Focus on Flowers

If you want to see a well-behaved garden, visit one that is about 3 years old.  Three years is about the time it takes for plants to settle in and grow a bit. But it’s not long enough for most plants to get out of hand and start moving around. Even in the first seven years or so it is usually still possible to see some semblance of the original design that the gardener intended.  Actually, though,...

Although non-native, lilacs are a much-loved and well-behaved import to North America.

There are about 70 different types of phlox, both short and tall. The short ones are used as groundcovers, and their palette is made up of the cool colors.

Most of us, including those who are not space challenged, like to experiment with plants in containers . It is like playing at micro gardening. The drawback of containers, though, is that as we water them the nutrients in the soil leach out. Therefore, we need to start by filling our pots each season with a rich growing medium and follow through with regular feedings during the summer. Slow-releas...

Amy Stewart, in her book Flower Confidential , says that florists practically invented Mother’s Day.  It was actually invented in 1908 by a woman named Anna Jarvis who wanted the celebration to be on the second Sunday in May because it was the anniversary of the death of her own mother. “Crowd it and push it,” she urged florists, noting that May was a month when flowers are plentiful and therefore...

Many of us who love to grow tulips in our gardens have visiting deer who love to eat them. It seems to be such a violent death for a bud or flower.   The poet E. J. Scovell, when she wrote the following poem in 1991, must not have had deer in her garden because she describes a more gradual demise. Here are some excerpts of her poem:  I would, if I could, choose  Age, and die outwards as a tulip do...

Deadheading spent booms on plants is important, especially with perennials.   Many modern annuals have been bred so that the plant will keep blooming without deadheading. Wave petunia was the first annual where breeders managed to achieve this, but now it is rare for any type of petunias to need deadheading.   However, this is not the case with perennials, where deadheading makes the plants bloom...

The genus Sidalcea is made up of species from western North America, and the best of the species is Sidalcea malviflora, so named because the flowers resemble mallows. The scientific name is actually a combination of two related plant forms, “sida” and “alcea,” because it resembled both the mallow and the hollyhock.  The most used common names recently are miniature hollyhock and prairie mallow. O...

The scientific name Sidalcea is actually a combination of two related plant forms, “sida” and “alcea,” because it resembled both the mallow and the hollyhock. Common names are miniature hollyhock and prairie mallow. Other common names in the past were checkers and checkerbloom because of the alternate placement of the flowers on the stem.

Globe amaranth has the botanical name Gomphrena globosa and adult butterflies love this pretty annual. The little round flower heads bloom for a long time in the sunny summer garden and into early fall and dry beautifully for winter bouquets. The pink and orange varieties are especially striking and hold up well in a vase, especially if only one bloom is cut per stem. Fortunately, they have long s...

Cimicifuga racemosa, commonly called bugbane, black snakeroot, or black cohosh, growing wild and planted it in his Pennsylvania garden. He then sent seeds to his friend Peter Collinson in England.   The Native Americans told the colonists to use it to treat fevers, lumbago, rheumatism, and snake bites with a medicine made from the roots. Its common names became bugbane and squawroot. The leaves ar...

The plant variety that produces double flowers is Saponaria ‘Flora Pleno’, which is pale pink and white with a delicate scent.  Common names are soapwort and “bouncing bet.” The plant spreads a lot, as it will grow almost anywhere and is often found along railroad tracks and even in dust heaps. In gardens, it is best confined to the outskirts not the main flower borders. My advice is that it is be...

Sara Coleridge wrote this poem in the 1800s. "January brings snow, and makes our feet and fingers glow. February brings the rain and thaws the frozen lake again. March brings breezes loud and shrill, stirs the dancing daffodil....

If you have a garden, you probably enjoy displaying your flowers in your home. I have many small vases and bottles with narrow necks, so that I can pop just one or two flowers into them. When I come indoors after my morning walk, I usually bring what I call my "Flower of the Day." It is the flower that has really caught my eye that I want to look at close-up. 

You may like to try drying your end of summer flowers in your microwave. 

The best way to air-dry most flowers is to hang them upside down in bunches in a dry dark place for 1-3 weeks. Take the leaves off the stems and bind 6-10 stems together tightly with rubber bands.

n 1906, Beatrix Potter acquired a farmhouse in the Lake District of England.  Her new house and garden became incorporated into her stories about the famous characters in her books, such as Peter Rabbit and Mrs. Tabitha Twitchet, that still delight children today.  She delighted in the plants that her neighbors gave to her: roses, hollyhocks, and phlox, and the fruit trees and vegetables growing i...

Even as early as the 15th century in England, a time when gardens focused mainly on plants used in medicines and for cooking, there were a few plants grown because they produced beautiful flowers. 

The poem "Glory of the Garden" by  Rudyard Kipling.

Daphne, a shrub with tiny clusters of fragrant flowers, is poisonous as well as having sap that is a skin irritant. Just a few of Daphne's brightly colored berries could kill a child.

I have avoided dealing with some pressing but boring tasks today by reading some amusing quotations about gardens and gardening. Here are some you may enjoy: Barbara Spindel wrote recently, "Gardens have been sites of transgression ever since Eve and the serpent." 

Nicholas Culpeper was the son of an English clergyman, and he studied medicine at Cambridge University in the 17th century. When he began to practice, he gave plant medicines at minimal cost to his impoverished patients. 

In the 1960s, Beth Chatto started her garden on an unwanted wasteland in Essex, England. She was an ecologist and knew how to select plants that are adaptable to any conditions.

During the holidays, it is satisfying to be able to pick a vase of holly with bright red berries to decorate our homes. It is also a welcome gift to present to neighbors and friends. 

Stripped of its lush spring and summer growth, the winter garden nonetheless has a charm of its own. It is all about contours and shapes and the way the ice and snow transform items and add sparkle.