Xeriscaping
-
Wildflower Wednesday Part 2: A Thanksgiving Week Long Celebration
Clay and Limestone &bull Nov 23, 2011
It's a clump-forming, upright, ornamental grass with wide bright green leaves and gracefully arching and nodding clusters of oat like flowers (spikelets) that emerge green then turn brown with age. Leaves and flower heads turn a rich tan in autumn… Full Story »
-
Wildflower Wednesday: Porteranthus stipulatus
Clay and Limestone &bull Nov 11, 2011
Dear Gail, you write the best advertisements for native plants! This one is a winner and will surely become very popular in the future. Pink flowers? Hi Gail - you have some lovely fall colour to show us this month. Gail, I've struggled with the same issue on a couple plants in my garden, including this month's contribution. Do I put it in the wooded area where I will rarely see it but it's likely to do really well, or bring it up closer to the house where I can constantly admire it and hope for the best. Like you,… Full Story »
-
Peak Fall Color in Spring Hill, TN
The Home Garden &bull Nov 4, 2011
Now it is your turn for the Fall colors. Here we have come almost to the very end. There are a few out in the garden this morning. Took some more photos for my records of the season. The many… Full Story »
-
Topics:
- Xeriscaping
- Zone
- Propagation
-
Where the Lenape Trod
New York Times - New York Botanical Garden &bull Nov 4, 2011
I thought I knew about old forests. First impressions came from childhood, when all woods can seem deep, fearsome and immense. Then from books: They are where Shakespeare's characters magically shed their identities, where Hester Prynne is released from shame, where nature's healing forces are harbored. I have also walked amid the red cedars of the Pacific Northwest, feeling a hushed awe in the presence of the forest primeval. Wrong, all wrong. Or at least wrong in… Full Story »
-
Wild Yam
Dave's Garden &bull Nov 1, 2011
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on October 26, 2010. At first sight I thought I had morning glories vining up through my daylilies. I gathered small branches that were always finding their way into my yard, and gave my "morning glories" a stake of their own to climb. They grew to great lengths, much taller than my tallest daylilies, but when they started to bloom, those… Full Story »
-
The Sweet Gum Tree
Dave's Garden &bull Oct 18, 2011
You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants! My neighbor has a sweet gum tree in her back yard. My house sits on a diagonal downhill slope from hers, and I have the most glorious view of the tree in the fall. Of course, that means I get her sweet gum balls that roll downhill into my yard, too. And yes, it is truly worth it. Editor's Note: This article was originally published on September 29, 2009. Sometimes when I walk up… Full Story »
-
Bloom Day - October 2011
Commonweeder &bull Oct 15, 2011
In spite of the warm fall, with only one real frost, the garden is beginning to die. Its demise seems to have been hurried by the three days of rain we just had. All these photos were taken in the… Full Story »
-
Arum pictum: Mystery and Drama for the Fall Garden
Dave's Garden &bull Oct 13, 2011
You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants! Arums are mysterious plants. You know the type: they send up intriguing foliage in one season, perhaps an unusual flower in another season, and then, long after you've forgotten about the plant altogether, it pops up with an unusual fruit or seed head. Arum pictum, unlike other members of the arum family, makes a dramatic appearance in the autumn, just when you least… Full Story »
-
The Beauty of Weigela
Dave's Garden &bull Oct 8, 2011
You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants! Weigela are often considered an old-fashioned shrub, but in recent years, they are enjoying a revival. Today there are many wonderful cultivars to choose from, ranging in size from a minute 30 cm to over 2 m. Colours range from white, multiple shades of pink to red. Foliage may be green, yellow-variegated, golden, chartreuse, bronzy-chocolate to deep purple-black. They are certainly one of the key landscape shrubs in many temperate regions of the world.… Full Story »
-
The American Grove
Commonweeder &bull Sep 29, 2011
Our house is surrounded by fields, and the fields are surrounded by woodlands. Trees are an important part of the New England Landscape and I just learned that Massachusetts is about to join Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and 34 other states… Full Story »
-
Topics:
- Trees
- Xeriscaping
- Abies
- Beta
-
Surprise at the Indianapolis Museum of Art: A Paved Paradise
Fine Gardening &bull Sep 14, 2011
The last time I visited Indianapolis was the early 70s. My one-week stay didn't start out so hot. Perhaps it had something to do with the paranoia of being a longhaired hippy musician in Middle America, coupled with my first (and only) tequila hangover. Did I mention it was Easter Sunday? This year was different. I was back in Indy for the annual Garden Writers Association symposium, and aside from my soulful karaoke rendition of Joe Cocker's You Can Leave Your Hat On, there were no reportable shenanigans. This was my fourth GWA event and I have… Full Story »
-
Lovely Leopard's-Bane
Dave's Garden &bull Sep 10, 2011
You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants! Most gardeners are familiar with leopard's-bane. They are among some of the oldest cultivated 'ornamental' plants. They are mostly appreciated for their spring display, but there are a few that don't bloom until late spring or early summer. This versatile plant can be used… Full Story »
-
How To Grow A Bottlebrush Plant
Gardening Tips 'n' Ideas &bull Sep 3, 2011
The Bottlebrush Plant Is Beautiful The Bottlebrush plant, which has the Latin name Myrtaceae Callistemon, gets its common name from the long, bright-red flower-spikes that is sets in abundance every spring and summer. These flowers look amazingly like the bottle… Full Story »
-
Hurricane under delivers.... Boletus Mania Ensues.
Growing with Plants &bull Aug 28, 2011
A collection of 'gold from the woodland', our gift from Hurricane Irene's rains. Wild late summer mushrooms, often called the king of the forest. Here, Boletus bicolor, Boletus edulus, some early Boletus variipes. Around the world this weekend, a select group of people are out in the woodlands and meadows where oaks, Beech, Chestnut and… Full Story »
-
Check out CHIA - a Super Salvia
Dave's Garden &bull Aug 24, 2011
You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants! Nutritious Chia seeds come from Salvia plants (sages in the Mint family) and grow easily in the home garden. Chia plants produce incredibly nutritious seeds, super high in omega-3s (like flax seeds). Chia adds nutrition to your plate and interest to your kitchen garden, hummingbird garden and potted arrangements. Check out Chia! When I told my husband I… Full Story »
-
Native Asters in South Western New York (and the rest of the northeast)
Dave's Garden &bull Aug 24, 2011
You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants! September roadsides in western New York are a riot of purples, blues and whites of the native Asters. Their bright blooms are one of the joys in the changing season. Editor's Note: This article was originally published on October 17, 2008. In a few short days, the roadsides are transformed from the whites of daisy and Queen Anne's lace and the blues… Full Story »
-
Colorado Demonstration Gardens: Xeriscaped Gardens
Dave's Garden &bull Aug 19, 2011
You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants! Do you cringe at the word xeriscape? Does that mean boring, thin-leaved, un-colorful plants to you? Well think again. Xeriscape gardening can look lush, colorful and be a snap to maintain. To help people learn how to… Full Story »
-
Ten Signs of Autumn in the Garden
Growing with Plants &bull Aug 15, 2011
I like to complete my bulb repotting in the greenhouse by this weekend, for once the Perseid Meteor Showers, and the full sturgeon moon passes, we tend to get the certain smell in the air that arrives with noticibly cooler nights, enough to cause you to throw a sweat shirt on in the morning. The days are still hot, and there are many days of summer ahead, but with state fairs starting and tomatoes beginning to fill baskets, fall is not far off. Here are some more unusual signs of fall that I noticed today around the garden. Anemonopsis may… Full Story »
-
Wildflower Wednesday: Phloxy Ladies and Gents 2011
Clay and Limestone &bull Jul 27, 2011
Yes, critical! Mid-to-late summer is usually one of the toughest times for nectar and pollen-feeding insects. Plants like phlox are very important producers of nectar and pollen. I'm glad you asked! Phloxes are native to North America and found growing in diverse habitats… Full Story »
-
Anemone, the Windflower: Part 3 - The Fall-flowering Species and Hybrids
Dave's Garden &bull Jul 23, 2011
You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants! In part 3 of this 3 part series, I will discuss the fall-flowering anemone, commonly called the Japanese anemone. For extending the blooming season in your garden, this group of plants is indispensible as they will often bloom well into October or even November. Editor's… Full Story »
