The hard-working honeybee has suddenly found its services more in demand than ever before. Until recently, the abundance of wild insects provided ample fertilization insurance for those plants that depend upon insects to distribute their pollen. Changes in agricultural practice, intensive cultivation, and clearing of fence rows and waste places have destroyed many insect nesting … Read more
Every year, millions of people suffer itching, swelling, blisters, and even sometimes prostration and death by touching the poison ivy that grows anywhere from Maine to Florida and Nebraska. The poison oak of the Pacific States has similar effects. Doctors and druggists are primed with cures, none of which seems entirely satisfactory to the patient—but … Read more
With thousands of roses blooming everywhere, June is the month of roses. But hybrid teas and floribundas will continue to give us abundant flowers throughout the summer months and a suitable fall show if we continue to provide them with reasonable care and attention. After a burst of spring bloom, even climbing roses will often … Read more
Over two hundred and sixty-five years ago, General Washington was completing his greenhouse in the flower garden at Mount Vernon. He was vitally interested in obtaining suitable plant material to furnish it. Many of the gentlemen of Colonial America did not consider their respective estates complete until a greenhouse was available for the Winter storage … Read more
When choosing trees for small properties, the homeowner must consider what is desired of a tree. Is it to provide shade or be valued for mere embellishment, exotic foliage, or attractive flowers? Also significant is the cost and labor involved in future maintenance. Is it a species susceptible to insect pests, fungus blights, or virus … Read more
Every gardener dreams of having a plot with soil rich in organic material to produce outstanding plants. Unfortunately, most garden soils lack this much sought-after substance, which maintains moisture, encourages root development, and keeps plant food from leaching out rapidly. Soils high in organic content do not become packed or crusted, thus allowing rain to … Read more
Tender plants and bulbs for the garden started in the greenhouse are put out into their summer positions early this month. Tuberous begonias, caladiums, coleus, impatiens, fuchsias, and geraniums join the annual seedlings which were set out earlier. A searching decision must be made about each greenhouse exotic: Does it go indoors as a house … Read more
Late spring and early summer are when to start biennials from seed if you want to enjoy their flowers next year. For biennials need a whole growing season before they become mature enough to form flowers. Then after flowering, they usually die or will only struggle along and should therefore be discarded. As most biennials … Read more
How often have you looked at a photograph of a beautiful border of perennials and biennials and wished that you might have one like it? But when you looked in the catalogs for the prices of the plants you would need, you found yourself saying, “No, ‘fraid not this year.” Well. It doesn’t have to … Read more
Air layering, or inducing roots to form on a branch while it is still attached to the plant, is one of the oldest propagation methods and is also one of the simplest. It can best be done on trees and shrubs in late spring and early summer. Readers of this column may recall describing the … Read more