleeding Heart, and it likes similar growing conditions. It has delicate lacy-looking foliage and racemes of...

Moya Andrews reads a poem about ajuga, a.k.a., bugle weeds. Ajugas are perennials that are commonly known as bugles or bugle weeds, and there are about 40 species in the genus.  Ajuga reptans (reptans means creeping), is often used as a ground cover that carpets the ground with glossy rosettes of spoon-shaped leaves and spikes of violet-blue flowers in late spring.  Cultivars with variegated folia...

Moya Andrews talks about bellflowers. Campanulas, or bellflowers to use their common name, are plants with bell-shaped blue or white blooms, and they range in height from ground-hugging dwarfs to plants that grow to 6 feet. A gardener who plants a number of different types can have bloom for most of the summer.  Varieties and Growing Habits They need a moderately rich well-drained soil and full or...

There are roughly 900 species of salvia, which is the largest genus in the mint family. The common name is sage, and the genus includes annuals, perennials, and sub-shrubs. Remember that sub-shrubs have the woody base of a shrub and soft top growth. When pruning a sub-shrub such as sage or lavender, do not cut into or injure that woody base. Salvias have tubular flowers with two lips and are ancie...

Moya Andrews talks about marigolds. I used to be quite a snob about flowers that grow so easily that they seem to be growing everywhere. For instance, I used to be quite dismissive about marigolds, as I disliked the smell. It took me years to realize that many commonly grown flowers, in addition to being pretty, possess other reliable characteristics, such as drought and heat tolerance and resista...

Moya Andrews talks about nasturtiums. Nasturtiums are annuals that grow well from seed. The genus is Tropaeolum (trop EYE oh lum), which is from a Greek word meaning “to twine,” as some nasturtiums will climb on a support. Tropaeolum minor was first found growing in Mexico and Peru and introduced to England in 1574. The English called the plant Indian Cress because the leaves tasted sharp. The pep...

Moya Andrews talks about balloon flowers. Balloon flowers have unique buds that look round and full of air just like a balloon and so their common name is descriptive.  The genus name comes from 2 Greek words “platys” meaning broad and “kodon” meaning bell, and members of the Platycodon genus usually have blue flowers, but there are some varieties that are white or  pink.  Balloon flowers belong t...