I have wide varieties of veronicas in my several borders, giving much of the all-summer color in my plantings. The tall blue flowered sorts double in hot, dry sections for delphiniums which are not reliably hardy here. Since my borders are extensive, I have come to use “self-supporting” plants as much as possible. Veronicas completely … Read more
Some of us wonder if you may care to tell us about the life tinder on the soil’s surface. We know that life there runs along for Mother Nature quite carefree without much interference from Homo sapiens. Life Under The Soil Surface Everyone has found life down there—worms, ants, and plenty of other wigglers he … Read more
All gardeners like the Overton’s, who have experienced many spring seasons of gardening—those few short, rushed weeks when it seems as though everything has to be done—cherish the longer, unhurried days of autumn. This is the time when you can thoughtfully consider your garden. Decide which plants looked good last summer and which did not, … Read more
The popular expression, to gild the lily, means to attempt to improve something that is already perfect. Hybridizers, however, never believing that the lily could not be improved, have strived to produce finer lilies. Most intriguing is the long search for the pure yellow trumpet lily which has commanded the attention of many hybridizers. Starting … Read more
What if you rent your house? Or if you may move at any time, even to another city? Is a greenhouse a good investment? One working couple, the Brennans, now of Atlanta, Ga., have demonstrated that a greenhouse is practical even under these circumstances. Some years ago, while living in the tropics, they acquired a … Read more
Although contrasting tulips with perennials is an old gardening trick, a variation is seen in the above photograph, where tulips are surrounded by low-growing, spreading perennials. The white plant (above), which forms a sea around an island of tulips, is rock-cress (Arabis alpina flore pleno), but many others can be used as effectively. The tulip … Read more
Supposing you are planting daffodil bulbs for the first time this fall. If you are living in a new home, you may not yet have decided where your gardens will be located. Chances are that the front of your house has been landscaped and that other shrub groupings are in, or at least soon will … Read more
The year was 1953, the month of September. This month in the city of Columbus, Ohio. The American Rose Society is setting up its new headquarters. Its modern-style new home in the capital of the Buckeye state will be dedicated at the Society’s three-day fall meeting just a week or so away. Its current home … Read more
Did you ever stop to examine a flower show entry decked with a blue ribbon and say, “I don’t see how anyone could have given that first prize? Just look, this other entry is a big one.” Onlookers may never understand all the rules of flower show judging, but they may come a little closer … Read more
Bulbs are for everyone who grows plants or who arranges flowers. They’re for beginners who’ll give them a minimum of know-how and care and for experts who take great boundless patience and skill. There’s no end to their usefulness as garden plants and no limit to their value as flowers for the home. In early … Read more