Plant Profile: Devil’s Walking Stick (Aralia spinosa)
Karen With common names like Devil’s walking stick, and Hercules’ club this plant is bound to attract attention. It is a deciduous small tree or shrub with spines on its trunks,…
Name This Plant Game: Native Plants 2
Chuck This simple game tests your gardening knowledge by identifying five plants shown in photos from a list of possible names. Photos of each plant are accompaned by a clue describing…
Gardens in Art: Parterres
If you have visited colonial gardens such as those in Williamsburg you may have noticed the low beds edged with boxwood often with a tree in the center. In the…
Plant Profile: Seckle Pear (Pyrus communis)
Seckle pears are a great dessert treat if you can find them. They are not easy to locate but are unusual and well worth a search. The fruits are borne…
Garden Style: Formal or Informal?
One of the many choices involved when planning a garden is whether the garden will be formal or informal. You may not make a conscious decision about this and let…
Plant Profile: White Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus)
This native of woodland edges, stream banks, and roadsides from Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Missouri south to Florida and west to Texas, is a small deciduous shrub or tree with a…
Name This Plant Game: Native Plants 1
This simple game tests your gardening knowledge by identifying five plants shown in photos from a list of possible names. Photos of each plant are accompaned by a clue describing…
Gardens in Art: Introduction
Have you ever noticed that many paintings include gardens? The garden is usually the background for some person or activity that is featured in the foreground but sometimes the garden…
Plant Profile: Rock Soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides)
A native of the European Alps, rock soapwort is a low growing plant that scrambles over rocks and trails over walls. It’s semi-evergreen foliage forms dense mats and can be…
Planning a Garden: Identifying Problem Areas
Gardens serve many purposes and one of them can be to solve problems. If you have a neighbor with junk in their side yard, a miserable view, or an air…