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This trail-blazing female landscape architect, born in 1869, began her career in 1912. When she died at 81 in 1950, she had designed over 600 gardens.
Pergolas provide not only walls, but also ceilings, with the possibility of plants growing between the series of horizontal beams, to create shade.
Classical Italian gardens are usually formal and constructed symmetrically with intersecting pathways, a central fountain and clipped topiaries and hedges.
Japanese garden design is well known for its focus on different shades and textures of foliage, with a minimal use of flowers.
Lilac and lavender, roses and annual sweet-peas have distinctive and memorable scents.
To improve the soil in an established garden, simply shred the leaves that accumulate from the trees in your yard and spread them over the garden beds.
I am now digging big wide round holes and placing lots of bulbs of different sizes and bloom times all together at differing depths.
In the fall when I look at my garden, and possibly when you look at yours, there are so many things that seem to need a remedy next summer.
All tropical plants must be kept from freezing and stored in a state of dormancy. Lack of warmth inhibits growth, which is why cool temperatures are best.
Experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats stated that since plants are rooted and cannot travel he thought that they would like to see videos of other locations.
Last Spring, I received a lovely gift from my friend Marie Louise. It was a euphorbia cultivar named ‘Cherry Cobbler’.
Look at your autumn garden and your borrowed views and maybe add a few echoes of your neighbor’s colorful specimens in your own plantings next spring.
Natives with long tap roots like the bright orange butterfly weed were completely unfazed by the heat, as were shrubs like crepe myrtles and caryopteris.
To grow mums as perennials here in the Midwest, it is best to buy small plants in the spring and pinch them back in the summer for more blooms in the fall.
Most species in the Verbascum genus have gray, woolly leaves born in a rosette at the base of the plant and erect bloom stalks covered in very small flowers. There are about 360 species, and the majority is biennials. The common name is mullein, and it likes full sun and well drained, but not rich, soil.
Goutweed can grow up to 3 feet tall and to an indefinite width. Therein lies the problem, the indefinite width is a polite way of describing the plant’s rampant spread by underground rhizomes. It loves moist soil and partial shade, and even a tiny piece of root will sprout.
Within the Roman Catholic Church properties worldwide, there are many gardens dedicated to the mother of Jesus. Many are rose gardens, but others also contain many different types of lilies, marguerites, marigolds, rosemary, virgin’s bower clematis, and many other flowers that are associated with Mary, too.
It has been said that when the weather is cold, as in British gardens, there are paths for walking, and where the weather is hot as in desert areas of the world, there are more pools and places to lounge. However, despite minor design differences related to the weather, most religious faiths seem to use a garden as a metaphor for heaven.
There are some sacred gardens known as saint’s gardens that are designed to honor a particular person and reveal a vision of God through nature. Usually the specific saint’s spirit and philosophy is embedded in the character of the garden, and there is at least one statue of the saint to whom the garden is dedicated.
Many of us in the Midwest are planting even more peonies than ever because they are deer resistant. However, these easy-care plants do have some problems. One is buds that never develop into blooms.
The composer of the music entitled "Airs for the Seasons" is Scotland's most famous 18th Century composer James Oswald, who was born in 1710 and died in 1769. I listened to a recording of his 48 Floral Suites each representing a particular shrub or flower, played by the Broadside Band.
Perovskia is known by the common name Russian sage and is native to central Asia. It is a strong grower though looks delicate. However, it is not aggressive, even though it is a member of the mint family. Its pungent scent is a valuable asset as deer dislike it, and so this is a plant that usually blooms where it is planted.
Campanulas, or bellflowers to use their common name, are plants with bell-shaped blue or white blooms, and they range in height from ground-hugging dwarfs to plants that grow to 6 feet. A gardener who plants a number of different types can have bloom for most of the summer.
Although their early spring blooms are especially treasured, hellebores are stalwarts in the garden during all seasons. Long lived, shade loving, deer resistant, hellebores have handsome evergreen or semi evergreen foliage depending on the harshness of the winter conditions.
Plant breeders have been busy, and now SunPatiens® is the newest member of the impatiens family, and as one would guess, it is a sun tolerant variety of the tried-and-true favorite annual. It also is advertised as blooming longer and being bushier than the impatiens that we all use in our shady spaces.
The malva plant is a mainstay in my cutting garden. The flowers are followed by small round seed heads that are similar to wheel-shaped cheeses. Because there are so many of these on each plant, they self seed well, and I have sufficient that the munching deer leave a few for me to enjoy in my bouquets.
Euphorbia, commonly called spurge, is related to Poinsettia, as the outer bracts look like flowers. There is usually a single colorful female bract, actually a leaf, surrounded by male bracts born beneath the inconspicuous true flowers.
Because the deer do not eat the spiraeas in my garden, I am becoming more and more devoted to these shrubs. I would never have predicted this would happen, but one’s preferences are often shaped by unforeseen circumstances – in life as well as in the garden.
Cicely Mary Barker wrote a poem for children called “The Song of the Nasturtium Fairy.” Like all of her poetry, it is old fashioned and whimsical. She visualizes a nasturtium fairy using a leaf as an umbrella, or as she says, a brolly.
Tropaeolum minor was first found growing in Mexico and Peru and introduced to England in 1574. The English called the plant Indian Cress because the leaves tasted sharp. The peppery taste and characteristic scent led to the name “nasturtium,” which is from the Latin word meaning “nose twister.”
Balloon flowers enjoy sandy, well drained soil in full sun or partial shade and after planting they do not like to be disturbed, so cannot be divided. Seeds can be sown in the spring, but most gardeners buy young plants from garden centers so that they will bloom the first summer they are planted.
These flowers appeal to all of the senses, according to Collette who wrote “I can hear the iris bloom... We too can listen to the iris. And if we are very still and attentive to our flowers, one day like Collette, we may even hear one open.
Many of us who love to grow tulips in our gardens have visiting deer who love to eat them. It seems to be such a violent death for a bud or flower. The poet E. J.Scovell must not have had deer in her garden because she describes a more gradual demise.
Sometimes we can prolong the life of a cut flower like a tulip by cutting the stem shorter and placing the flower in deep water in a tall narrow vase, which provides support and keeps the bloom upright.
The botanical name is Allium tuberosum, and it produces small globes of starry white flowers in mid-summer and blooms for about a month. The flowers are as attractive to bees as they are to gardeners.
There are about 300 species of Corydalis, both perennial and biennial, belonging to the poppy family. Give these plants full sun to partial shade where summers are not too hot and well-drained soil with regular moisture.
Since the poem I read mentions “gilly flowers of gold” it is likely that the poet John Drinkwater was referring to the European wallflower that has spikes of yellow blooms with brown markings. Wallflowers are still frequently seen in English gardens even today, though they are rarely grown in America.
A brief poem by Vita Sackville-West about the growth occurring during the month of April.
At this time of year, gardeners must still beware of late freezes. A severe freeze causes water to freeze inside the plant's cells, irrevocably injuring them.
Freezing temperatures at the end of winter may injure plants that have started growing for Spring.
Gardeners need to be aware of the frost dates in their region. This means the date of the last frost in the springtime and the first frost in autumn.
All types of bulbs have one thing in common and that is that they are self contained storehouses of energy. They burst forth and bloom at their appointed time when the moisture and temperature levels trigger their respective awakenings. It is orchestrated in a way that seems quite miraculous.
African violets are propagated from leaf cuttings and stem cuttings and provide wonderfully diverse flower forms in purple, pink, violet white and rose shades.
Our winter homes are not ideal environments for cut flowers to flourish in. Fortunately, there are still ways to make sure they have a long life.
Laura M.Holson wrote: "Recently floral concoctions and aromatic blossoms have moved out of the kitchen and behind the bar."
Rose water is a natural tonic that hydrates the skin and helps restore the skin’s moisture balance. It also allegedly firms and refines pores. In addition, it smells divine.
There are many plants that produce edible flowers and are safe to eat if they are grown without the use of pesticides.
Try freezing edible flowers into ice cubes for a unique touch to your dinner party drinks.
Silvery foliage plants such as the licorice plant are invaluable for container gardening as they enhance the impact of more showy, colorful annuals.
Jasmine's latin name, "jasmine polyanthum", meaning "many flowers", is telling of this plant's variety. This vine is known for its fragrance and its history.
Those of us who live in cold climates love houseplants that will flower indoors in winter and one with great appeal is the cyclamen.
Moya Andrews is a Master Gardener and a member of the Bloomington Garden Club in Bloomington, Indiana. Learn more »
