You don’t know your garden until you’ve seen it lighted at night. It develops a new personality, completely different from its daytime look. Lighting gives you more hours for outdoor living. The barbecue is not abandoned as nighttime falls, and you may garden in the cool of the evening. The teenagers play games on the … Read more
In the generosity of spring, the delicate white flowers of fringetrees are unique and command admiration even among the most colorful garden planting. White or American fringetree is one of our most attractive native plants. Although largely neglected for many years, it is again becoming popular and many other natives. As the scientific name has, … Read more
I wanted to grow azaleas twenty-two years ago when I returned to the Midwest after many years of enjoying the green-damp hills of Maryland. Most experienced St. Louis gardeners advised me to stick to iris and water-lilies. Those who had azaleas or had tried to grow them reported: “You can make them live, but the … Read more
Beautiful azaleas are grown in the North Central states despite two handicaps in increasing them. The first is well understood and does not need elaborate discussion: we are primarily in limestone country, and azaleas demand acid soil. The second and far more severe handicap is mycorrhiza. In azalea country, mycorrhizal fungi are taken for granted. … Read more
If you think sweet peas are not for you because summers are too hot in your area, here is good news. Heat-resistant, torrid weather varieties are readily available. By mulching them with a 6-inch layer of straw, grass clippings, peat moss, or other material to keep their roots cool and moist, you can cut fragrant … Read more
Magnolias are among the most interesting and best-known trees in the southern states. About a dozen species and varieties are native to the South. Several others have been introduced, principally from Asia. All varieties have relatively large flowers. The simple flower structure indicates they are among the most ancient trees. Possibly, as old as the … Read more
Where the beautiful wildflowers grow, there, a man’s spirit is fed, and poets grow. That so queenly a flower should annually bloom in such withdrawn and secret places as to be rarely seen by man.” Written in praise of the purple-fringed orchis, these immortal words of Henry David Thoreau have become my philosophy. Since my … Read more
The Glenn Dale Hybrid Azaleas launched in a cannonade of almost unparalleled publicity years ago. A sensation at the big flower shows, they were the talk of horticultural circles throughout the country. Garden writers in the US and abroad paid them such glowing tribute that the supply of available plants vanished overnight. Any azalea with … Read more
Ten years ago, a well-meaning friend gave me several sedum plants, and with great enthusiasm, I planted them on our stone wall. I was a new gardener, and it was a wonderful experience to watch the far-ranging stems proliferate and cover the rough stones. Little did I know then the sedum I had planted was … Read more
Azaleas are popular plants and can grow from Seattle to Southern California. They are not difficult to grow if properly selected and properly cared for. Here are the proper steps to follow: Grow in peat moss fertilized with cottonseed meal, using 100 pounds of meal to one bale of peat. Light compost, sand, and oak … Read more