Want some fall color for your perennial bed? There are more choices than mums for adding color in the fall. Try asters which come in purple, red, and white daisy-like flowers. They start blooming in September to a hard frost.…
Wait until the soil temps are 55 or above to plant summer blooming bulbs. You can get a head start by planting your bulbs early. I have started cannas in 6-inch pots a month before placing them outside. Plant them…
Manure in the garden has been a common culture for thousands of years. Using manure in the garden is an excellent fertilizer and soil conditioner. However, don’t apply fresh manure to the soil in your fruit or vegetable garden. Even…
Perennial Sunflower Helianthus Probably one of the most-loved flower, sunflower is a long-time favorite for borders and for bouquets because of their huge blossoms. While not quite as large as its annual cousin, the perennial sunflower makes up for what…
Marigold has an old variety called Victorian (spun orange) marigold. It is an extra-large, attractive, super-double flowers with tubular petals. The color is a pleasing, clear orange rather than the harsh orange-brown so often seen in African marigolds. Plants are…
If your plants’ leaves have a white or gray dust on them, powdery mildew is probably attacking your garden. It’s a common disease, and different strains of powdery mildew attack a wide range of plants. This problem usually occurs toward…
Cosmos are freely flowering annual plants that are ridiculously easy to grow. If you’re looking for a flower that will stay in bloom for months and can be grown by simply scattering seeds, cosmos is a great choice. The flowers…
“What’s that unusual plant?” is a question that almost always indicates someone has just spied the cleome blooming in my garden. I enjoy watching their eyes widen when I tell them they are “spider flowers.” Cleome common name captures how…
Over thousands of years, gardeners and farmers have carefully selected the best specimens of a season’s harvest (say, the sweetest or most frost-hardy carrots) and saved the seeds from those exemplary plants to sow again. Continued across generations, this process…
We now live in the age of self-driving cars, robot vacuums cleaning the floors and your smart fridge is getting the shopping done. Now comes the technology of self watering systems. Time, then, to relax in the back yard –…
Use a drip irrigation system to conserve water and improve water absorption in flower beds and gardens. If you watch television advertisements, one would think the best way to water and even fertilizer flowers and other plants is to stand…