A Visit to the Gardens of Melk Abbey, Melk, Austria
Karen Most people come to see the church, the library, and the Benedictine abbey itself but few take the time to explore the grounds. As spectacular as the buildings are, the…
Plant Profile: Sweetshade (Hymenosporum flavum)
Sweetshade is a slender evergreen tree native to New Guinea and Queensland and New South Wales, Australia where it grows in rainforests and tall open forest habitats. It is closely…
Garden Plants for Flower Arrangements: Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus) Headborne Hybrids
There are many different kinds of agapanthus but the ‘Headborne Hybrids’ are considered the hardiest. They are rhizomatous perennials with fleshy roots and grey-green leathery strap-shaped leaves. Their funnel-shaped flowers…
Plant Profile: Rosa ‘Konigin von Danemark’
The medium pink blossoms with lighter pink edges are carried in clusters of three to nine and often weigh down the branches. The long sepaled flowers have a rosette form,…
Book Review: Sissinghurst:Vita Sackville-West and the Creation of a Garden
The gardens at Sissinghurst created by Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West, are icons of British gardening eminence and are visited by over 150,000 people every year. Author, Sarah Raven, traces…
Collecting Seed: Snapdragon (Anthirrhinum majus)
Snapdragons are tender perennials usually treated as annuls. They are cool weather plants and often grown in the spring and fall as they do not do well in summer heat.…
Plant Profile: Box-Elder (Acer negundo)
Box-elder is a short lived deciduous tree native to eastern and central North America and is also called ashleaf maple. It is often planted for its rapid growth while other…
Weeds and Their Control: Mulberry Weed (Fatoua villosa)
Mulberry weed is an annual in the mulberry family (Moraceae) and a native of East Asia where it lives in wetlands and other moist shaded areas. It appeared in Lousiana…
Plant Profile: Silver Mullein (Verbascum bombyciferum)
Silver mullein is an evergreen biennial or short-lived perennial native to Turkey where it grows on dry, rocky hillsides and open woodlands. It belongs to the figwort family (Scrophylariaceae) along…
Book Review: Butterfly Park
Butterflies delight both young and old but we can’t take them for granted because sometimes there are no butterflies where we expect. Elly MacKay’s book Butterfly Park shows how children…