Growing Plants from Seeds: Annual Poppies
Karen Corn poppies (Papaver rhoeas) and opium poppies (Papaver somniferum) are spring blooming annuals with large flowers of papery petals. Corn poppies have many common names including Flanders poppy and has…
Plant Profile: Queen of the Meadow (Filipendula ulmaria)
Also called meadowsweet, mead wort, and bridewort, this herbaceous perennial is a native of Europe and western Asia where it grows in damp meadows and along stream and river banks,…
Plant Profile: Pyrenean-Violet (Ramonda myconi)
Also known as rosette mullein, this evergreen perennial is native to rocky soils in the Pyrenees and north eastern Spain. It is a member of the African violet family, Gesneriaceae,…
Old Time Recipes for Home Made Wine: Hop Beer
My paternal grandmother, Helen S. Wright, included the recipes for several beers including this on in her book Old Time Recipes for Home Made Wine. Although I don’t know if…
Plant Profile: Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii)
Also called summer lilac and orange eye, this deciduous flowering shrub is native to the mountains of central China and Japan where it grows in thickets and forest openings, and…
Plant Profile: Rose ‘Folklore’
Long, pointed buds are borne singly or in clusters of up to nine and gradually open to high centered flowers with dark orange pink petals that fade to salmon pink…
Plant Profile: Bells of Ireland (Moluccella laevis)
Also called lady in the bathtub, shell flower, and molucca balm, this annual is native to Turkey, Syria, and the Caucasus. It is a member of the mint family, Laminaceae,…
Book Review: Mostly Plants
Based on the concept of the flexitarian diet, Mostly Plants presents an approach to eating that shifts the ratio of food from animals to plants. This approach is very useful…
Weeds and Their Control: Green Foxtail (Setaria viridis)
Also known as green bristlegrass and foxtail millet, green foxtail is an annual grass and a member of the grass family, Poaceae, that also includes corn, rice, and bamboo. It…
Plant Profile: Fuller’s Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)
Brought to North America from Europe in the early 1700’s to raise the nap of wool cloth, fuller’s teasel naturalized and is now considered a weed in many parts of…