Plant Profile: Fairy Foxglove (Erinus alpinus)
Karen Native to Cenral and Southern Europe, this semi-evergreen perennial is also known as alpine balsam, starflower, and liver balsam. It is a member of the plantain family, Plantaginaceae, that also…
Growing Plants from Seed: Radishes
Radishes (Raphanus satiivus) are one of the easiest and most successful vegetablse to grow. Even better, they are a cold weather crop, can be planted long before most other vegetables,…
Plant Profile: Wavy Alocasia (Alocasia micholitziana)
Native to the Phillippines, this tender herbaceous perennial is a member of the arum family (Arceae) that also includes jack in the pulpit, skunk cabbage, caladium, and peace lily. Like…
Plant Profile: Rose ‘Frederic Mistral’
‘Frederic Mistral’ Also known as ‘The Children’s Rose’, this Hybrid Tea has an old fashioned cup-shaped flower and a mass of dusty rose pink petals that are slightly darker on…
Plant Profile: Chenille Plant (Acalypha hispida)
Also known as the Philippines Medusa, red hot cat’s tail, bristly copperleaf, monkey tail, and fox tail this tropical broadleaf evergreen shrub is native to New Guinea, Malaysia but is…
Plant Profile: Mountain Avens (Dryas octopetala)
Also known as eightpetal mountain-avens, creeping oak, white dryas, or white dryad, this prostate evergreen subshrub is a circumpolar species found in the arctic tundra of northern Eurasia and North…
Plant Profile: Copper Alocasia (Alocasia cuprea)
Native to the Borneo and Malaya, this tender herbaceous perennial is a member of the arum family (Arceae) that also includes jack in the pulpit, skunk cabbage, caladium, and peace…
Old Time Recipes for Home Made Wines: Lemon Wine
Although not common, lemon wine does have its enthusiasts and the Internet has at least several recipes for making it. My paternal grandmother, Helen S. Wright, in her book Old…
Plant Profile: Large-leaved Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus)
Also called many-leaved lupine, blue-pod lupine, marsh lupine, and Washington lupine, this herbaceous perennial is native to western North America from southern Alaska and British Columbia east to Quebec and…
Edible Mushrooms: Jew’s Ear Mushroom (Auricularia auricula-judae aka Hirneola polytricha)
Jew’s ear, also called wood ear and jelly ear, grows in deciduous and coniferous woodlands in the warmer parts of the northern temperate zones. It lives on dead or living…