Focus on Flowers

The original perennial coneflowers were pink, but many new cultivars have been developed.

A mix of annuals, biennials, perennials, and shrubs ensures that your cutting garden always has something in bloom.

Peter Rabbit is cute, but he can be a problem for gardeners, especially when seedlings and small plants are available, and he wants them for his dinner!

Native perennials are an essential part of our ecosystem and support wildlife. Some are more likely to thrive in our region than others.

Monarch butterflies like to eat various species of milkweed, which have a bitter juice, that makes their caterpillars unappealing to predators.

If you want to get more plants from your existing flowering plants, a good way is to take cuttings.

The degree of shade is an important factor in gardening, and usually for flowering plants, partial shade is the best.

In warm climates, the showy, brightly colored bougainvillea vines romp over walls, fences, and even buildings, brightening landscapes with their vivid colors.

Both perennial and annual candytufts make excellent rock garden and edging plants.

The Star of Bethlehem name probably dates from the Crusades. The bulbs were brought home as souvenirs when ancient people made pilgrimages to the Holy Land. So, this sweet little flower has an impressive history.

Always deadhead spring bulbs after they finish blooming or they will put their energy into setting seed, which limits their rejuvenation.

There are about 125 species in the genus Oenothera, and they are commonly called sundrops, evening primroses, or golden eggs, and they are native to North and South America.

In olden times, if one wore a sprig of alyssum, no one would be angry with you.

Allelopathic plants release chemicals through their leaves and roots that prevent the germination and/or growth of nearby plants.

It's important to remove invasive, non-native plants to make more space available for plants that nourish our own native wildlife.

If you are planting a garden this spring around a condominium or in some other small garden space, you may want to consider some of the shrubs that have been developed to grow into a compact shape and size at maturity.

There is magic associated with flowers. How can it be, I wonder, that there are so many different shapes, colors, and sizes to delight the senses?

By the 18th century, it was fashionable in the colonies of North America where a garden was essential to feed a family.

In ancient times, roses were not grown for ornamental reasons but for their medicinal and mystical properties.

After the spring bloomers' flowers faded, I used to have day lily plants that grew up in my beds to disguise the decaying and unsightly bulb foliage. All that changed once the deer in my neighborhood came by in droves and ate all of the day lily foliage.

During the 20th century, growers learned to grow flowers with taller, straighter stems, less blemishes, and, also, to force blooms out of season.

Beginning in the early 18th century in England, many quaint new cottages were built surrounded by plantings of fruit trees, honey suckle, ivy, and all kinds of flowers to create intentionally romantic gardens.

Empress Josephine Bonaparte had the first European ever-blooming roses from China, and her eclectic collection allowed French hybridizers to create many new varieties.

Way back when there were no cell phones, lovers used flowers as coded messages to keep their communications unknown to chaperones.

In North America, frangipani is often associated with Hawaii because of the lovely leis that are made from their blossoms.