Plant Profile: Indian Bean Tree (Catalpa bignonioides )
Karen Also called cigar tree, this native of southeastern United States is a deciduous tree with a thick short trunk and pithy, brittle branches that are prone to wind damage. The…
Pink Variegated Plants for the Garden
Variegated plants are always desirable in the garden for the long term color they provide. They draw the eye and can be used to move the eye around the garden,…
Plant Profile: Cassiope ‘Edinburgh’
This dwarf alpine shrub is evergreen and native to North America. It has flexible branches that form an attractive clump covered with tiny dark green lance-shaped, overlapping leaves. The white…
Book Review: Design Your Garden
Designing a garden may be an overwhelming task and Diarmuid Garvin’s book,Design Your Garden, can be a great help. Whether you are starting from scratch or redoing an old garden…
Shakespeare’s Garden: Poison Hemlock
The poison hemlock, Conium maculatum, is an herbaceous biennial in the carrot family, Apiaceae that includes parsley and Queen Anne’s lace. It is not related to the evergreen, coniferous hemlock…
Plant Profile: Himalyan Lily (Cardiocrinum giganteum)
This giant lily is awesome but takes time and patience to realize its potential. Although a true lily it lacks the strap-like leaves of its relatives and has heart-shaped glossy…
Botanical Latin: Maculatus, a, um
Mac u LA tus; from Latin meaning spotted Many plants have spotted parts: flowers, stems, or leaves. Maculatus is most often used as a specific epithet but is also employed…
Plant Profile: Beautyberry (Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion’)
This compact deciduous shrub has open arching branches and lanceolate leaves two to five inches long with long pointed tips. They are bronze-purple when young, dark green through most of…
Book Review: Contemporary Designers Own Gardens
Have you ever wondered what the garden of a famous garden designer’s garden looks like? Is it like the commissioned ones? Totally different? Or somewhere in between? Barbara Baker’s book,…
Plant Profile: Orange Golfball Tree (Buddleja globosa)
Endemic to forests in Chile and Argentina, this semi-evergreen, woody shrub is more hardy than other Buddlejas and losses its leaves only in the coldest winters. The dark green leaves…