Focus on Flowers

There are about 250 species of these showy herbaceous plants and nearly all are perennial and native to temperate parts of the northern hemisphere.

Native to Mexico, dahlias probably grew in Aztec gardens as they were already in cultivation when the Spaniards arrived.

So many varieties of these gorgeous flowers have travelled here from far-away lands to sweeten the air in our gardens.

Red Hot Pokers belong to the genus Kniphofia (Kniphofia uvaria) and are also known as tritoma or torch lilies.

A poem about rain in the garden by J. Redwood Anderson.

The common name "pinks” does not refer to the color but to the fringed edging of the petals that makes them look as if they had been cut with pinking shears.

When working outdoors we should tuck our pant legs into our socks, wear long sleeves, and use tick repellent often and liberally.

Many of us had grandmothers who used lavender as their signature fragrance.

Research shows that despite the commonly held idea that hummingbirds love red, that is not the case.

Spring is a time to plant perennial chrysanthemums. They'll mature during the summer and produce breathtaking fall color in your garden.

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.