Book Review: Beautiful American Rose Gardens
Karen To the rose-lover, there is no more beautiful sight than masses of well-grown blooming roses. Most of us, however, have to be content to tuck roses here and there into…
Botany for Gardeners: Taxonomy of Dicots – Identifying the Mustard Family
Chuck Members of the mustard family include mostly herbaceous annuals, biennials and perennials and a few wood shrubs. Members include cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnip, radish, horseradish, and watercress as well as…
Plant Profile: Rose Daphne (Daphne cneorum)
Native to the mountains of central and southern Europe, this evergreen shrub is known for the fragrance of its blooms. Clusters of small bright pink flowers are produced in April…
Annual Flowering Vines for Containers
Whether you have a patio, balcony, courtyard or porch a container with a flowering vine can add color and sparkle. In fact, a flowering vine in a container can be…
Plant Profile: Carolina Silverbell (Halesia tetraptera)
The dainty white snowdrop-like flowers of Carolina silverbell create a lovely sight in spring as they flutter in the breeze on leafless stems. In their native range in southeastern United…
Book Review: Trees and Shrubs: Illustrated A-Z of Over 8500 Plants
Trees and shrubs are the backbone of most gardens and a familiarity with the huge diversity of plants available is an asset to any gardener. There are many books written…
Weeds and Their Control: Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosella)
Common sorrel is a short-lived perennial weed also known as sheep sorrel and red sorrel. It is a native of Europe and Asia and probably came to America in the…
Plant Profile: Bearberry Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster dammeri)
This evergreen shrub native to central China is one of the best broadleaf evergreens for a groundcover. It offers attractive leaves, small fragrant white flowers in spring, bright red berries…
Mushroom Fairy Rings
Have you every noticed that after a rainfall in spring or summer mushrooms spring up unexpectedly everywhere and are especially noticeable in lawns? The mushrooms may be small or large…
Plant Profile: Redvein Enkianthus (Enkianthus campanulatus)
This deciduous upright shrub is a native of Japan where it grows in open woodlands offering three seasons of beauty. In spring, it produces pendulous clusters of delicate bell-shaped yellowish…