Celebrating New Years Russian-Style with Olivier Salad
Karen You may not think of a salad as typical New Year’s fare but many Russians around the world do. Russian New Year, Novy God, is celebrated with a tree, Grandfather…
Plant Profile: Crimped Bellflower (Campanula zoysii)
This semievergreen perennial is native to southeastern Alps where it grows in limestone rock crevices in subalpine to alpine zones. The plants are low growing and slowly form cushions two…
Growing Plants from Seed: Germination Test
Many seeds are viable a lot longer than you might think. For example, seeds of lettuce, cucumbers, eggplant, radish, cabbage, spinach, and musk melon are good for five years if…
Plant Profile: Camellia ‘Cornish Snow’
This large broad-leaved evergreen shrub is a cross between Camellia cuspidate and C. saluenensis. It is fast growing and forms a loose bush with slightly pendant branches. The glossy leaves…
Book Review: Keeping Bees And Making Honey
If you are considering bee-keeping, this book is a great way to get into it. The authors, Brian McCullum and Alison Benjamin, point out that bee-keeping is a way to…
Shakespeare’s Garden: Holly
Holly is in the genus Ilex, a member of the plant family Aquifoliaceae and consists of 400 to 600 species that include evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs, and climbers. Shakespeare’s…
Plant Profile: Parrot’s Beak (Clianthus puniceus)
Also called lobster’s claw, this native of New Zealand’s North Island, is a small bushy evergreen shrub in the legume family (Fabaceae) . The dark green to gray green leaves…
Botanical Latin: Saintpaulia
Saintpaulia (Saint PAWL ee a) named for Baron Adalbert Emil Walter Redcliffe Le Tanneaux von Saint Paul-Illaire who first discovered the African violet. The baron was an avid plant collector…
Plant Profile: Honesty (Lunaria annua)
This biennial often grown as an annual is native to the Balkans and southwest Asia and is also called money plant, silver dollars, Chinese coins, and similar, because of its…
Book Review: In Search of Remarkable Trees
AAuthor and photographer, Thomas Pakenham searches for “wow trees” like others search for gold or adventure. In his third book on amazing trees he goes to South Africa, Botswana, Namibia,…