Garden Style: Formal or Informal?
Chuck One of the many choices involved when planning a garden is whether the garden will be formal or informal. You may not make a conscious decision about this and let…
Plant Profile: White Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus)
Karen This native of woodland edges, stream banks, and roadsides from Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Missouri south to Florida and west to Texas, is a small deciduous shrub or tree with a…
Name This Plant Game: Native Plants 1
This simple game tests your gardening knowledge by identifying five plants shown in photos from a list of possible names. Photos of each plant are accompaned by a clue describing…
Gardens in Art: Introduction
Have you ever noticed that many paintings include gardens? The garden is usually the background for some person or activity that is featured in the foreground but sometimes the garden…
Plant Profile: Rock Soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides)
A native of the European Alps, rock soapwort is a low growing plant that scrambles over rocks and trails over walls. It’s semi-evergreen foliage forms dense mats and can be…
Planning a Garden: Identifying Problem Areas
Gardens serve many purposes and one of them can be to solve problems. If you have a neighbor with junk in their side yard, a miserable view, or an air…
Plant Profile: Winged Sumac (Rhus copallina)
Native to Eastern United States, winged sumac is also called flame sumac and a tough shrub or small tree that is found on forest edges, old fields, meadows and roadsides.…
Name This Plant Game: Medicinal Herbs 11
This simple game tests your gardening knowledge by identifying five plants shown in photos from a list of possible names. Photos of each plant are accompaned by a clue describing…
Flowers for Arrangements: Nerine (Nerine bowdenii, sarniensis)
Nerines, also known as spider lilies and Guernsey lilies, are a natives of South Africa where they are highly valued for their autumn flowers. Related to amaryllis, kangaroo paw and…
Plant Profile: Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea hybrids)
There are few homes near my southern California garden that do not have at least one bouganvillea vine blooming most of the year. The bright colors can be garish but…