Book Review: Backyard Foraging
Karen Many of the plants growing in your neighborhood and own yard can provide you with a tasty feast if you know how to recognize them. Ellen Zachos’ book, Backyard Foraging,…
Weeds and Their Control: Hemp Dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum)
Also known as Indian hemp, this bushy herbaceous perennial is a member of the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, that also includes milkweed, periwinkle, and oleander. It is native to North America…
Plant Profile: Large Flowered Aster (Aster grandiflorus aka Symphyotrichum grandiflorumum)
Native to North Carolina and Virginia this herbaceous perennial grows in dry woodlands, forest edges, and abandoned fields as well as was areas such as roadsides. It is a member…
Plants of Colonial Williamsburg: Elecampane (Inula helenium)
Also called horse-heal, scabwort, and elfwort, and wild sunflower, elecampane is a herbaceous perennial and a member of the aster family, Asteraceae, that also includes daisy, yarrow, and lettuce. It…
Plant Profile: Island Alumroot (Heuchera maxima)
Also called Channel Islands coral bells, and Jill of the rocks, this evergreen herbaceous perennial is a member of the saxifrage family, Saxifragaceae, that also includes astilbe, tiarella, and bergenia.…
Book Review: The Plant Recipe Book
Gardener and floral designer Baylor Chapman presents 100 living arrangements in her work, The Plant recipe Book. Believing that everyone can bring a little bit of greenery inside no matter…
Invasive Plants and Their native Alternatives: Gold Coast Jasmine (Jasminum dichotomum)
Gold coast jasmine is an evergreen woody climber or rambling shrub native to tropical western and central Africa but was introduced in the 1920s as an ornamental into Florida in…
Plant Profile: Western Blue Flag (Iris missouriensis aka I. montana)
Also called Rocky Mountain iris and Missouri flag, this beardless rhizomatous iris is a member of the iris family, Iridaceae that also includes gladiola, crocus, and freesia. It is native…
Genus Brugmansia for the Garden
It is hard not to be impressed when you see a Brugmania in bloom. The pendulous flowers are large and trumpet shaped giving rise to the common name, Angel’s trumpet.…
Plant Profile: Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)
Also known as horsetail milkweed, this deep rooted herbaceous perennial is a member of the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, that also includes bluestar, periwinkle,and oleander. It is native to North America…